“Dear Sherpa,
This Thanksgiving will be my first time going home since starting college. I know it hasn’t really been that long, and I’m excited to see my family and friends again, but I’m also feeling overwhelmed with all the people I feel like I need to see, and the homework I want to get caught up on. Should it feel this stressful?
Stressed out,
A Freshman First”

Dear Fresh Man Fist:
They say one can never go home again. I have no true home to speak of, but the sentiment resonates for me in a literal way as I–or as the meddling RCMP know me, the Québécois Roi de Sirop d’érable–can never go to Canada again. For surprisingly unrelated reasons, I am also barred from 500 meters of any maple syrup factory in the continental United States. But, that’s a story for another time.
When you do take your autumn break, remember to use the time to recharge. Enjoy the tryptophan, relax and have fun with family, and reinvigorate yourself. You’ll be back at school in the blink of an eye, and the serious work of finishing this semester will require your concentrated efforts. Schedule your homework so you can actually relax on your break, and don’t go shopping on Thanksgiving day itself. Wait until midnight to join in a pumpkin-spiced-latté-fueled consumer stampede like all normal Americans do.
Thanksgiving holds a dear place in my heart and belly. Turkeys, after all, are descendants of dinosaurs. When you eat their flesh, you absorb a fraction of the powers of their mighty ancient ancestry. Rest up, eat up, collect stamina points, and get ready for the final stretch of the semester.
Lurv,
The Sherpa