There are many reasons students or faculty might spend Thanksgiving Break on campus, whether it be that they’re on-call, unable to go home or simply unwilling to do so. Nevertheless, no matter the specific reasons that students might have to remain on campus, the experience is certainly an interesting one.

First off is the obvious: campus is indeed empty. The quiet of Sunday mornings pales in comparison to the absolute lack of human presence that encompasses campus during break. There are no more than a handful of residents in each resident hall, and the hallways are gloriously, eerily silent. Quiet hours aren’t even a concern because odds are, there’s no one on your floor to complain. Of course, it’s still not wise to go completely wild because several police officers and housing staff are still on the clock.

While people concerned about the safety of students and residents are still working, most other employees aren’t. Schilletter Dining Hall was the only place serving food on Wednesday and Friday, and while they gave out Thanksgiving to-go meals made up of traditional food, Schilletter nor anywhere else on campus was open on Thanksgiving Day. Therefore, the best ways to get food on the most food-related holiday of the year are to fill your fridge or freezer in advance, venture off-campus or find a Friendsgiving to go to. There won’t be many considering almost everyone has gone home, but there are some. Either way, ending your Thanksgiving with a full stomach is considerably harder when you’re on campus, but it is possible.

Another thing that is possible and shockingly easy is finding parking. No one is on campus, so no one is parking. Therefore, countless spots are beautifully available. Clemson’s campus with available parking is a once-in-a-lifetime sight, and it’s almost as gorgeous as the campus itself. No cars and no people make for an all-natural, picture perfect environment in which the trees turn Clemson into a living, breathing photograph. The brisk air and the quiet of campus grants you a peace you definitely wouldn’t be able to find at the family table while discussing politics.

Once Thanksgiving ends and the rivalry game approaches, you would expect downtown Clemson to open and be thriving on Black Friday, right? Wrong. Downtown is absolutely deserted since students are still at their families’ homes, and most stores aren’t even open. So essentially, if circumstances or your own decisions lead to you spending Thanksgiving Break on campus, don’t count on being able to shop downtown after gorging yourself on home-cooked turkey because it won’t happen.