GABI WERTMAN: The college 'turkey drop' has got to stop

Happy Thanksgiving! Time to go home for the classic family ambiance: Uncle Joe's corny jokes and the infamous turkey. But on Thursday as you scarf down your stuffing and make room for one more cookie, there are students across the country who aren't quite so calm.Thanksgiving is a time of togetherness, a time for seeing family and friends. For many, it's also time to finally see their boyfriend or girlfriend from a different school. This is where the anxiety comes in. Coming home from college combines the old with the new, and, for a lot of people, past loves don't fit into new lives.

The "Turkey Drop," a term coined by the bitter hearts of American college students, refers to long-distance relationships ending over the Thanksgiving break. I guess it could be the excessive build-up, the excitement and anticipation, the expectations that you have when seeing your "honey-bunny" again. Stepping off the bus, gazing into each other's eyes and after all this time, realizing that what you had is... gone?

Something about that sentence bothers me.


Love is a leap of faith-there's no doubt about it. True, it doesn't come without its obstacles, and being far away for an extended period of time is no small feat. But it is possible to bear the distance, and making it through this challenge can lead to the most wonderful feeling in the world, the feeling of love.


For those of you reading this who share my sentiment, let me tell you not to worry so much about whether Thanksgiving will mean the end of something great.

If you're asking yourself, "Who is she to tell me about love and distance? She doesn't know anything," let me tell you a bit more. I, too, could be affected by the Turkey Drop and become another sad tale to fuel the fear of broken relationships.

One of the biggest problems I anticipated when I started college was the eight-hour drive placed between my boyfriend and me. Obviously, I was realistic and knew that it would be tough, and that it would take a lot of work to keep us together. I won't lie: At times it's hard to balance the two spheres of school life and romantic life-keeping on top of schoolwork, hanging out with my friends, seeing school plays and trying to fit in calls, e-mails and text messages to my boyfriend at Syracuse, and only seeing him once so far this semester.

So what makes me different from those stressing out about their relationships? Absolutely nothing. I'm not unlike you. I'm taking the same risk and believing in the same love.


It could be that after Thanksgiving break, I'll be singing a very different tune, and you'll be reading a bitter op-ed about how all relationships suck. But right now, I'm so caught up in the feelings that exist inside me that all I can think about is how happy I'll be when Thanksgiving comes, and how even a few precious hours will mean the world.

If you have love, or even just believe in it, don't listen to the horror stories about Thanksgiving. After all, turkeys don't "drop"-they fly.