This post is going to be a rather quick one because this doesn’t relate overly to Pomona but is something of a testament to its brilliant location! I’m from the East Coast (which I talk about in depth here), which definitely is an issue when it comes to holidays. Fortunately, there’s TONS of the stuff to do on campus for any holiday, but I happen to spend my Thanksgivings in San Francisco due to familial connections.
First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU READING THIS. I hope it was brilliant and family-filled and generally awesome. Last year, I drove up to San Francisco with 3 other students on one of the most beautiful drives imaginable.
Last year’s drive was pretty easy. I pitched in for gas and was delivered from dorm to doorstep! This year, I had to head out on the wide variety of public transit available to me.
That’s my luggage as I take the San Bernardino Line into Union Station. One of the best things about Pomona’s location is that the train station is literally a two minute walk at most. Literally* (*cause I’m 6’5″, from New York, and notorious for walking quickly, considering those two factors). From there I hit the greyhound bus and found myself on Folsom Street 8 hours later. A few more buses to get me into Marin and I arrived at my destination!
BUT, let’s say I didn’t want to take the Greyhound (which I actually recommend to anyone who hasn’t taken it before, at least for the sake of saying you’ve done it!). Plenty of other people went up to the bay area for the break! Two of my friends in the class of ’16 flew out of Ontario Airport into Oakland, taking the 5c rideshare program to get them to the airport. A Mock Trial teammate of mine from the class of ’18 took Amtrak to get to NorCal. Getting to the airport really isn’t an issue for Pomona students. In addition to the 5C rideshare, there’s also a student run shuttling service and you can join people taking taxis to LAX & Ontario (even John Wayne if that’s your slice of pie).
As I previously said, there’s plenty to do on Campus even if you stay for Thanksgiving (a significant number of kids do wind up staying over the break). There are several places to catch Thanksgiving Dinner, including a meal at Dean Feldblum’s house!
Compared to what it could be, getting off campus for the holidays is by no means a pain. Student-run programs make it easy (and affordable!) to get to the nearby airports, our proximity to the train station makes alternative forms of travel extremely viable and inexpensive, and if getting off campus isn’t an option, there’s plenty to do back in the good old 91711. Once again, I hope you all had fantastic Thanksgivings and ate plenty of delicious food!
