Thursday, December 3, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 5
20
Holiday break traveling tough for KU students far from home
By Matt Merkel-Hess Special to the Kansan
Many international students decide to remain in Lawrence during winter break rather than spend the money on expensive plane tickets during the holiday season.
He said most tickets back to Chile cost from $1,200 to $1,400 roundtrip.
"It's not the best Christmas, but it is OK," Berg said recently. "My parents are used to this."
Alvaro Berg, Santiago, Chile, freshman, is one who will remain here, spending the time working and saving money.
"It's completely ridiculous to go back home for just a month." Berg said.
Vladimir Sinkov, president of the International Student Association and Pavlosklj Posad, Russia, senior, said that money was a major constraint on traveling home for the holidays. He said instead of going home, many students decided to travel within the United States.
"A lot of students, especially first years, like to use the opportunity to see something besides Kansas." Sinkov said.
Sinkov said ISA did not plan any events during break because it didn't expect many international students to stay. But Sinkov will remain here during break, spending the time studying and resting.
Berg said he usually liked to use his breaks to travel. This time, he plans to work 40 hours a week, finishing a video for the Ermal Ginger Academic Resource Center. He will film until Dec. 23, and then begin editing after the first of January.
Because he lives in University housing, Berg had to look for another place to stay, finding a spot in a friend's house. Berg won't return to Chile to visit his parents until the summer.
In her six years as a student in the United States, Li-Wen Loo, Kuantan, Malaysia, graduate student, has returned home twice, most recently last summer.
"My parents want me to go home over the break," Berg said. "But this time I need to earn and save money."
"I would love to go home." Loo said "But plane tickets are so expensive."
Loo said she looked forward to being in Lawrence during break and might travel, possibly to visit an aunt in New York City or friends in Wichita.
"I will definitely not be going home to Malaysia," Loo said.
Lynne Vanahill, assistant director of International Student Services (ISS), said she thought most of KU's 1,410 international students stayed here during break, although a large number did travel home.
"Most students don't have the luxury of going home for winter and summer," Vanahill said. "It is very expensive, and this is just between semesters."
Vanahill said some students found it hard to be away from home for so long, but that most students who came from overseas were very independent.
"When you are expecting not to see your family, it's a little easier to handle." Vanahill said. "A lot of them do talk about homesickness, but I'm sure everyone goes through a little homesickness sometime in their college career."
Options to stay in the States do exist. ISS has sponsored a Thanksgiving homestay since 1954, which matches international students with a family for the whole break or just the meal. This year, around 30 students participated.
"It's a great program." said Sinkov, a participant four years ago. "They provide a home and give you the classical American Thanksgiving meal."
Vanahail said the majority of international students were here on personal funds rather than scholarship and that they could travel if they wanted to.
"They don't travel because of logistics," Vanahill said. "Some air fares are so expensive that they would rather wait until summer."
Jason Hylton, San Jose, Costa Rica, freshman, said he looked forward to returning home for the break.
"I miss the weather," Hylton said. "When it was down to 40's or 50's here, I didn't know if I was going to make it."
Hylton said he planned to enjoy the break from school after his first semester of college. The time away from his family hasn't been tough for Hylton, although it has been a new experience. If given the option, he said he would stay here and experience American holiday traditions.
"I lived in Latin America for 18 years," Hylton said. "This is my first time living in the United States. I'd like to go around and travel new places."
Thousands of holiday cards fill the shelves at James' Hallmark, 3514 Clinton Parkway. According to Hallmark representatives, Americans send 2.6 billion holiday cards annually. Photo by Matt J. Daugerhy/KANSAN
Cards seal communication
Stores offer variety for keeping in touch
By Matt J. Daugherty Special to the Kansan
The scent of fresh pine fills the air, warmth engulfs hearts and holiday cards stuff mailboxes across the country. The holiday spirit entices many people to reestablish contact with long lost acquaintances from coast to coast and across the globe.
"Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year," said Karin Borke, Storm Lake, Iowa freshman. "I always send cards to my best friends from high school and elementary school. I never get to see any of them any more because we all go to different universities across the country. It's kind of nice, because at least this way we still have a little bit of contact."
The card industry estimates that Americans send 2.6 billion holiday cards every year. Hallmark Cards, Inc., alone, produces 2,300 designs of individual holiday cards and 1,800 holiday card designs in boxed sets.
Michelle Buckley, a Hallmark holiday card division spokesperson in Kansas City, Mo., said the company worked hard to try to create a diverse line of cards that appealed to diverse people.
"Hallmark's goal is to create a card for everyone," Buckley said. "We make humorous, inspirational and religious cards in addition to the more traditional cards. We also offer 122 holiday cards targeted for different ethnic groups."
Hallmark recently introduced a line of cards called the Mahogany collection, which features African-American families on the card fronts.
"I think the Mahogany line and the other lines are very important to people because it allows people to send cards linked to their own ethnicity." Buckley said.
Designing holiday cards for Hallmark begins early. Buckley said Hallmark designers were putting the final touches on cards for the year 2000 holiday season this month.
Hallmark also produces a line of cards printed in foreign languages including Spanish, German, French, Hungarian, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Italian, Polish and Swedish.
Rod's Hallmark, 2329 Iowa St., offers thousands of holiday cards as both single cards, which usually cost $1 to $4 each, as well as boxed sets that cost from $13 to $22 for sets of 12 to 25 cards. If ordered by Dec. 15, most of Hallmark's boxed sets include one line of free personalized imprinting.
"People started coming in September wanting to buy Christmas, New Year's and even thank you cards," Wilkinson said. "We start getting shipments of cards from Hallmark during the beginning of September, and we started putting them on the shelves as soon as we could find space for them. People just keep wanting more, and that's fine with us."
Vickie Wilkinson, Rod's Hallmark manager, said holiday cards are selling
fast, furious and early this season.
There are alternatives to the designer Hallmark cards. Discount and grocery stores offer more inexpensive boxed sets that sell for about $5 for 12 to 25 cards.
Wilkinson said some hot items this season included snowmen cards, Mahogany cards and cards that had slots to accommodate photos.
Another growing trend is photo cards, glossy photos with personalized messages added. Nearly all photo developing labs offer this service for about 50 cents per card. This has become a popular way to send a picture of friends or family without having to write a message.
As more people have access to computers, software companies are producing programs that enable people to design and print their own cards on home computers. Several programs are offered at local discount and office supply stores with varying features and prices. They range from $19.95 to $49.95.
Postal service in Lawrence not stamped by mail frenzy
By Matt Daugherty Special to the Kansas
Mailing 2.6 billion Christmas cards places an understandable stress on the U.S. Postal Service.
"The volume of incoming mail increases dramatically to non-university areas, but because mail drops off at KU, we see little overall increase in volume here," Reynolds said. "We don't deal with outgoing mail. We ship it off to Kansas City, so they are the ones that see the huge volume increased."
Lawrence Postmaster General William P. Reynolds said the post office, 645 Vermont St., has seen little increase in mail volume during the holidays because of the exodus of 28,000 KU students.
Terry Penland, customer relations manager for the Kansas City, Mo., postal service said the Kansas City metropolitan area sees huge volume jumps every year.
"Normally we process about 5.5 million pieces of mail daily, not including parcels," said Penland. "During the big Christmas rush, we process about 8 million pieces per day."
To ensure speedy mail processing during the holiday rush, the postal service has requested several things from both card producers and senders.
"It's really for the sender's good that they use only light-colored envelopes and write with dark ink because otherwise their mail could be delayed." Revnolds said.
Postal service scanners scan 10 envelopes per second, which equals 600 per minute. However, these scanners are disrupted by dark envelopes marked with light inks because there is not enough contrast for the scanners to read the addresses.
"I think the card industry has been very helpful in this by producing fewer cards with dark envelopes."
Another item that requires special attention by mail senders is the size of cards sent. Many large or uniquely sized cards require additional postage. If senders do not realize this, their mail could be returned for insufficient postage, Reynolds said.
Responsibilities of pet ownership make animals tough gifts
By Kelly Clasen
Special to the Kansan
Many children dreamed of waking up on Christmas morning, dashing to the tree and discovering that one of his or her packages was barking or meowing.
Few gifts warm the heart more than a new pet, such as a playful puppy or a rambunctious kitten. For most college students, however, pet experts recommend that a goldfish or small reptile might make a more suitable gift.
"We really discourage giving puppies and kittens as gifts," said Stacy Hoobler, office manager at the Lawrence Humane Society, 1805 E. 19th St.
"Pets are a lifelong commitment, not a Christmas gift," she said.
Hoobler said the society did not let people adopt pets during the holidays to give the pets as gifts.
"A boyfriend might come in
and pick out a really cute Cocker Spaniel for his girlfriend when he doesn't know if she really, truly wants the dog for life," she said. "It turns out that a lot of them get sent back here when the puppy is older and not so cute anymore."
Hooobier said that during the fall the society turned down many adoption applications from students who wanted to adopt pets but failed to get landlord approval.
Although the society does not put animals up for adoption as gifts, the society does offer an alternative in the form of gift certificates. The person giving the certificate has two options: to either check the box that says the giver wants to go pick out a pet together and promises to pay the adoption fees, or to check the box that says the fees have already been paid.
Sarah McCoy, livestock manager at Pet World, 711 W. 23 St., said she agreed with Hoobler.
"We try to stay away from selling puppies or kittens just because impulse buying happens a lot during Christmas." she said.
McCoy said business increased at Pet World during the holidays, especially in the sale of small animals and fish tanks.
Corinne Knapp, Lawrence junior, said she thought pets made good gifts under the right circumstances. Because her parents live on a farm, Knapp has two pets.
"I have a pig and a cat," she said. "Penny, my pig was a gift for my 16th birthday from my parents. We had just gotten the farm, and I really wanted a pig."
Most students, however, have received smaller pets as gifts, such as Kathy Bittinger, Salina junior. She received a kitten for a birthday present several years ago. The cat, Allie, now lives in Bittinger's Lawrence apartment.
"I can have pets, so I'd like to get a puppy or another kitten, or maybe a rabbit, something furry," she said.
Les Conn, manager of PetCare,
3115 Iowa St., said he liked to see
the recipient involved in the
selection process.
"You must take into account the person you are buying for." he said. "Any pet requires a certain amount of responsibility."
He said small animal sales increased during the holidays, and there was an increase of customers who came in to buy gifts for their pets.
"Customers buy a number of things for their pets," he said. "They just use Christmas as an occasion to get them something more special than they normally would have."
Pet gifts range from candy-cane-shaped rawhide chews to stockings packed full of holiday toys.
Bittinger said although she did not buy her cat any gifts for Christmas, her pet still enjoyed the holiday.
"Allie has fun when we all unwrap our presents," she said. "She really likes to play in all the wrappings and stuff."
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