Being home for the holidays is easy when you only live a few hours away from campus. However, Harding has a wide variety of students from all around the world, so for some, going home over the break was not an option.
Senior Emir Ahmedic is from Bosnia. He discovered Harding because he went to high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, at Little Rock Christian. Ahmedic said that COVID-19 has made it difficult to travel back home to Bosnia. He said he plans to stay in Little Rock during break because of the lengthy trip and the current travel regulations.
“I miss being with my family, but I also miss the food from my country the most,” Ahmedic said. “I miss Baklava and Cevapi, which are like sausage fingers. I also miss Burek — that is a meat pie with potatoes and meat in it.”
Some students’ countries aren’t as affected by COVID-19, like freshman Dorian Benkovic, who is from Croatia — a smaller country that has not been as affected by COVID-19 compared to larger countries like the U.S.
Benkovic said he has chosen to stay home over the break to save money, and he plans to stay with his roommate’s family in Bald Knob, Arkansas.
“The hardest part is not being with my friends and family,” Benkovic said. “I chose to stay in Bald Knob for the holidays, but I still miss being with my friends and family, and being away from this for long periods of time is hard.”
Junior Ramiro Santiago, who is from Argentina, was recruited to play basketball at Harding. Santiago said he plans to go to his girlfriend’s house for the holidays because of the high number of positive COVID-19 cases where he is from. Santiago said he had to stay in the U.S. during the summer for the same reason.
“For me, the hardest part is that I miss my family a lot,” Santiago said. “I miss everything — every little part and every little detail.”
