Weinberg freshman Jaime Huling spent part of Family Weekend watering flowers her parents sent as a condolence for not making the trip to Evanston.

“All of my friends are either at home or out with their parents,” she said. “We ate at Allison for dinner Friday, and the place was deserted. Everyone was eating out with their parents.”

Huling’s parents were in Scotland this weekend, but her cousin came from California to visit.

Although the weekend meant free food and family fun for many Northwestern students, for others, especially international students, it was just another weekend.

Weinberg junior Norman Wyrwoll said his parents haven’t made the trip from Frankfurt, Germany, to spend Family Weekend with him any of his three years at NU.

“I’m used to not seeing them,” he said. “It’s just a normal weekend for me.”

Weinberg freshman Lynn Sung said it would have been pointless for her parents to come from Hong Kong for only a weekend because they would have had to spend days on a plane.

“I really would have liked them to come,” she said, “but it just wouldn’t be worth the trip.”

But not all students whose parents live abroad spent Family Weekend alone. Luka Spoljaric, a McCormick freshman from Ljubljana, Slovenia, said his dad planned a business trip so he would be in Chicago for the weekend.

“We went to downtown Chicago, did some shopping, and I took them out to dinner to Dave’s Italian Kitchen,” Spoljaric said. “My dad also went to see the football game, but he left after the first quarter. American football is too boring for him.”