The short stay could have been a problem for freshman Lauren Bailey from Pennsylvania, but her parents extended the Parents Weekend into a vacation. They arrived Friday morning and went to the luau luncheon Friday afternoon and to brunch on Saturday.

“They said the food was good, they liked it,” Bailey said.

Her parents stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland. During the weekend, Bailey and her parents went to Long Beach and had lunch on the pier. They also went shopping and visited Downtown Disney.

Time had flown for Bailey since the start of school.

“The best part, was seeing them for the first time,” Bailey said. “It seemed like they had just dropped me off.”

Her parents will be staying continuing their vacation in California a few more days after they leave Biola.

Other students, however, were not as fortunate as Bailey.

“I knew from the start my parents weren’t going to come,” said freshman Faith Brown from El Paso, Texas. Brown’s parents are pastors of a church and can’t be away on Sundays.

“It also costs money to get here,” Brown said. “We’re really trying to save.”

Brown wanted her parents to come. She missed seeing them and wanted to show them around the school. She explained how her family didn’t really soak in all of Biola when they dropped her off in August. Her family had taken a road trip down to La Mirada, arrived Wednesday and stayed in a hotel. Her parents left Friday after visiting Disneyland and other sites.

“Biola is a lot bigger than they think,” said Brown recalling how lost she felt walking around the first few days.

Brown doesn’t think her parents will ever come down for a future Parents Weekend considering the 12-hour distance. She will just have to wait until Christmas to see them again.

Ji Hye Lee doesn’t pay attention to Parents Weekend. Not anymore, that is.

Sitting in class during her first year at Biola, Lee noticed two parents sitting alongside a friend of hers. Lee noted that Parents Weekend was a good event for parents to be able to bond with their children and see how college life has been for them. Lee was happy for her friend, but it made her miss her own parents. Her second year at Biola, Lee stopped paying attention to Parents Weekend.

“I was really sad that I didn’t have my parents to come sit with me,” Lee said.

Lee is a senior at Biola and an international student from Korea. For her parents to be able to come out to Biola’s Parents Weekend they would have to pay for the plane tickets and hotel only be able to stay for two or three days. They have jobs back home that would suffer from leaving the country for a few days, so Lee did not tell them about the event. Lee’s parents have not even seen Biola’s campus and probably won’t until graduation.

“I’m waiting for that day … I will show them everything,” Lee said. “My graduation will be my Parents Weekend too.”