13 Students in Spain Return Home Safely
May 04, 2020 - 12:15 AM
The dry, incessant coughing of the woman at the airport in Madrid, Spain meant one thing to Mt. 91直播 Sociology major Maya Holley: COVID-19.
She planned to spend her semester studying abroad in Europe, but now she was just
hoping to get home safely after the pandemic swept through Spain. She was in a country
that became one of the worst Coronavirus hotspots on Earth. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 just walk
away from the coughing woman. We were in line for our plane back home. Flights were
being delayed or getting cancelled, so we had to make that flight.鈥�
Mt. 91直播 World Languages professor Aaron Salinger reports that Maya and all 12 other
Mt. 91直播 students that were studying abroad in Seville, Spain have safely returned
home. None of the students have reported any symptoms and all have surpassed the initial
14-day screening period following foreign travel.
What started off as a beautiful, cultural immersion semester turned into a nightmare of lockdown in a foreign country, with many students desperately struggling to find food and a flight home.
The semester was originally supposed to happen in Barcelona, but an independence movement there, and a possibility that protests might grow violent, changed the location to Seville.
Mt. 91直播 Art major Savannah Schuman said, 鈥淓verything about Seville is beautiful- the
architecture, the arts, the streets. The pace of life is a lot slower over there.
For the first time in my life, I got to focus solely on school.鈥�
Student Clinton Nwogu agreed. 鈥淭heir time seems to work different than ours. The lifestyle and culture were really different.鈥�
鈥淚f you submerge yourself in the culture it changes you,鈥� said Maya. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a whole new perception - a completely different world.鈥�
鈥淚 had never been out of the country before,鈥� said Savannah. 鈥淓very night, after class, you just went exploring.鈥�
Clinton said it took him about two weeks to get adjusted. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 speak Spanish. So I used Google Translate to talk with people and Maps to get around.鈥�
鈥淚t is easy to get lost in Seville,鈥� explained Salinger, who was one of the instructors for the semester. 鈥淭he streets are really narrow and there are no tall landmarks, like mountains, to use as a point of reference. So, their first few weeks, they are trying to get their physical bearings, along with their cultural bearings.鈥�
鈥淚 started to really enjoy myself the third week we were there,鈥� said Clinton. 鈥淏ut then the coronavirus happened.鈥�
According to Salinger, Seville felt far removed from the COVID-19 panic. 鈥淭he news
in papers and on TV was all about the major cities.鈥�
But that was about to change as the entire country of Spain shutdown overnight.
The American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) was the educational tour company contracted to provide both educational experiences to the students, as well as a lifeline for them to find housing, get around, and arrange for transportation.
Before the trip had even begun, AIFS had told Salinger about their extensive crisis
and disaster preparedness. 鈥淭hey thought it might be a natural disaster or terrorism
they were preparing for.鈥�
It turned out to be the worst pandemic in a century. 鈥淭hrough it all, AIFS never stopped working to help the students during lockdown and getting them home,鈥� said Salinger.
鈥淥n March 12, we got a notice from AIFS that there was a mandatory meeting,鈥� said Savannah. 鈥淣o one in the city was freaking out at that point.鈥�
鈥淥ne of my roommates had a friend in Italy, so it was in the back of my mind,鈥� explained Clinton. 鈥淏ut I was saying to myself, 鈥榠t鈥檚 not going to happen in Spain鈥�.鈥�
In fact, Spain was about to join Italy as ground zero for outbreaks in Europe. Spain was hit so hard with COVID-19 that the New York Times reported the country had the highest death and infection rate per capita of any large nation in the world.
鈥淚t became reality when our study abroad team decided it was safer to suspend our program. We were supposed to be ready to leave within a few days,鈥� said student Myranda Ruiz. 鈥淚t was really scary because we weren鈥檛 watching the news, so we didn鈥檛 know how bad it was.鈥�
鈥淚t took me a while to process the news and let it sink in,鈥� said Clinton. 鈥淲e had 10 days to book our flights and get out.鈥�
But hearing news of the outbreak in the USA, Salinger and students had to decide if it was safer to stay in Seville, with relatively few cases, or come home to Southern California, which was growing to become the United States鈥� third hotspot behind New York and Washington State.
Ultimately, all but two students (from other community colleges in the same Study Abroad program) decided to return home as soon as they could.
鈥淚 considered staying,鈥� said Savannah. 鈥淏ut then Spain just shut down overnight and
they would ticket you if you left your house.鈥�
Finding food even became a problem for Maya after the shutdown. 鈥淲e were in Portugal and when we got back, everything was closed. We were very hungry and could only find one restaurant open and it was really high priced. We didn鈥檛 have the money on us. So we had to buy snacks at a liquor store and went to a park to eat them. That鈥檚 when a cop came and scolded us for being out.鈥�
While everyone thought Seville was a nice, safe place to be until their flights home, it suddenly became a very real possibility to Salinger that they would not get to the Madrid or Barcelona airports. 鈥淭hose cities were undergoing terrible outbreaks and travel was being cut off to them. It was a mad panic of people trying to leave.鈥�
鈥淲e went looking for plane tickets and they were selling out as fast we were trying to buy them,鈥� said Savannah. 鈥淪o we just got what we could鈥�
鈥淚t felt like an evacuation, not a train trip, to Madrid,鈥� said Salinger. 鈥淲e got on the second to last train that would leave Seville.鈥�
Arriving early in Madrid meant that lodging had to be secured until the flight home. 鈥淚t was completely surreal,鈥� described Salinger. 鈥淲hen we got to our Madrid hotel, they were terminating their staff.鈥�
Savannah experienced anxiety rising even after securing tickets. 鈥淲e went out looking for snacks for the airplane and the streets were empty and everything was closed. We couldn鈥檛 find anything to eat. We got to the airport and still couldn鈥檛 find any food, the vending machines were empty and our flight just kept getting delayed.鈥�
The stress did not end once Savannah got on the plane. 鈥淭he flight out of Madrid had heavy turbulence, so it just added to our anxiety level and I couldn鈥檛 sleep. It took us 35 hours to get home. In Boston we changed planes and they screened everybody, took our temperature and picture.鈥�
The surreality of the situation continued for Salinger as well. 鈥淐ustoms was no problem.
They asked us questions, but did not even take our temperature. The flight was only
1/3 full and everyone was social distancing. When we finally got to LAX, it was empty.
The signs were only about traveling from Wuhan. There was nothing about Italy or Europe.
So, it was strange.鈥�
Some students returned to less than stable housing situations. Many of the families were worried about taking in their sons or daughters. 鈥淪ome moved the grandparents out of the house out of caution,鈥� said Salinger. 鈥淥ther students had nowhere to go once they were back. They had planned for a semester abroad, so they didn鈥檛 have apartments to come back to.鈥�
鈥淥ne of my roommates in Seville had roommates back home who would not let her move back in,鈥� said Maya. 鈥淪he had to get her mom to rent a hotel room for two weeks to quarantine in.鈥�
While Maya did not have to worry about her living situation in the States, she still
faced a stigma from being in Spain. 鈥淢y friends back home wanted to see me and bring
me food to welcome me back, but their parents wouldn鈥檛 even let them drop something
off at my house.鈥�
Salinger said, 鈥淔or some of these students, their priority was not school, but just finding a place to live.鈥�
鈥淓ven though I realize my health is more important, I really feel robbed of the Study Abroad experience,鈥� said Savannah. 鈥淚 got attached to Seville. I went from walking 12 miles a day around the city, to being quarantined for two weeks and can鈥檛 leave the house.鈥�
鈥淲hen I got home, I just wanted to be back in Spain,鈥� said Maya. 鈥淭hat felt more like home to me.鈥�
Through it all, Salinger looks forward to future study abroad programs and said that Madrid is being looked at for Spring, contingent on the COVID-19 situation. 鈥淲e were there just long enough to see the students really start to blossom as global citizens. That鈥檚 what Study Abroad is all about: making students understand the world around them.鈥�
鈥淚 ended up loving the place,鈥� said Clinton. 鈥淭he lifestyle and culture were really
different. It was quite an experience.鈥�
鈥淚 had never been out of the country before,鈥� explained Savannah. 鈥淚鈥檓 on a tight school schedule and I won two scholarships to get there, so I might never get another chance to study abroad. But some day, I will go back to Seville.鈥�
Maya knows that whatever the future holds, even in a post-pandemic world, she will
still be determined to get back to where she should be right now. 鈥淢y roommates and
I have plans to go to Amsterdam when things return to normal. I haven鈥檛 even converted
my money yet, even though I need it. It鈥檚 hard to let go.鈥�
She paused, thinking not about the fear and anxiety of the trip, but instead of the good times and what might have been. 鈥淭he three weeks I had鈥� it changed my life.鈥�
For more information on Study Abroad programs, please visit the website.