STUCK STUDYING ABROAD: Students, colleges navigate studying abroad in midst of crisis

<p>The days are simple now and the streets are empty.</p><p>Franklin College sophomore Carolina Puga Mendoza is living a life of uncertain solitude. While the world has shut down around her in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19, a new disease that has killed more than 42,000 people globally, Puga Mendoza is stranded in Roehampton, a suburb of London almost 4,000 miles from Franklin.</p><p>Her days consist of doing coursework online, eating meals in her apartment, watching YouTube videos and taking walks to the neighborhood park.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>The vast majority of the 112 students she was studying with from all over the world, who had gathered at the University of Roehampton for what was supposed to be a semester of learning and international experiences, returned home the week of March 16. It was then that the United States’ ban on travel from the United Kingdom and Ireland went into effect. The action followed an earlier ban on travel from continental Europe to the United States.</p><p>The travel restrictions did not apply to U.S. nationals, so most Americans were able to go home. Puga Mendoza, however, resides in the United States on an H4 Visa, meaning she was unsure if she would be allowed to travel back to Indiana, she said.</p><p>Puga Mendoza had the option to travel to Mexico, where she grew up, but was worried that if she had the virus she might spread it to older family members before showing symptoms, she said.</p><p>The virus can cause coughing, fever, tiredness and difficulty breathing, and is especially deadly for seniors and people with underlying medical conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p><p>Puga Mendoza booked a trip back to Indianapolis on May 19, but there is no certainty that the travel ban will be lifted by then. Earlier this week, Virginia extended its stay-at-home order to June 10, marking the longest lock down in the nation so far. Indiana’s stay-at-home order is set to expire Tuesday, but is subject to an extension.</p><p>London is the most severely hit region of the United Kingdom, and has more than 7,000 cases of the virus, even infecting Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who issued a stay-at-home order for the United Kingdom on March 24. Puga Mendoza first remembers hearing about the coronavirus in February, when its spread in China made international news. Later that month, it hit Europe, and in March, the bodies started to pile up in Italy, which now has the most COVID-19 deaths in the world with more than 13,000, according to the U.S. News and World Report.</p><p>“On March 27, I got an email from the school and the city of London that the city was officially closing down,” Puga Mendoza said. “The (National Health Service) sent an email to my school and said people can go once a day for a walk, make sure to practice social distancing and can go for groceries or to take care of someone.”</p><p>Toward the end of February, she ventured to Barcelona to meet with Franklin College sophomore Hope Shrum, who was studying in Montpellier, France. It was the only trip Puga Mendoza made outside England before European countries began closing their borders due to the rapid spread of the virus, Puga Mendoza said.</p><p>Shrum, who has just finished a two-week quarantine required of recent European travelers, left France on March 18 after studying at L’université Paul-Valéry-Montpellier since mid-January. Two days before that, President Emmanuel Macron ordered a nationwide lock down, closing all restaurants, cafes, theaters and other non-essential businesses. When the lock down happened, it followed a shutdown of all French schools imposed the previous week.</p><p>It was then that Shrum started to get nervous about if she would be able to leave, she said.</p><p>“Things changed for the first time when President Macron made the announcement that all schools in France were closing; that was the first time things really changed,” Shrum said. “I did go out with some friends the night all non-essential businesses shut down. We had just been to the beach and were at a restaurant when we found out everything was going to be shut down.”</p><p>On the night of March 16, Franklin College sent emails to its three study abroad students, Shrum, Puga Mendoza and another student in the United Kingdom, asking them to come home, said Jenny Cataldi, the college’s study abroad program director.</p><p>“Any situation like this is challenging. It’s fortunate we work within a well-established network of programs within state department guidelines,” Cataldi said. “We wanted students to all be back home. The parents were all graceful and understood. Once a decision was made to bring them home, they were home within three days.”</p><p>During the winter immersive term, the school had more than 80 students and faculty members abroad, including in Japan, but the program wrapped up before the virus started spreading more significantly, she said.</p><p>Most of the 15 Franklin College students who were scheduled to study abroad this summer have canceled those plans, and were given an option to postpone their trips to the winter term. The college will make the decision on all summer programs the week of April 15, Cataldi said.</p><p>She hopes the pandemic does not change the minds of students who have the opportunity to study abroad in the future, she said.</p><p>“Now, more than ever, we’re seeing how internationally related society is,” Cataldi said. “While stressful, the positive side is students still want to travel. As an educator, this has been really heartwarming to see.”</p><p>For Shrum, who did not leave her house in Spencer for two weeks during self-quarantine, the trip to France will likely be her final study abroad trip, as another trip might jeopardize her chances of graduating on time, she said.</p><p>On the trip back, France had shut down flights from Montpellier except for two daily trips to Paris. She connected in Paris to a flight to Atlanta, where she connected to a flight to Indianapolis. After landing in Indiana, she drove separately from her parents, and had no contact with anyone for two weeks after she landed, except for seeing her mother from a distance as she dropped off food for her, she said.</p><p>Although countries around the world have enacted strict lockdown measures, not enough was done in the early stages of the virus, Shrum said.</p><p>“I think they were a little late. Seeing how everything was shut down in a few days, it went from being a very relaxed environment to a very shut off and cautious one,” Shrum said. “In France, people were still very chill and relaxed.”</p><p>On Tuesday, the White House projected 100,000 to 240,000 Americans would die from coronavirus-related illnesses.</p><p>While most will survive the virus, people should prepare for the growing possibility that they will contract it at some point, Puga Mendoza said, alluding to infectious disease expert Mary Schmidt’s warning that the virus could survive on shoes for up to five days.</p><p>“I feel everyone is going to get it at some point,” Puga Mendoza said. “The virus can live on your shoes for five days. I feel regardless (of what I do), I’m gonna get it at some point. Maybe not now or soon, but at some point.”</p>