WEEK10 - SPRING BREAK 2.0 (PANDEMIC EDITION)

“The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore.”
Ferdinand Magellan

Monday

This week has been very strange. Campus has been very, very empty. I’ve been living in a four-bedroom apartment by myself and the health situation across the world has is changing so much every day. The other international students and I have been feeling quite down since returning from Spring Break because there’s a huge sense of uncertainty about whether we should leave or not. There have been border closures, flight cancellations and countries going into total lock down. Cary Street Gym has also closed for a deep clean because of the virus so this week will be spent in West Grace North.

Tuesday

Today my friends Nikki and Gabby both decided to book flights home for tomorrow. This is due to the fact that there are rumours of governments cancelling all flights, so there’s a possibility that we’ll end up being stuck here. At this point the rest of us are really considering booking flights too, because we don’t know how things will change in the next couple of days again. Nikki, Yara, Gabby, Weronika and I all cooked dinner together this evening as a last supper. The boys came over later in the evening and we spent our time relaxing and having some drinks.

It’s crazy how much things have changed since last week when I was in New York. All my friends back in England have had their universities closed, and right now it seems that my living situation is better than that in England and the rest of Europe. However, I’m sure that soon enough the US will begin locking down states. Right now, restaurants are still open for takeaways, and cafes are open. This has been nice because there are still people out and about trying to get on with their day to day lives which makes me feel safer. Who knows how things are going to change though.

Yara currently cannot get back into Qatar for two weeks, so she’s planning on booking a flight home as soon as her airport opens again. Right now, I’m really confused about what to do; I don’t want to have to leave Richmond early, but the experience isn’t going to be the same now as last semester. I also don’t want to be left alone if the majority of the other international students have left. This week the situation has changed so much, therefore, I’m just going to take each day as it comes and if I need to book a next day flight then I will.

If I decide to leave, I’m definitely planning on completing my classes online and finishing the semester in England. It would make no sense for me to try and reintegrate into the UWE system at this point in the semester, as I would have completed 10 weeks of extra work here at VCU.

Wednesday

Today I booked my flight home. The situation is too unstable at the moment to keep waiting to see if things will improve. Most of us have booked our flights now and we’re all really upset that our study abroad experience has to be cut short. Although, I have definitely made the most of my time here. I’m going to fly home on Saturday from Richmond International Airport, with a layover at Newark Airport, New Jersey. I’m slightly worried about connecting flights being cancelled due to states slowly going into lock down here, but this was the best choice I had at such short notice.

Friday

This week has gone by so slowly and it has been quite sad for everyone. People have left one by one throughout the week so there have been a lot of sad goodbyes and final hugs. As West Grace North is a Globe building (it houses international students), those who live in other halls on campus had to move into our building, due to the fact that all other VCU residence halls have now closed. Restaurants in Richmond are now open for takeaway only, however there have still been a lot of people out and about. Within the next couple of weeks, I think that the situation will worsen in America to be similar to that in Europe.

As I’m flying tomorrow, I began packing today and have also collected some of my work from the Arts Building. The weather has been amazing for the past couple of days (28 degrees), so I’ve spent a lot of time outside. But as campus is so quiet and a lot of the international students have now left, the atmosphere hasn’t been the same.

Yara also left today. She is staying in D.C. with some family friends for a couple of weeks whilst she waits for the Qatar airports to reopen. Although I’m really upset about leaving Richmond, this week showed that my experience wouldn’t be the same now if it continued. I’ll still be continuing my VCU classes online, which is what all other VCU students will be doing, so I won’t be missing out too much.

Below are some screenshots of emails I've received in the last couple of days regarding COVID-19. These show how quickly the pandemic has escalated and just how serious government restrictions are becoming.

@_bringyourpassport

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📍The Vessel, NY 🇺🇸

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📍Brooklyn Bridge, New York 🇺🇸

📍Times Square, New York 🇺🇸

📍Georgetown, Washington D.C. 🇺🇸

📍Washington D.C., USA 🇺🇸

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📍London, UK🇬🇧

📍Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town🇿🇦

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📍Wild flowers from Kirstenbosch and Namaqualand 🇿🇦

📍Simon’s Town, Cape Town🇿🇦

📍Fish Hoek Beach, South Africa 🇿🇦

📍Boulder Beach, South Africa 🇿🇦

📍Southsea, Portsmouth 🇬🇧

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📍Golfo Aranci, Sardinia 🇮🇹

📍San Pantaleo Market, Sardinia 🇮🇹

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📍Streets of Kalkan, Turkey 🇹🇷

📍Kalkan Harbour 🚙

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📍Kalkan, Turkey 🇹🇷

📍Kalkan, Turkey 🌈

📍Kalkan, Turkey 🇹🇷

📍Ha Long Bay, Vietnam 🇻🇳

📍Costa Rica 🇨🇷

📍Granada, Spain 🇪🇸

📍Longhope, England 🇬🇧

📍Ostuni, Italy 🇮🇹

📍San Clemente, California 🇺🇸

📍17 Mile Drive - California 🇺🇸

📍Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica 🇨🇷

📍Hoi An, Vietnam 🇻🇳

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