Two weeks ago, I received the devastating news that I would be getting sent home from my study abroad semester in Spain, due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Two days after receiving this news, Spain went into a lockdown and a state of emergency. All schools and public places shut down. I got on a plane and returned home to Massachusetts right before the travel ban was put in place. Here, almost everything is becoming the same. Manhattan College has shut down for the rest of the semester, along with many other colleges and public schools.
I don’t have a plan at all, and I don’t think anybody does either. Being sent home from study abroad obviously wasn’t supposed to be in the cards when I signed up for this. Right after they told us, myself, along with many others, were crying. This had been a dream of mine for so long. Since I’ve been home, life has become dull. I do my online classes, but that’s about it. It’s hard to believe that a month ago, I was traveling the world, and now I’m back at home. In the back of my mind, it’s killing me to think about the high probability of my summer internship being cancelled.
I am forever grateful for those two months I spent in Europe, though. They were amazing, and I will always cherish the time that I spent there. I know that I will be back one day. For right now, my heart breaks for other countries, and how terribly they’re being impacted by this. My heart breaks for anyone who is sick. My heart breaks for those who are all losing their jobs from this terrible tragedy that nobody could see coming. That’s the thing I keep telling myself though, is that this really has affected everyone in some way, shape, or form, all in a negative manner. We are all in this together, and somehow, we will get through this crazy and scary time.