The coronavirus pandemic has forced students abroad to make decisions regarding their travel and living situations.

IU junior Tamar Sher cut her study abroad experience in Florence short. Her parents were concerned that if she did not leave Italy, she may become stuck there.

“My parents and I had a really long phone call just deciding, you know what? They didn’t want me to be stuck in Italy.”

Sher is now in the middle of a 14-day quarantine period in Chicago, before she is able to return to her home in St. Louis.

While IU junior Julie Blichmann was studying abroad in Milan, she left the city to go on a weekend trip. While on her trip she received notice that she would not be able to return to Milan. All of her belongings were still at her apartment.

Blichmann then decided to continue to travel Europe rather than return to the United States. She stayed with friends who were studying abroad in other cities and lived out of a suitcase.

Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would ban all travel from Europe to the U.S. for foreigners for the next thirty days, effective Friday March 13th. While the travel ban would not affect Blichmann directly, she has decided to return home this weekend via London.

We interviewed Blichmann before this announcement was made.

The news surrounding COVID-19 changes every day. Sher said that in Italy, the panic ensued quickly.

“Things just rapidly got worse instead of better.”

For Blichmann who was still abroad, she said her stress level rose the more countries and individuals that became affected.

“Building on the stress. It almost makes you want to go home even if you don’t really want to go home. I’d rather be in Europe but just a lot of stress at this point.”

While Sher has not been tested for the coronavirus, she wants to take the proper precautions in quarantining herself in case she does happen to unknowingly be a carrier. She and her roommate were amongst the last of her friends studying abroad to leave Florence.

Blichmann said her biggest fear was not catching the virus, but rather being stuck in Europe unable to return home.

“My biggest concern is like being able to get to and fro, and go home whenever I wanted to go home.”

Italy is now marked as a Level 3 country for coronavirus. At this time, more than 1,000 people in Italy have died as a result of COVID-19.

Indiana University has suspended in-person classes through April 6th as a precautionary measure.

IU NewsNet will continue to update this story.