Many international students decided to return to their home country after the outbreak of the Coronavirus escalated and Indiana University moved all classes online for the rest of the semester.
Pei-Tsun Chiang, Taiwanese master’s student at IU, called her parents and bought the flight ticket right after she knew that there would not be any in-person meetings on campus.
Chiang majors in piano performance, and face-to-face studio classes are essential to her learning. “There is no point for me to stay in Bloomington but not going to school. Also, my parents, they really want me to go back home as soon as possible,” she said.
She mentioned that having limited resources, such as medical, financial, and mental support if she got the virus in the United States was her biggest concern. She did not trust the health system with which she was not familiar, especially without a family taking care of her.
However, flying almost 8000 miles all the way back to Taiwan is challenging during the global pandemic. Knowing many travelers got infected at airports and on planes, Chiang packed all her belongings and prepared all kinds of protection gears in three days.
Pei-Tsun Chiang talked about her long travel back to her country, Taiwan.
She had been extra cautious when she spent more than 30 hours traveling back home. “For the long flight back to Taiwan, I literally just stayed on my seat and I never went to the restroom and I didn’t eat. I only drank water for two times. I wore gloves with me and masks,” Chiang said.
Wearing masks and disposable gloves, bringing hand sanitizers, and using alcohol spray to clean the seats on a plane is the basic protection for these students. Some travelers even wear protective clothing and goggles during the trip.
Wei-Yun Chang, IU Taiwanese student, said the atmosphere was intense because people had well prepared with protective equipment, “It’s stressful for me for the entire trip.”
Parents across the Pacific Ocean were looking forward to seeing their kids return home safely. It was an unusual reunion without any close interactions with their loved ones because students were afraid of bringing the virus back home and infecting others.
“It’s kind of weird. When I first saw my parents, we could not hug, and we could only stand in distance and say hi. And I went straight to my room,” Chiang said.
The Taiwanese government imposes a required home quarantine on all travelers who enter the country. They have to stay in their own rooms and are not allowed to leave the house for two weeks to avoid spreading the virus. People in quarantine have to rely on their families or food delivery services to meet their essential needs.
Wei-Yun Chang described how stressful she was during the long travel.
These students mentioned that the first thing they would do after the quarantine was going outside for a walk. “I think it’s just really great to know that, actually the fresh is really nice after 14 days of quarantine,” Chang said.
The United States has more than one million confirmed cases and more than 67,000 deaths. International students are not sure about the return date to be back on campus, but they feel safe to be with family during the global crisis.
