COVID-19 has wreaked havoc all over the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the coronavirus has been labeled a pandemic. Currently, there are more than three million positive test results of COVID-19 in the world. The United States confirms one million of those coronavirus cases.

Indiana University actively responded to the COVID-19 situation and on March 15th, suspended face-to-face classroom teaching and transitioned to virtual learning for the rest of the spring semester. Most IU students started online classes and obeyed the stay-at-home order. At the same time, it was not easy for international students to experience such issues away from their hometowns and countries.

The spread of the coronavirus has resulted in panic across the world. Wearing masks is an efficacious way to protect yourself from the virus while going outside or shopping, but it is unusual in the US and European countries. Many internationals in the U.S suffered racial discrimination because of wearing masks in the beginning.

Moreover, some words like “Chinese corona” were written on the Chinese students’ housing doors. According to the news, a Singaporean student met the coronavirus-related taunt and assault in London.

COVID-19 caused lots of international flights to be canceled. Some internationals returned to their countries from the U.S, but still met with some problems. They were accused of returning home with the virus and had to undergo medical isolation for more than 14 days. Now, they worry that they cannot return to the U.S. to continue studying at college in the Fall semester.

On March 13th, the U.S. government announced that as long as you maintain full-time enrollment online during the COVID-19 emergency, there will be no negative impact on your immigration status, even if you depart the United States and take your IU classes online from elsewhere. More detailed information, you can look at Office of International Services’ website.

However, it is relatively safe for international students to live in Bloomington. Although they need cut down on outdoor activities and are missing some of their friends, they feel fine to study online classes and connect with their families via the Internet.

IU junior Yiran Liu said taking online classes will make her time relatively free. She doesn’t need to spend time running from one classroom to the another one. She can better use her time to finish her assignments and relax in her Bloomington home.

IU requires instructors to record their courses via zoom. It is helpful for IU students to study in different time zones. IU also offers VPN that can help international students continue online learning outside the US.

Moreover, the IU Residential Services  office closed on-campus housing to reduce large concentrations of students sharing public spaces and dining facilities but allowed students who do not have another residence to petition to remain in IU housing.

IU senior Bingchan Liu, who lives in Campus View Apartments, said the IU RPS office took one week to process her petition. Since to her flight to China was canceled twice, she has to stay in the housing until July.