COVID-19 affected my trip in many ways. When I was leaving for Australia, coronavirus wasn’t that big of a deal and didn’t seem like it would ever get to the point it is now as of April 2020. In a journal I wrote down some of my fears for studying abroad and one of my points was coronavirus. Even though I had mentioned it, I was way more concerned about the brushfires in Australia than the virus. About halfway through after arriving, talk about the virus got more serious. Everyday seemed to get worse and worse and we didn’t know if it was going to turn around. We then got email updates everyday about it either through NAU and UNSW. Then I started to get emails about certain student’s study abroad trips getting cancelled and warnings that if the travel advisory in our host country rose above a Level 3, we would have to come home. I did get a little nervous after that email, but I never thought it would get that bad in Australia.
One day in our study abroad student’s group chat, one of the guys from Pennsylvania shared with us an email saying his program was cancelled and he had to return home. We were all really sad for him and then began the waiting game to see if our programs would be cancelled too. Soon most of our classes went online. A week or two later the two Canadians of the group decided they were going to go home due to the situation. A week later a guy from ASU decided he was going to go home with his family who had come to visit. There were only four of us left from the group and we all decided we were going to stay until we’re told we must go. It was the last day my parents were there, and news came out about there being no international flights after March 30th indefinitely. I began to get scared and considered leaving before then. I told my parents my concerns and they agreed I should fly home as soon as possible. I didn’t tell the other girls for a day because I was still conflicted about my decision to go. I finally told my roomate, Becca, and she began to consider leaving as well. About an hour later we both recieved an email that our program was cancelled and we had to return back home immediatley. Soon, the other two girls left from ASU recieved a similar email. We all booked flights back to the states and planned out our last few days in Sydney.
