By Michele Barletta

Quincy University hosts a number of international students from all corners of the world, all of which, had big decisions to make once the spread of Covid-19 increased.

There isn’t a sector of society that hasn’t been affected by the Corona Virus and college students everywhere, are feeling the effects in a unique way. Students will be completing the rest of the semester exclusively online, meaning that the international students could be able to complete it from the comfort of their own home.

Brazilian student, Felipe Teles Santana, says that as soon as he knew of the possibility of going home, he knew it was the best thing to do.

“I called my parents and we were able to change my flight dates in an hour,” Santana said.

A growing concern for these students were the travel bans being put in place for different countries during this time.

“While traveling, I was checking the news every hour to know if my country was going to allow me to fly back home,” Santana said.

Unfortunately, Sebastian Gomez was not as lucky as others on his journey back to Peru. Gomez’ flight to Peru left from Florida, and upon his arrival in the sunshine state, he was notified that Peru had implemented a travel ban which meant his flight would not be taking off.

Gomez is staying with relatives in Florida until it is clear for him to go home.

Gomez says that traveling during these strange circumstances made him feel a little uncomfortable.

“I was traveling with gloves and masks, but the experience was scarier than usual for sure,” Gomez said.

Jamaican student Tiger Thomas, who recently journeyed back to his home town of Kingston, said that a lot of travelers, including himself, were taking precautions to do their best to avoid being infected.

“I tried to wash my hands a lot and not touch my face, it felt very tense, a lot of people were wearing masks,” Thomas said.

Santana did his best to be prepared for his travels home, however it wasn’t easy as stores had already sold out of supplies.

“I wore gloves and an improvised face mask, I also tried buying had sanitizer in Quincy and at the airports, but all of them had sold out,” Santana said.

These students are now making the transition to working online in order to complete their classes for this semester. It might not all be smooth sailing right from the beginning but Thomas is ready for the challenge.

“I don’t like online classes if I’m honest, but there’s no other alternative so I’ll make it work,” Thomas said.

Gomez believes that having online classes will force him to manage his time better and be more responsible for his work, while Santana has taken online classes before, and doesn’t seem to be worried about completing the rest of the semester remotely.

“Stay healthy, stay at home and use hand-sanitizer. Go Hawks!” Santana said.