68 students studying all around the world were recalled from their programs in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Since that time, “we have been extremely busy doing repair work,” said Karl Markgraf, Chief International Officer and Director of International Programs and Services at University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). 

Study Abroad has been planning for future student mobility by continuously evaluating health and safety situations at home and abroad. But what happened to the students whose trips were cut short? 

Olive Myers, a student who has since graduated from UMD, studied in Aix-en-Provence on the French Riviera. Myers arrived in January 2020 and was there for just over two months — she missed out on about a month and a half of her trip. 

“I have always had this yearn for travelling,” she said. Going to France was the first time Myers had ever travelled alone. “As soon as I got on the plane I was way too excited to sleep.”

It was mid-January and Myers' first outing with other international students, everyone was having lunch when one of the girls started talking about an outbreak happening in China. 

Everyone seemed to dismiss it, with Myers thinking there was a “fat chance” they were going to be sent home. One student from the U.K. made jokes about the school shutting down, and eventually, it did. 

“It wasn’t until March first or second that it was really scary. Before that it was jokes, we never took it that seriously, it was more so about enjoying our time,” Myers said. 

Former President Trump announcing the travel ban was a turning point for students stuck in other countries. At that time everything began to feel much more serious.

After realizing they were all going to be sent home, Myers and her friends decided to have a party and savor their last few moments in France. The memories of a late night at a karaoke bar are bittersweet, since it was the last time that Myers had seen most of those people. 

Mikayla Sundlie, currently a senior at UMD, studied abroad in Galway, Ireland. Sundlie got to be a part of Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture events, which were just starting to gear up for the year ahead.

“Before Covid I had a pretty normal Study Abroad experience. I made friends, we went out and we did things,” she said.

“I had anticipated that I would probably have to leave early but I didn’t think that it was going to have to be as soon as it was,” Sundlie remembered. 

She went to bed one night thinking she would be able to stay another week or two and in the early hours of that same night she was packing to leave.

“Everyone was trying to find flights home so it became really expensive,” Sundlie added. 

She ended up getting a flight to San Francisco, the best option she had to get back to the U.S. “I woke up at 3 a.m., I was out the door by 5 a.m., with everything packed in my room.”

Another senior at UMD, named James Watson, studied abroad in Hamilton, New Zealand. 

 

Watson looks back on his time in New Zealand fondly, remembering his trip to Hobbiton as “nerding out with all my new friends and beautiful views, cool facts and great food.”

 

On March 14 Watson made pies on pi day, for the students flying home.“That’s when we knew it [the trip] was over,” he said

 

Not having the choice to stay in New Zealand made Watson angry, since students from other schools were given that decision. “My school gave me two options — come home by this Friday, or drop out,” he said.

The Study Abroad office was in daily meetings for a year with international educators from around Minnesota, calling their online meetings the “Covid Situation.” 

In total, $176,000 had to be taken from the CARES act to cover the cost of extracting the students from their programs over the course of 2020. 

What’s Next for Study Abroad

“We are being extremely careful about identifying programs where they (students) will be safe,” said Markgraf.

A few students are abroad now in nations that will receive students, including the United Kingdom and Italy. However, several nations will not admit UMD students, including New Zealand and Australia at the time of this article. 

The Covid Situation still meets weekly to go over health and safety precautions for upcoming Study Abroad programs. According to Markgraf, the number one challenge this year is academic mobility. Moving students from place to place during a pandemic is a difficult task.

Myers is one student who remains optimistic and is thankful for her time in Aix-en-Provence. Despite disappointment over the early end to her program she ended her interview by saying, “studying abroad is awesome.”