Photo courtesy of Annie Wang ‘23.
By Amy Luo ’23
Global Editor
As Mount Holyoke College welcomed its students back on campus for an in-person semester, returning international students shared their experiences traveling back to campus. Some explained how traveling in the time of COVID-19 can be difficult with regards to getting vaccinated, testing, flying and moving in.
Flight and Border Control
By the end of May, Zhiqing Xu ’22, an international student from China, bought her ticket from Shanghai, China, to Kennedy Airport (with a three-hour layover in Moscow.) According to Xu, this is one of the cheapest options available. Most other tickets would cost around $3,000, which is about two to three times the price of the same flights before COVID-19. Xu did not live in Shanghai, and her parents cannot leave Zhejiang province, so she had “to go to Shanghai and the airport by [her]self.”
After finally arriving at Kennedy Airport, she was detained at the customs inspection. Xu said, “Although I was mentally prepared in advance, this is the first time I was detained, so naturally I was a little scared. I sat in the seat cautiously, and began to think back to [if] I said something wrong and did something wrong, or [if] there was a problem with my documents. My mind start[ed] to wonder what would happen if I am deported. Luckily, in the end, I was not questioned and finally let go.”
Ria Devani ’24, a student from Kenya, echoed Xu’s sentiment, sharing, “In terms of returning to the States, it’s a terribly long flight. We can get stopped often for ‘random selection.’ Even when you land in the States, it is still a very overwhelming and scary time. You have to go through the border control and sort things out. Everything feels very up in the air at that moment. We don’t know how things are going to turn out. Overall, it is just a very scary and stressful situation.”
Testing
Devani got her COVID test 24 hours before her flight. “I think right now, back home [ in Kenya] they are doing a very good job by rolling out the test for international flying,” she said. “I’ve done both the nose and the throat testing for my flight, though it is still a little unaffordable.”
Vaccination
In May 2020, Xu was trying to get vaccinated in her city. Describing her experience of getting the right vaccination, she said, “I went directly to the place where the vaccine is distributed and repeatedly emphasized that I want to get the vaccine that is recognized by the WHO.” The staff who gave out the vaccine told her that the two-shot vaccine was very hard to get, and convinced her to get the one-shot vaccine instead. However, this vaccine is not approved by the WHO, and could not be recognized by Mount Holyoke College. “I have to get my vaccination again. However, the school scheduled the first dose on [Aug.] 28 before 6 p.m., but I only arrived after 9 p.m. that day. I was worried that if I don’t get vaccinated on [Aug.] 28, the school will not let me go to class or move in,” Xu recalled. “I emailed the Health Center, but since they were processing the vaccination record at that time, it took days for them to get back to me. Those were the days when I was most anxious. I feel calmer if I have a clear answer, regardless if it is a ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ but not knowing is the most uncomfortable. In the end, the school gave me a very detailed reply, telling me that the vaccine will not affect me, and I only need to get tested on [Aug.] 28 to move in.”
For Devani, getting vaccinated was a different story. “During my leave of absence, I worked at a high school. Because of that, I was able to get vaccinated. Otherwise in Kenya, the vaccine has not been made [available] to the public yet. It is only for essential workers and people who are over the age of 50.”
A student from Delhi also talked about her experience of getting vaccinated. “In India, it was very hard to get a vaccine. I [had] to wait two months to get them. For two months, I was constantly checking but couldn’t find a place to get one. Considering that I am very privileged in India, I cannot even imagine people who don’t have the access as I do,” the student said. “I feel like domestic students are very unaware of how hard it is for international students to get vaccinated.”
Mount Holyoke offered vaccinations to students unable to get them before returning to campus on Aug. 28 and Sept. 18. “Before then, many international students might not have a vaccination, especially in South Asian countries like India and Nepal,” the student continued. “It makes sense for us to be anxious and scared because we’ve seen how bad it can be. It was so bad in India, there was a time that we’ve lost seven members of friends and family in ten days. My family hasn’t adjusted to this. I feel that people haven’t understood that what they do is not just something that affects them, but everybody.”
Storage and Moving In
The move-in process for Devani was generally smooth. Before leaving campus due to COVID-19, she was able to secure a storage place for her belongings. “In March, I was working at the Office of Advancement, and my boss at the time offered to store my stuff while I was away because she has an extra room in her house … that is such a blessing,” she said. “I am away for 17 months and if I were to pay for storage service, that would be a lot of money and especially for low-income students, that option would not be attainable.”
In terms of getting to Mount Holyoke, Devani used her connection to alums as an international student during her first year of college. “They picked me up at the airport. I stayed at their house that night, and moved in the next day,” she said. “I just have the privilege of being connected to these people who are from Massachusetts, who are willing to help me. Had I not had those options, it would have been a very difficult situation,” she shared. “Sometimes it feels like for these international students, there is no one there to help them and to support them. For me, it would be very chaotic if I would have to rent my storage and move into Hampshire College.”
School and Masks
For Devani, being back on campus is all about trying to adjust.
“It’s been a little overwhelming. When I first came in 2019, it was very difficult for me to adjust — both [to] being in university and being in the States. It was very hard for me to branch out and socialize with people. When COVID-19 hit, I went back home and ended up taking a gap year.” Devani continued, “It is supposed to be my junior year, but instead it is my sophomore year. My friends are now mostly juniors and seniors, so I need to make that adjustment of being a sophomore, but it’s not so bad.”
The student from Delhi also commented on the mask mandate at the College. “I was scared about coming back to the U.S., especially because the U.S. CDC has announced that you can stop wearing masks for some time, and then they changed that again when cases are going up,” the student said. “Everyone is waiting for things to go back to normal completely, but people are trying to rush it too much, especially the decision-makers such as the CDC and our college. I feel that if you try to rush things, then it might get worse before it gets better. It is a team effort. In the U.S., some people don’t want to wear masks at all. It feels like even if we are careful, we might still be not okay.”
She continued, “Even back on campus, not all people are respectful about other people’s preferences. They won’t ask if the other person is okay if they take off their masks when entering their dorm. They are just assuming it is okay,” the student said. “I have a friend who I am very fond of, but she came into my room and took off her mask, and started looking in my fridge for a snack, which is what she usually [did] before COVID-19. It makes me very nervous because she has been traveling and only had a rapid test, not a PCR test. I don’t know how to mention this to her, because it sounds so rude. It is very hard to say to people, ‘I don’t want anyone in my room,’ ‘Can you keep your mask on if you come to my room?’ or ‘Can we sit far apart when we are in the same room?’ People are upset about the fact that we have to wear a mask all the time, but I am relieved about this.”
“I feel now is the most critical time because if we are not careful now, then all the hard work that people have been doing for so long can be undone,” the student said. “I’ve even become less close to a few friends because I don’t want to see them without a mask.”
She also has concerns because her parents are not allowed to come to the U.S. even though they have visas.
“I have several health conditions, which makes me more vulnerable. If I got really sick, then I would be completely by myself, because I don’t have anyone here. It’s so hard because if the domestic students get sick, they can just go home and their parents can help.”
The student also expressed frustration with the amount of time with which College administration took to disclose information.
“For international students, we need to start our travel plan earlier than domestic students because we have to figure out visas, plane tickets, storage, etc. All of these are expensive, so you cannot even change them easily. I remember that throughout the summer, I was talking to the McCulloch Center and asking them what they are doing for international students. It seems that the McCulloch Center has a plan, but they did not tell us in detail what it was. There are certain things that we mentioned which they believe to be ‘not a problem.’ I feel the College made the plan with domestic students in mind, and we are an afterthought. I feel like international students are treated like exchange students — as though we are only here for a few months.”
She also spoke on the flimsiness of the College’s suggestions, saying, “Every time I was trying to talk to the College administration about how hard it is for international students, they always replied that ‘you can always take a gap year.’ Unfortunately, this is not always a choice for us. We have to reapply for visas, for financial aid, for all the paperwork and the embassy was closed during COVID-19 and we could not even apply for visas. They are now giving appointments to people who are on the waitlist for February of next year. So taking a gap year is not a choice for us,” the student said. “It might put us in a condition where we have to take two years off instead of one year. There are also cultural barriers. I am Asian, and I have Asian parents. So, if I decide to take a gap year, my family would never agree to this.” She concluded, “I just feel the College administration is very ignorant as to our conditions.”