As U.S. colleges shut down due to the outbreak of COVID-19, countries around the world limited international travel, leaving international students with increasing barriers to make it home. The Mount Holyoke News talked to international students from India about their journeys home after the country imposed their travel ban.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is taking a global toll, with now just a handful of countries around the world not reporting any confirmed cases. Originating in Wuhan, China in December 2019, it was not until early January that a case was first reported outside of China. By March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
“Coronavirus did not feel like a serious issue at all,” Isabelle Muller ’21 said. “Until it did.” Muller is an art history major particularly interested in the Renaissance. Florence, Italy, the birthplace of this intellectual and artistic movement, seemed like the perfect study abroad location. But just over a month into her program, she had to pack up and leave the northern Italian city amidst sudden and growing reports of COVID-19.
The Spanish, Latina/o and Latin American studies department hosted an interdepartmental panel titled, “What’s Happening in Latin America” on Thursday, Feb. 20. The panel aimed to address the events that have taken place in the region over the past few months. Professor Justin Crumbaugh moderated as Professors Adrianna Pitetta, Dorothy Mosby, Lowell Gudmunson, Stephanie Huezo and William Girard spoke on their individual areas of study in relation to the ongoing protests, governmental transitions and U.S. immigration policies that have shaped current events in Latin America.
“I really see my job as explaining stuff,” Rachel Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC and author of “Drift” and “Blowout,” said in an interview with the Mount Holyoke News before her campus book event on Sunday, Nov. 17. The event, run by The Odyssey Bookshop in collaboration with Mount Holyoke College, was the last stop on Maddow’s tour to promote her newest book.
