Empty Suitcases and Broken Dreams
How the Covid-19 pandemic took away study abroad for college students
Sophie LoBuglio sits at the outdoor tables at Starbucks, her strawberry blonde hair shinning in the sunlight. She waits on the edge of her seat to talk about her study abroad experience, ready to share how it changed her.
“It made me more independent. It made me appreciate the small things.”
This spring, college students all across the United States await their turn to study abroad and to gain insight into themselves from this life changing experience. In the year 2019 347,099 students in the United States studied abroad, a 1.6% increase from 2018, according to a study done by NAFSA, (nafsa.org).
However, many are having to cancel plans and find themselves staying home, all thanks to the pandemic that surprised the world in 2020. With Covid-19 reaching all corners of the globe, programs had no choice but to shut down for the time being, and some still have their doors closed.
Starting in spring of 2020, students were forced to pack their bags to leave foreign countries and return home. Auburn University retrieved over 100 students from their spring programs and canceled the summer plans for 700 students on March 27.
Countless students now look back on what would have been the best semester of their lives with sadness, and hold hope for future programs.
LoBuglio was planning to study abroad for a whole semester, but “Covid took that out of the picture.” Australia was her next destination for spring 2021 for an internship, but she found out a year in advance the program was canceled.
In the Auburn Abroad office (http://www.auburn.edu/academic/international/auab/), Director Deborah Weiss sits at her desk, trying to sort through all of the things needed to be done for the upcoming programs.
“This is a busy time of year for us. We had to handle refunds, claims for students, update Covid protocols for programs and now restarting programs,” she said.
Auburn Abroad offers over 25 programs for students, many within particular colleges. However, this summer things are looking quite different. “Only one program was approved,” Weiss said.
The College of Human Sciences approved their Joseph S. Bruno program that will give students the requirements for an International Minor in Human Sciences. “The program will have to be half attendance with the Covid requirements satisfied,” Weiss said.
This particular program’s past average class size was 20-22, meaning only around 10 students can participate.
Mary-Grace Grigson works for the Auburn Abroad office as a student intern, a job she got after she returned from her own study abroad trip. “I really like the idea of helping other students go abroad. I wanted to be able to help and figure out what programs would be best for them and their educational careers,” she said.
Grigson normally would sit at the front desks in the Auburn Abroad suite, helping any student who came in with an interest. Now, she sits at her desk at home, having Zoom meetings. “Numbers are lower than they usually are, but people are still emailing and asking questions,” she said.
While numbers might be lower than usual, students are still reaching out and showing interest in what trips Auburn or other companies can offer them, and how they can find a way out of the country.
Some students choose to not go through the university and use a third-party company to travel the world. Abbey Engles and Aisling Fields, both juniors at Auburn University, made the decision to use the company Lead Abroad for their summer 2020, and now 2021, plans.
“I knew a girl freshman year who did the same program I applied for in Rome, Italy,” said Engles. “She said how much fun it was so that’s the reason I chose Lead Abroad.”
For Fields, her reasoning was different.
“I knew that Auburn had programs but Lead Abroad was the only one I had ever heard about,” she said. She then jumped at the chance to sign up for the same one as her roommate, Engles.
For all the travers of the summer term of 2020, the cancelation emails were met with sad faces and in some cases, tears.
Engles expressed how upset she was when the program was canceled, but she still held onto hope for summer 2021. “They let us defer all our payments for this summer, so I wasn’t too sad when it first got canceled,” she said.
“I was really upset. I cried for a couple days,” LoBuglio said with a sad smile when talking about how her spring semester in Australia got canceled as well.
Marina Mears is a senior communications major at Auburn and when she found out that her trip to Barcelona was canceled last year during spring break, she had a list of concerns.
“They offered to defer our trip. I knew if I graduated on time I wouldn’t be able to make that work,” she said.
For those who had the chance to study abroad before the pandemic struck, they expressed how much these trips mean to them, and how others should not hesitate to go on one themselves.
The study abroad experience impacts everyone differently, but personal growth seems to be a constant theme. “It’s hard to even describe how much it changed me,” LoBuglio said. “It made me grow up.” From debit cards not working to being sick in the hospital, everything that happened in Rome shaped her into a more independent adult.
Grigson said her whole life plan was changed after going to Alcála de Henares, Spain. “Before I went, I had just changed from a Spanish minor to major. I’m moving back in September to teach English,” she said.
Grigson expressed how she felt bad for the students not getting to go. “You broaden your world view. There’s more to the world than the little bubble you live in,” she said.
Standing in the kitchen of her apartment holding a steaming cup of coffee, Fields expressed what she wanted to get out of the trip. “You can go to California and Idaho and see the same type of people. I want to immerse myself in someone else’s culture.”
Being fully submerged in a culture and getting to see how these people live their lives fascinates Fields, and she wants a front row seat to experience something different.
“I mean I’ve always wanted to study abroad, but not for the classes,” Engles laughed. Getting to know the culture of Italy was first on her list of reasons, following having fun, and lastly taking classes. “I don’t even need them for my major. I just want to go,” she said.
While future travel is still unsure for summer 2021, some programs from Lead Abroad are scheduled strictly following Covid guidelines that have been set in place.
“I leave May 15 and come back June 12,” LoBuglio said when talking about her summer trip to Cape Town, South Africa. While this trip is happening, many things will look different.
Students must have the vaccine and will get Covid tested every three days. Even with the strict rules, LoBuglio is still excited to travel again. “I definitely think it’s still worth it to go. It’ll still be a great experience,” she said.
Mears is also planning to go to Cape Town with LoBuglio and is excited to get to travel even during these strange times. “I think even more so it’s worth it. I’m getting to see a crazy part of the world at a really unique point in time,” she said.
Engles and Fields still hold out hope for their summer in Italy but have little information on if they’ll actually get to go.
Frustration is seen on Fields face as she furrows her eyebrows. “I think Lead Abroad is trying their best. I hope to hear something at the end of the month. But they said 30-60 days and I find that unacceptable,” she said.
Lead Abroad solely makes their living off of sending students abroad for a term, and Fields understands that, but having to put all other summer possibilities on hold while waiting for news is getting old.
Despite having to wait for the green light, both Engles and Fields show no signs of worry when it comes to traveling.
“I’m honestly not worried about traveling,” Engles said. “I’m vaccinated so I’m not worried at all.” Fields said the same, that since she’s vaccinated, she’s not worried about travel.
Not only are students suffering in this time, but also the countries that they planned to visit. European countries, especially Italy’s, economies rely heavily on tourism for income, and without international travel these places are hurting.
According to an article from Foreign Policy (https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/21/without-tourism-italys-economy-faces-disaster/), tourism in Italy is 13% of the country’s gross domestic product and it known as “Italy’s oil.” Tourism helps keep their economy afloat.
Countries like Italy need these students and their programs to revamp to help get their economies back on track, and these students are more than willing to help.
Looking to the future, international travel and study abroad programs face many questions. According to an article by CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/07/us/covid-vaccine-passport-explainer/index.html), vaccine passports might be required in the near future to travel internationally.
“I definitely think that they’ll become a thing. We already have to have the vaccine to study abroad so I bet it will carry over into other travel,” said Fields.
As the spring semester comes to a close, these students and many more keep their fingers crossed that their programs will be cleared to go. After waiting for almost a year to get this chance again, they keep their hopes high.
LoBuglio sits smiling at the outdoor table, reminiscing on her time in Rome. She is hopeful that her trip to South Africa, and her future plans to intern abroad, will go as planned.
She and other students are now patiently waiting next to their empty suitcases for borders to be opened so traveling can safely happen again.
“I think everyone should study abroad,” Grigson said. “You would never regret studying abroad. In the end you would be thankful you got to see something you’ve never seen before.”