For many international students at Long Beach City College who traveled to the United States with hopes of a quality education, COVID-19 has added challenges to the difficult transition of online learning.
Historically, the United States has been a top location for international students to study- in fact, in 2017, 1.1 million students from all around the world came to the U.S. to study, according to Migration Policy Institute.
For five international students, the question of maintaining a student visa has been raised, as well as the dilemma of potentially returning to their home countries, or waiting out the pandemic in Long Beach.
For some international students like LBCC student Takato Watabe, returning to his home country of Japan and withdrawing for the semester was the preferable option.
“I do not think it is worth paying regular tuition for online classes,” Watabe said over Instagram direct messages.
Watabe credited missing the social atmosphere of school to a challenging time difference that would make certain courses difficult, as some classes still graded for participation.
A student at UCLA since the summer of 2019, Watabe returned to Japan on March 30.
“It was unexpected . . . But in order to protect myself, I felt it was needed so I was not too sad,” he said.
Watabe cited his reasons for returning home as mainly if he were to get sick, he would feel more comfortable with his relatives.
Additionally he said, “I am not quite familiar with the American insurance system. If I get infected, the medical bill could be way beyond my budget.”
He explained that Japan was not in a current lockdown such as California or New York at the time of his arrival, however people were encouraged to stay home, and according to his observations, most have.
“Anyone from the U.S. or particular places have to quarantine for 14 days. [Those] people cannot use public transportation to go back home, so some people have to find a hotel by themselves and stay there for 14 days without any financial support from the government. I am quarantining at home now. I was lucky that my parents gave me a ride to go back home,” he said April 9.
Watabe did express concern about his student visa, considering he is taking the quarter off, along with concerns about being able to return to the U.S. in the fall.
LBCC student Monica Grace also made the decision to return back to Nicaragua upon the switch to remote learning.
“I want to feel at home,” she said during a phone interview April 17.
California had enacted its stay-at-home order for two weeks when she made the decision to return home.
“I was feeling sad and depressed and I told my aunt, ‘I feel the same way that I felt when I first moved to the U.S.’ And that doesn’t make me happy. My mom wanted to have me here. She wanted all her kids at the same place,” Grace said.
After she decided to leave Long Beach, Grace first had to figure out her visa status and make sure it would not be impacted by her decision.
Standards have been relaxed for many international students to maintain their visa status upon COVID-19, no longer requiring in-person learning.
“It took me 2 or 3 days to figure out my visa status,” she said. “They got like 10 calls from me, and I think they were done with me the last time I talked to them,” she said with a laugh.
After all was settled and it was determined her visa status would not be impacted, “I booked my ticket at 4 p.m., and I was at the airport by 9:30 that day.”
A day after her arrival in San Juan Del Sur, she found out there were no more flights entering Nicaragua.
She still remained concerned upon the event that she is not able to return to the U.S. this summer.
Grace explained that the Nicaraguan government has taken very little initiative to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Holy Week was last week, and there was no one outside. No one going to parties, no one going to the beach. Streets are empty.”
Grace said that most people have taken it upon themselves to follow the lead of other countries and social distance, even without regulations in place.
Nicaragua has reported very few cases as of her April 17 interview, however, she expressed concerns over the medical system’s capacity to handle an influx of cases. “It’s a third world country, so healthcare is bad,” Grace said.
Lack of ventilators is a concern, and Grace also said that she read reports of receiving a donation from other countries of one million dollars for medical supplies, but no one knows what has happened to that money.
“That’s why people are taking their own measures because they’re scared. They’re scared to die because healthcare is just so bad.”
“People here are more self-conscious about the use of the mask. They know they’re very limited in medical supplies. We think the government is hiding the amount of positive cases. As a family, we all take care, because we care about all the generations. Most of the restaurants are closed,” Grace said.
Grace has adjusted well to her remote learning experience.
“I miss my family [in Long Beach] but I know they’re okay, so I’m okay. I knew I made the right decision when I got here. When I booked the flight and was traveling, [I wasn’t sure], but I knew I had made the right decision when I saw my mom and my brother, and I felt the smell of my country, and the weather- it’s just a different feeling. I’m glad I’m here,” she said.
Grace self-quarantined for 15 days after entering Nicaragua, not hugging anyone from her family, and staying in separate rooms.
“It is sad, you feel bad. Now I’m here, but I can’t hug my mom or kiss her, but you know it’s just for a couple of days.”
While Watabe and Grace made the decision to return to their home countries, many international students have decided to stay in Long Beach.
For Brazilian student Andrea Tavares Ferreira, who made the move to Long Beach with her husband and son, returning was not as much of an option.
“I’m the only daughter now, and my parents are almost in their eighties. So they worry about me getting sick and not being able to go to the hospital for some reason and dying here, and them not being able to come see me before that. In Brazil, it’s crazy as well. I wish I could be able to help them more…” Ferreira said.
“They worry about our wellbeing, and I feel their pain, and it’s hard for me too to stay far away. My dad told me last night, ‘If something happens to us, I don’t know what we’re going to do to say goodbye.’ It’s so hard. There are so many cases in the city where they live, so many people have died already.”
Ferreira discussed her concerns about the medical system in her home city, and the potential consequences of the outbreak there.
“The U.S. is first world, Brazil is third world. People in the country can not afford everyone quarantining. A lot of Brazilians, they have to work, or they don’t even have money to eat. The spread is pretty bad because of that. Staying home is not an option for them.”
She also said the medical system is not equipped to handle the outbreak.
Ferreira being a nursing student, her semester has been extended until the end of June, and she expressed concerns that coronavirus could delay her graduation even further.
“My biggest concern is the financial part,” she said during an April 1 phone interview.
“Everything is three-fold, because I have my husband and my son. And my son is basically an adult already, and he’s going to start college, so I have another tuition to pay besides mine. So when we moved to the U.S. we had to plan how much money to spend per month, so we had everything organized before moving. But now postponing, it means we have to invest more money because it’s going to take longer for me to graduate. We have to postpone everything.”
For Ferreira, the economic impact of coronavirus has also been detrimental.
“The current exchange rate for us now is super high. One dollar for you is five reais for us. One more month is 3-4 thousand dollars more, and it’s super hard for us. Hopefully, everything is going to be fine in a month, and I’ll be able to graduate next year in June. I really need to start doing something and working in order to survive.”
Ferreira and her family initially had plans to return to Recife in June to visit her family, for her parents’ 50th anniversary.
With her classes extended until the end of June, along with ever-evolving travel policies, the trip was canceled.
“I told my parents, ‘You have to hold the party.’ It is sad, especially if they get sick . . . it is super tough for me. A year ago my dad had a heart attack and I was in the middle of my semester, so I couldn’t go because I didn’t want to lose my visa,” Ferreira said.
Samantha Oboru, a Nigerian student who has also remained in Long Beach, is also facing possible graduation difficulties due to the pandemic.
She has been accepted to Cal State Long Beach, and is hoping to transfer in the fall.
However, the borders to Nigeria have been closed, which could create difficulties if she is unable to return over the summer as planned to renew her visa.
She explained that a visa can only be renewed at the embassy of her country, however despite this potential challenge, “I don’t really have fears. I just know it’s not just me that’s going through this. If the whole world is going through this, they have to understand, plus if Nigeria isn’t letting people in, it’s not my fault. I’m really just in a place of whatever happens, happens. I’m just hopeful. If it does, I know it’s not the end of the world,” she said during an April 2 phone interview.
Oboro explained the different government responses in the United States versus in Nigeria.
“The cases are not as bad, and they’re trying to make sure it doesn’t get bad. They banned all international flights, they told schools to close down, and I think they’re enforcing it more strictly than here. They have soldiers on the streets, and if you’re outside and not doing an essential service, you’re going to get hit by a soldier.”
Peruvian LBCC student Marcelo Osterloh also discussed strict enforcement in his home country.
“The situation [in Peru] is not bad, but they’re doing a mandatory quarantine. From 6 to 5 a.m., you can not go outside, and if you do, the police will take you to prison,” he said during a March 31 phone interview.
“My family is more worried about me, because here, [there are less restrictions]. They’re a little stressed because they can’t go out, only for supplies, but it’s either that or getting the virus.”
He said that he has heard of panic shopping in Peru similar to what has occurred here, and grocery stores began limiting customers and requiring masks far earlier than similar policies were enacted in the U.S., despite their limited number of cases.
“When it hadn’t hit that bad here yet, I was looking for flights for the summer, because they were really cheap, but then the situation got a lot worse.”
Osterloh said that he was not really concerned, as he wasn’t planning on returning until this December.
“I have my brother here, and we talk pretty much every day,” he said. “The person I’m living with is not blood, but he’s pretty close to us, so he’s helping with everything. Everything is fine. The only time I go out is to run around the neighborhood.”
Ferreira shared her sentiment for the future of humanity after the health crisis.
“I have a lot of faith, and I know there’s a reason for everything, and we’re going to grow. I sincerely hope that people try to use this free time, this time at home, to grow, and see the world with a different perspective, and try to help each other more instead of judging people, and to believe that we have the same needs. Talking about your country, my country, it’s pretty much the same. The needs are the same, the fears are the same. We are all on the same boat, and there is no sense to work separately. We have to work together as one.”