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International Students Face Difficult Decisions

By Helen Flores, Staff Writer

Due to the spread of COVID-19, the majority of campus has closed for safety and precautionary reasons. For international students, this news made them face a difficult decision, whether they should stay on campus or return home overseas.

When the news about campus closing was shared, students were still on spring break. Some international students, such as sophomore business administration major Emma Braekmans, were visiting home over the break and haven’t had a chance to return to campus yet.

“I’m from Belgium and haven’t been able to return to school to collect my items,” Braekman said. “It’s so frustrating when I don’t have access to my belongings in my dorm and that I have no idea when I can come back to school.”

Some students have been able to stay on Long Island, while not living on campus. Junior psychology major, Samantha Bell, has been able to study at her girlfriend’s house in Floral Park.

“It’s nice to have a break. I just miss being at school and having practice, but everything was closed so all of us had to go somewhere,” Bell said.

Many international students have also decided to stay at school, Jonna Klein-Holte, a freshman health sciences major, said.

“I probably will go home soon, just because this news came so sudden, I wasn’t able to prepare properly, but hopefully, I will return to [the] Netherlands and see my family,” Klein-Holte said.

A lot has changed for international students, making it more difficult for them to attend classes with the time differences.

“I have been homesick this entire semester and was kind of glad to be home, but now that I don’t have the choice to return to school, it definitely hits harder than if I chose to go home on my terms,” Femke De Goeji, a freshman bio-med science major, said.

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