A year ago, when I viewed my acceptances to decide on a college, I weighed in a number of factors including location, class size, diversity-college disruption due to a pandemic was definitely not in the list. With the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus, I faced a situation which I could never have foreseen in any way possible.
The advent of the virus into United States was being closely watched-as the state of Massachussets fell prey, colleges on the East Coast declared an extension of the Spring break, truncation of the semester, and finally declaring a shift to online classes. The West coast was still under a state of uncertainty and contemplation. However, on the 12th of March–a decision was taken and we got ‘the’ email. We were going online for the rest of the semester and the term was over.
I remember vividly that I was sitting in my accounting class testing the zoom software for the possibility of going online due to the inflow of Covid-19 into US. This is precisely when I received the email regarding the coronavirus announcement. I remember trying to read the email on my apple watch just because I could not explicitly log off my zoom class session. The moments following that were some of the strangest ones in my college life thus far. I remember being baffled by the email due to its ambiguous language. Like every other Wednesday I was supposed to meet a bunch of friends at Pomona’s dining hall for lunch. However, the scene at the dining hall is something that will never fade from my memory. People’s expressions were that of bewilderment, some were already in tears while others were discussing the possible return home immediately.
I was clearly shaken up by the news, no matter how much I had anticipated what the email would contain, there was nothing that could have prepared me for this. Another struggle of being an international student is the struggle of different time zones. In this moment of sheer panic and uncertainty, the very people I seek advice from were asleep halfway across the world oblivious to what had happened. In the midst of all this panic and uncertainty, I had to take my economics midterm right after. Most of my international friends at Scripps were in a similar state. I remember being unable to concentrate, but much to my relief, my professors took the time to pause class and discuss what was clearly bothering everybody present in the room. What is more, they gave everyone the liberty to leave class early. Some of us already had flights to catch in a few hours, while others had to cancel spring break plans and yet even harder for some was to decide whether to stay or go home. The announcement was most heartbreaking for the seniors –their last semester had abruptly come to a halt. The graduation ceremony marks a milestone in any college student’s life and this year, there was a ring of uncertainty for the seniors.
