In busy airports, Shubhashree Sathe from India and Mandi Kanhema from Zimbabwe waited for their 15- and 16-hour flights to the U.S. in January 2021 with masks on, kits of enough sanitizer for the trip and uncertainty. They never imagined starting their higher education in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, afraid of possible trouble through U.S. customs and fatigued by the health measurements they now have to take while traveling.
After months of back-and-forth emails with the university’s administration to secure their dream of studying at OU, they finally made it through. Although both of them laugh at their previous travel woes, they know the struggle to get to OU was real.
The Daily spoke with international OU students who are transitioning to in-person classes after participating in remote learning due to the repercussions of COVID-19 in their home countries, including U.S. embassy closures, travel bans and changes in U.S. immigration policies.
“This is my first semester on campus. I was stuck in Germany, (where I finished) high school, and the visa office was closed, so I couldn't apply for it on time,” Sathe, a psychology and business management freshman, said. “Even if I probably could get a visa, my parents were really scared to send me (to OU since the U.S.) had (an increasing) number of (COVID-19 cases).”
Besides the risk of taking a long flight to the U.S. in large groups of customers, OU public health freshman Kanhema said the time difference was her biggest struggle while taking classes from her home country, as it didn’t allow for the student experience she was expecting.
“It was hectic, because I was eight hours ahead of them, and I (had) to be awake at 3 a.m.,” Kanhema said. “Most of (the students) in my classes would organize (to meet up) and be there together. Those little groups helped to form relationships, and I didn't have that. It is a bit too late for me now.”
For Sathe, having online classes “was not ideal, but the situation demanded it.” She said she spent a semester without the required material due to shipping issues.
“I had to order my textbooks and a calculator from the bookstore (in August),” Sathe said. “However, they only arrived in the first week of January, so they were pretty much useless. I did a whole semester of math without an actual calculator.”
Daniela Kosnacova, an environmental sustainability junior from Slovakia, came back to the U.S. on Jan. 19 after a year of studying abroad in France. Although Fall 2020 studying abroad was canceled, she was given an exception to stay at Université Clermont Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, France due to the U.S. travel bans.
“Even if I wanted to go back, I couldn't because of the (travel bans that included) European citizens, so they told me I could stay in France, or I could go home,” Kosnacova said. “(In Fall 2020), I emailed the OU study abroad office to give them arguments about why I should not be going back to the U.S. They were very sorry for the confusion and gave me an exception as the only one studying abroad because I was in Europe already.”
Although she said she had “a happy ending,” Kosnacova struggled with the expiration period of her COVID-19 test results in each airport from Slovakia to the U.S.
“Everything seemed pretty well in the beginning. (I took) a negative COVID-19 test with me and filled out documents (where I) stated I was just going to the airport and not stopping anywhere,” Kosnacova said. “I found out that my flight (from Vienna) to London was canceled but (the) airline didn't notify me about it. I was in a different country with no flights to Oklahoma on the day my COVID-19 test was supposed to be valid.”
Sathe, Kanhema and Kosnacova experienced different procedures to avoid COVID-19 exposure once they arrived at OU. While Sathe didn’t have to quarantine and got a negative COVID-19 test from Walker’s testing center hours after arriving, Kanhema isolated three days on the second floor of Couch Tower.
“I personally think it takes some time for you to actually test positive or negative for COVID-19,” Kanhema said. “If I happened to get it on the flight, they had to give me a space of (around) three days to get tested.”
Kosnacova had her COVID-19 test the day after she arrived, so she stayed with her roommate overnight until she officially checked in with Traditions East.
“I chose not to meet people until I got the (COVID-19) negative result, but no email (from OU) said I have to be in quarantine before I got tested,” Kosnacova said. “However, I got three different emails having slightly different information. For example, one of the emails said I have to get tested at Goddard (while) the other one said there were three different places (on campus) I can get tested. I didn't get the general idea of what I was supposed to do.”
OU Director of Marketing and Communications and Housing and Food Services Amy Buchanan said in an email to The Daily that OU received 65 international students for Spring 2021.
International students living in on-campus residences must have completed an “on-site COVID-19 test” at Walker’s testing center — which closed before the beginning of the spring semester — or at Goddard.
“OU Housing students, who left campus but who did not travel back home internationally, must complete an at-home COVID-19 test. OU has partnered with Vault Health to mail an at-home saliva-base,” Buchanan wrote. “If the student receives a negative test, they stay in their assigned housing. If the test result is positive, they are placed in isolation housing depending on their current place of residence.
International students who arrived when Walker’s testing center was closed were placed in “on-campus quarantine spaces, which may have included their assigned individual room, until they were able to test,” Buchanan wrote in another email.
“OU does not track its students or monitor their movements,” Buchanan wrote. “The university strongly encourages asymptomatic quarantined on-campus students to restrict their movement, unless it is for an essential need, such as food, medical care or medicine and other crucial activities.”
Buchanan explained in the email that international students were not requested to quarantine prior to taking their COVID-19 test because of the test type they were given.
The tests done at Walker Center produced rapid test results within approximately 15 minutes, unlike the multiple-day tests done in Fall 2020,” Buchanan wrote. “This 15-minute test paired with the limited number of students arriving internationally alleviated the need for OU Housing residents to quarantine prior to testing.”
Sathe thanked the United World College scholar office and the International Student Services Office for being “really helpful” during their remote-learning time while Kanhema said she appreciated the flexibility of her professors while doing remote-learning.
Sathe, Kanhema and Kosnacova are hopeful OU will provide free housing during the summer so they can avoid additional stress due to COVID-19. Buchanan wrote, however, that “decisions surrounding on-campus summer housing have not been finalized,” but more information will be available later in the spring semester.
“If I do get a job, and there is free summer housing, I would probably stay here just to feel more at ease. Traveling during COVID-19 might get easier later on if people are going to get the vaccine, but it's not fun,” Kosnacova said. “Canceled or delayed flights and non-valid test results are an extra stress, so if I will have a chance to avoid it, I would like to.”
Sathe said she believes her experiences have proven she can persevere even with changing COVID-19 protocol, though.
“(If) the situation demands something and I’m committed to it, I'll eventually adapt to it,” Sathe said.
