8 — Monday, April 20, 2020
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
PHOTO ESSAY
MARCH 8
202 cases in Madrid, 644 in
Spain. Public transport danger
became our major topic of con-
versation along with the view
of health care in the country.
We had been told over and over
about the difference in person-
al space definition in Spain in
comparison to the US, and at
this point, it became a reason
to suspect that Madrid could be
in real trouble soon. In Spain,
the common greeting is kiss-
ing one another on the cheeks,
something that takes some get-
ting used to as Americans. The
social change that would ensue
because of social distancing
would be drastic.
MARCH 9
MARCH 10
MARCH 11
MARCH 12
MARCH 13
I remember sitting on the floor of my
room in my homestay when I got a text
in a group-chat of friends saying to turn
on the television and watch the Madrid
news. We didn’t have a television, so my
roommate and I sat together and started
refreshing the news pages. Then it was
uploaded. Madrid had made a declara-
tion that all educational facilities would
be closed for three weeks. IES Madrid
alerted us that our learning would be
transferred to online and that every-
thing would continue as normal. They
had no intentions of closing the program
or any reason to think that we would
return to normal class in the three
weeks. There were 644 cases in Madrid
as of that day. University of Michigan
students received news that the program
was aware of the situation in Madrid and
it was under review.
In the morning, my roommate
and I woke up still in shock that
there would be no classes in-per-
son, and just sitting and waiting for
our universities to notify us what
their decision was. We went to Buen
Retiro park to sit in the sun, not fully
knowing how much more time we
had. There were 1600 cases in Spain,
782 of which in Madrid. That night, a
large group of students from the IES
program all ended up at Círculo de
Bellas Artes, a lookout over the city,
to watch the sunset. We talked about
the possibility of getting sent home,
some students were convinced we
would be able to stay, others took a
more pessimistic approach. Regard-
less, we all sat and watched the sun-
set over the buildings of our Spanish
home, took pictures, and reminisced
over what wonderful things we were
able to do. That evening, I got the
email from U of M announcing their
decision to pull all students from
Spain.
While things had been getting cra-
zier in Spain, stress was growing back
in the US as well. U of M announced
their decision to cancel all in-person
classes which shocked us all. We had
been living in a city with so many
cases, and with just the beginnings
of the pandemic in Michigan, class-
es were cancelled right away. I am
still trying to find a way to explain
the difference in perspective that I
had compared to my friends back in
Ann Arbor, not better or worse, but
entirely different. Despite constant
conversations about the virus, I had
never felt in danger or that there was
anything to be afraid of by being in a
place with so many cases. Being then
able to look towards the US and see-
ing how differently they reacted was
so interesting. This perspective on
how the different parts of the world
reacted to this pandemic and contin-
ues to react will be so interesting to
dissect more as time carries this part
of history through.
I woke up later that morning after staying up later read-
ing the news about Spain and Italy, cancelling trips I had
planned and talking to my parents trying to comprehend
what was happening. By the time I rolled over and checked
my phone, it was well past 10am and, within the hours I had
been sleeping, the entire world changed. I had notifications
from friends saying they were boarding planes, on busses,
re-booked flights, and that all the sudden if I didn’t get home
within twenty-four hours, I would be stuck in Spain for
months. The president had announced the travel restrictions
for all of Europe and Spain had obtained a level 3 travel advi-
sory by the CDC and State Department as Spain had reached
3000 cases in the country. A time of reaction filled of misin-
formation, we all the sudden were under the impression that
we needed to fly back that day. A great way to wake up in
the morning. After calling my parents, 2am in the Midwest,
I re-scheduled a flight back for Friday the 13th after making
one for Saturday only two days before. Only slightly later did
it become clear that US citizens would not be affected in the
travel ban. But regardless, my roommate and I spent our days
packing up our lives and shoving them into the couple suit-
cases we had, telling our host mom that we would be leav-
ing the next day. After packing up my study abroad room,
I walked around the park with some of my closest friends
that I made while in Madrid, and watched the sunset over
Temple de Debod, the last sunset we would be able to see in
Madrid.
I woke up at 4am to catch a taxi to the airport for a 9am flight back to the US,
because the lines had been hours long to get through security the day before.
I took a plane with several other students from my program, many of which
had masks on for the plane ride. Airport personal passed out gloves and masks,
and we were forced to go through extra security checks due to Department of
Homeland Security’s new measures. After a ten-hour flight, we landed in Atlan-
ta. Expecting tests for fever or illness, I made sure to have plenty of time for
my layover. To my surprise and astonishment, I had to go through no health
checks on my arrival. My passport was barely checked, and no questions about
my health were made.