Missing home: international students and the COVID-19 pandemic

The first wave of shutdowns due to COVID-19 saw universities and schools having to close their doors to the public and moving the last few weeks of their semester online. Many university students were asked to leave their residences and head home with little warning from their administration.

Andreia Hooge is one of the many international students who was unable to return home immediately. “I had to pack up my room in residence in one night,” said Hooge. “It was super stressful, however, as soon as I got to Montreal, I received an email that my flights had been cancelled.”

Hooge ended up having to quarantine with a friend from Quebec, living with her family until she was able to return to Aruba, her home country. “I was happy to have her to quarantine with, but there really is no place like home,” she said.

Hooge is not the only international student who had to deal with the stress of coming up with an emergency plan to return home. Nadege Allard, a student originally from Barbados, first travelled to Montreal to stay with family there. “The COVID situation was just ever-changing. I had to quickly make a plan to get back home. Flights were being cancelled and halted for some time so it was really stressful,” she explained.

Both Hooge and Allard explained that the stress and fear of not being able to return home immediately took a toll on their mental health. “In the beginning, everything was changing so quickly that it took a real toll on my mental state,” said Allard. “Being away from my family was super hard. I felt anxious anytime I wasn’t distracted,” added Hooge.

While many international students struggled to return to their home countries, higher numbers struggled to re-enter Canada for the 2020-21 academic year. Some students are tuning in to online courses from Haiti, Belgium, and across Canada.

Hooge described her return to Canada as taxing. “I had to get an official letter from the school that confirmed my enrollment or they wouldn’t let me back into Canada,” she said. “I had to find private transportation back to Lennoxville from Montreal, and quarantining for 14 days was the worst part.”

Allard agreed, stating that, during the two-week quarantine, she felt quite lonely. “We have come to accept this as a new norm, and there’s not much we can do about it right now, now that this is the new reality,” she said.