Milwaukee students head abroad despite COVID-19 travel advisories
Zashary Torres, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, tried to study abroad in Barcelona in January.
COVID-19 pushed it back to this fall. Now, he’s set to arrives in Spain on Sept. 1, despite Spain’s “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory.
Although the U.S. does not encourage travel to the country, Spain remains open to travelers even as it sees increased rates of the virus. Young people, particularly those aged 20 to 29, are getting hit COVID-19 harder, as fewer are vaccinated and they tend to spend more time in clustered areas. Torres is undeterred. “Studying abroad has always been important to my education for as long as I can remember. I have always wanted to see what education is like in another country,” she said.
Other students are making the same decisions.
Shelby Langer, a senior at UWM, is going to Rome in the fall. She has been trying to go since fall 2020, and finally has one final shot as a student. She said she hopes to learn about the culture and grow in terms of independence.
“This is kind of my last opportunity, even though it’s not an ideal time to go there,” Langer said.
Italy currently has a level 3 travel advisory, stating that travel to the
“We call them our trailblazer students … we are looking forward to living vicariously through them.”
country should be reconsidered due to COVID-19. The country will issue a “green pass,” which allows entry without quarantine provided the traveler is vaccinated from COVID-19, has recovered from the virus in the last six months, or tested negative using a rapid antigen or molecular PCR test in the last 48 hours.
Sharon Gosz, director of study abroad at UWM, said the school anticipates 15 students going abroad for fall 2021. Karli Webster, associate director of study abroad at Marquette University, said its school anticipates 24 students going abroad.
“We call them our trailblazer students … we are looking forward to living vicariously through them,” Gosz said. She said UWM is remaining cautious through the pandemic, but she believes the students will still have an amazing experience.
Webster said that Marquette is continuing to promote studying abroad at this time. They are now promoting for spring 2022.
Both Webster and Gosz said numbers were significantly reduced from before the pandemic, but up from spring 2021.
Nick Bergosh, a third year law student at Marquette University, said he felt like it was one of his last chances to study abroad. He had tried prior to the pandemic to plan for a summer
semester in Germany last year but it was canceled as COVID-19 closed borders.
Bergosh is planning to head to Denmark for this semester. Like Italy, Denmark currently has a level 3 travel advisory.
Jordyn Richardson, a senior at UWM studying biology, is also going to Barcelona this fall. She had originally hoped to go to Ecuador, but was concerned about increased restrictions and chose Spain instead.
Due to the travel advisory, Richardson said she has been extra cautious. Even after the United States lifted its mask mandates across the country, she continued to wear a mask and does not go out much other than for work.
She is also concerned about what the next few weeks hold before her travel begins, as she has seen places going back to increased restrictions because of the delta variant.
Despite these concerns, her family has been supportive of her choice to study abroad, especially her mom.
“She was over the moon and she actually pushed me to finish the application and study abroad,” Richardson said.
She said in some respects, her family and friends were more excited for her to go abroad than she was, because of her concerns.
Both Richardson and Torres expressed concern about doing any additional traveling across Europe once they
University of WisconsinMilwaukee anticipates 15 students going abroad for fall 2021. Marquette University anticipates 24 students going abroad.
get there.
Torres said she hopes to travel to Italy, Great Britain and Morocco, but it will depend on what travel restrictions look like. Richardson said she likely will travel around Spain, but perhaps not across the borders. Both students said they see themselves as representing their schools, and want to be extra cautious and respect their host countries.
Students are particularly concerned about the potential worst-case scenario of getting sent home or their country going into a lockdown. Torres has a cousin in Madrid who could take her in.
Langer said her cousin is studying abroad in the Czech Republic, so she would try to meet up with her before traveling home or taking other precautions. Bergosh said he had friends in Europe he could potentially stay with.
Richardson acknowledged she has no immediate connection and would just have to follow instructions at the time.
“I believe it will be worth it in the end. It’s an unusual experience, but I think everyone should do it,” Bergosh said.