Student recalls rush to get home from France
Due to virus, OU student made harried departure before shutdown
In December 2019, Maleana Caldwellwas on top of the world.
She was about to head to France for six months of international study, a chance to pursue her dreams, and equally important, a chance to leave behind memories of pain and heartache.
It was a chance to wipe the slate clean and start fresh.
Little did she know, an international pandemic would shut down her dream prematurely.
For Maleana, France served as a physical and emotional severing of painful existence in
Shelby Township that revolved around the sudden death of her fatherwhen she was 5. Life changed in an instant. A loved one gone, with no chance to prepare, no chance to say goodbye. Male ana grew up angry over the loss of her father, which was hard enough, but it was coupled with the loss of opportunity, with what was now a single-parent, single-income family and two other siblings, a twin sister and an older brother, to support.
She threwherself into her studies and tried to focus on the future.
“Anger brought me comfort. It was easier to be mad than vulnerable,” Caldwell said. “It inspired me to go to really good high school.”
Herwork paid off. Shewas selected to attend Utica Community Schools’ rigorous international baccalaureate program at the Utica Academy for International Studies. She worked hard, and tried to achieve perfection, which is what she thought was expected of her after being labeled a smart-andgifted student. But with her self-induced pressure came anxiety and treatment for mental illness. She lived in constant fear and didn’t know how to roll with the punches.
But she preserved and graduated.
Upon graduation, she felt like the world was opened up to her. But with financial limitations, she attended the university her mother believed was the most economically practical, nearby Oakland University in Rochester. Caldwell thought she deserved more. She thought she worked hard with not enough pay off. She enrolled in OU and didn’t know what she wanted to do next.
She decided to major in biochemistry, a field of study she said everyone said matched her intelligence. But she disliked it instantly. By February 2019, she’d changed course, deciding to double major in French language
and literature and creativewriting, withaspecialty in literary non-fiction.
Caldwell remembers the exact day she decided to study abroad. She had a meeting with a professor who had been encouraging her the entire year to pursue French language as a degree. She’d never considered studying French in past general education courses because she though languages weren’t recognized as conventionally challenging majors.
“But once she asked if I planned on studying abroad, it reignited something that had been missing from me for a long time — passion,” Caldwell said.
Reinvigorated, Maleana last year threw herself into her studies and into planning to study abroad in France. She applied for every scholarship she could and got enough money to be financially supported for what was expected to be a six-month trip.
Finally, in December 2019, sheandhermother setofffor France just in time to celebrate the NewYear there. Her momreturned to theUnited States a couple of days later, and she was on her own, ready to breathe in the next chapter of her life and try to leave the anger and heartache behind.
She immediately arrived to a nationwide protest over workers rights. The subway systems were closed down, so she did a lot of walking, but it didn’t matter. She was “home.”
“It was the best experience of my life. I met so many wonderful people there. I didn’t want to leave,” Caldwell said. “Despite constant chaos with the transportation, I had never felt as much at peace with myself. I didn’t need anybody. I can do this. I can do this for rest of my life.”
Maleana quickly made friends, settling in the town of Orleans and attending Universite D’Orleans. A cheerleader at Oakland University, she joined a cheerleading team in France.
She stuck to a routine around Orleans. School would end in April, and she
would have plenty of time in May and June to do some sightseeing.
“I made new friends. Losing my dad forced me to grow up fast. This made me feel like Iwas livingmy young life there. Itwas a beautiful experience,” she said. “Itmademe feel like life wasworth living. I fell in love with myself and forgavemyself. Itwas a really big growth time inmy life, in my development. It was everything I thought it would be. It validatedall ofmyhard work. It was contentment, and I was in peace.”
In mid-February, COVIDstarting tomake its rounds in Europe. The Louvrewas closed, aswell as the Eiffel Tower. On March 3, Caldwell received an email from Oakland University advising her to come home. She didn’t want to leave. Plus, if she did leave, she’d have to withdraw from her classes, and she wouldn’t get college credit for them.
By Friday, March 13, businesses were shutting things down. The French government said if people assembled in groups of 30 or more, fines would be levied. That weekend, Caldwell began to realize her need to depart was inevitable. She went about closing her bank account in Orleans and began check-out procedures at her dorm. The next day, March 14, she and acoupleof friendsdecided to have one last meal together before saying goodbye. They drove around that night for morethanahalf anhour, and
they couldn’t find a place to eat— everything was closed. Hermomcalled and said she needed to come home right away.
Sunday night, March 15, at about 8:30 p.m., as she was sitting in a dorm room with acoupleofAmericanfriends, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared on national television to announce hewould be closing the borders— at noon the next day.
Maleana was 19 years old, alone in a foreign country, andshehadabout 15hours to get out. Hermomwas right. She needed to leave right away. It was 8:30 p.m., and the last train to Paris left at 9:30 p.m.
Caldwell packed one suitcase, she left another one in her room. A petite girl at 5 feet 2 inches tall, she’d be able to travel faster with one. She asked a neighbor who spoke English if he could help her get home. Public transportation had been shut down by the coronavirus. He helped her with her luggage and took her keys. She called the owner of an Airbnb with whom she’d stayed the first couple of days after arriving in Orleans, who’d told her if she ever needed any help in an emergency, to call her. This qualified.
Now 9:05 p.m., Caldwell and the woman raced to the train station in her car. The woman parked her car illegally with its flashers on and raced Maleana to the train. Caldwell boarded the train at 9:29 p.m., without a ticket. On the train ride to Paris, Maleana gets to catch her breath. Surprisingly, the train is sparsely occupied, and fortunately, no one ever asks her for a ticket. She texts everyone she knows to tell them what’s going on.
Maleana arrives in Paris between 11:30 p.m. andmidnight. She found out that her mother had booked airfare for her the nextmorning. Uponarrival at the train station,
she rtook an Uber, and the driver helped her find a nice, albeit extremely expensive hotel. It’s 12:30 a.m., and her flight is at 8 a.m., 6-½ hours later. She decided to take a bath, and then a shower, before settling on a quick nap, inwhich sheworries about missing her flight.
She left for Charles de Gaulle Airport at 4:30 a.m. with another Uber driver and realizes the airportwon’t even begin checking in passengers until 6 a.m. She said there were about 400 people in the airport, almost all students or interns. She didn’t see any adults. If anyone walked within 6 feet on someone else, French authorities were quick to yell at them to keep their social distance.
Check-in and security were surprisingly fast and smooth, and the plane was not crowded. Maleana’s mom had booked an economy plus seat, and she had no one sitting next to her. She collapsed into her seat, laid down and cried — cried that she had made it to her flight safely and cried that her life-changing experience in Francewas over. She jokes nowthat the experience took five years off her mother’s life. Sheusedthe time on the flight towrite another scholarship essay.
After an eight-hour flight, she arrived in New York, at the time an epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Maleana was wearing a thickwool sweater and sweating profusely, looking like a perfect candidate for COVID-19. Fortunately, she passed the temperature testing and had to fill out forms about her time overseas. She noticed a big different between France and New York — no one was social distancing. Shewrapped a scarf around her face since she didn’t have a mask and made her way to her terminal. Her flight to Detroit wouldn’t be for another five hours.
“I tried to minimize contactwithanyone. Iwas starving, but I didn’t eat or drink anything. I didn’t move from my seat. I was careful because I was concernedabout bringing anything home to my family,” she said. “I told mom I hope there will be food in the car when I got home.”
After a two-hour flight, she arrived back in Detroit at about 8 p.m. or about 2 a.m. France time. Because it was recommended that she quarantine for 14 days, and because her grandmother was living in the family home, Maleana and her mother set off for the family cabin in Oscoda, another four hours of commuting. She arrived there at about midnight, or 6 a.m. France time.
“I crashed hard,” she said. “I woke up with a horrible headache in the morning, the worst I’ve ever had. But I saw my French classes had posted homework, so I got to work on that.”
In the end, she got credit for her French classes. She sent out lots of thank yous for the scholarships she received to make her trip to France possible. Now, nearly ninemonths sinceflewoff to Europe to fulfill her dreams, the experience only feels like a dream.
“It feels like a distant dream. As I reflect on the wisdom of our current reality, it feels like a lifetime ago,” shesaid. “The lifebefore and after France doesn’t exist anymore. We’re trying to piece together a new normal. The lifeweknewduring that time no longer exists. France feels like blissful dream because I woke up happy every day. When I came home, it felt like I can home from a dream.
“I grieved when I came home, grieving for dreams that I gave up. But I’m very thankful for my experience, although sometimes I would almost prefer to have not gone than to have gone and have it taken away from me. But I’ve grown so much this year. It taught me howto be kinder tomyself. In another world, I would have been living there blissfully for six months. It doesn’t take away my gratitude. But still wish I would have been able to finish thewayIwanted to. I can be thankful and still have hoped for a better outcome.”
Caldwell, who admits she likes to be in complete control of things, is thankful for the kindness of strangers, from whom she completely relied upon tomake it home. She’s also indebted to Oakland University, despite her reluctance to go there, for all of its help role in helping her grow and find herself.
She expects to graduate from OU in May 2022. She hopes to find the patience and determinationto get into graduate school. And again, she hopes to explore locales out of the country, eitherMcGill University in Montreal, Canada, or back in France at the American University of Paris.
After that, she seems ready to go where the wind takes her. She en visions travellingand writing around the world in her early 20s before settling down to become a French professor.