How COVID-19 affected Irish Erasmus students studying abroad

In the few weeks from the initial outbreak of COVID-19 to Ireland pursuing lockdown, it is fair to say our lives have changed utterly. Almost overnight, students are faced with anxieties in relation to coursework, classes, exams and projects.

Many are left wondering when they will be able to attend normal classes, if they can sit their exams and when will they graduate. For Erasmus students, there are also a lot of reasons why COVID-19 has brought a lot of uncertainty.

The most recently available figures show that about 3,500 Irish students a year go through Erasmus to other EU countries to study, while about 8,000 EU students a year come here to Ireland.

Being an Erasmus student myself I have had to make several stressful decisions over the past weeks: whether to move out of my student accommodation, to finish my classes early, or if I should stay in Scotland or fly back home.

I was surprised when I first heard the news that the University of Limerick would be closing its doors and continuing lectures online. I think it a bad decision but it was so unexpected and it made me realise just how serious this virus really was.

Should I stay or should I go

In the wake of their decision to close the campus, all I could do was decide what worked for me. I had to ask myself if I was comfortable enough with staying in Scotland or if I should return to Ireland as the coronavirus continued to spread.

My mind was going around in circles trying to figure out if I should stay or go and I was always checking the news, constantly updating myself on how the coronavirus was affecting our world.

In a way this only heightened my confusion and led to me making different decisions every few minutes. Sometimes I just wanted someone to give me proper guidance of what I should do next.

The other Erasmus students understood what I was going through and we helped each other to make the right decision to move out of our accommodation, go home and return to our families.

This meant giving away a lot of our food and other items we had only recently bought to other students in hopes it would be of use to them. It also meant saying goodbye to friends we had just made in hopes that we would meet again. As soon as I stepped off the plane, I noticed a massive culture shock.

There were yellow posters warning us about the symptoms of COVID-19 everywhere, airport staff were wearing masks and people were handing out flyers about the virus.

Other than what was on the news, I had seen nothing in Scotland regarding the Coronavirus and Ireland felt like a different world. I was told I had to self-isolate for 14 days at home. It was a hard thing to hear but by allowing myself to lean on my family for support, their strength and love helped me endure it.

However, I wasn’t the only one who had to experience such uncertainty during this time, with many other Erasmus students across the globe having to return home even from places that had experienced much worse hardships than Scotland.

Jarlath Scollan, a second-year Global Business student studying at University College Dublin, was in Budapest. Being over 1,000 miles away from his family, the decision to return home was also a tough decision and this is his detailed experience.

“I was quite set on staying put in Budapest, it was only when I heard rumours of airports closing and borders being shut that I reluctantly decided to go home. “UCD asked me to contact them with whatever decision I made just so they were informed. I booked my flight as soon as I made my decision. Budapest went on lockdown before Ireland. Budapest was very cautious and had a lot fewer cases than Ireland.

“My University gave regular updates, but they were changing their opinion constantly on what to do. When I first found out my program would be cut short I decided to make most of the few days I had left.

“As I was there last semester it wasn’t as sad. I wasn’t particularly worried about the virus until I came home and fully saw the extent of what was happening. I can finish my courses through online assessments. I am unsure about whether I will be refunded for my student accommodation but I have received my full Erasmus grant. I have just finished my 14-day self-isolation and I am looking forward to getting back to a normal life.”

Katie Flannery is a third-year Journalism and New Media student at the University of Limerick who studied in Manchester. She decided to go home because of the UK's laid back response to the virus outbreak.

“I was slightly worried because they were very blasé about it in the UK which made me more concerned. I wanted to stay in Manchester but that just wasn’t possible. I actually had to go to our course coordinator about my concerns as the UK were slow to act and not very on top of it. I had already planned to fly home for the weekend when I heard that my course would be postponed. I was very disappointed but I had to literally drop everything and leave as I was worried about what travel restrictions would be put in place. UL was very good at dealing with this pandemic. I received numerous emails from UL before receiving anything from my host university. They contacted me to see if I was home and I sent them my boarding pass as proof. They seem concerned and were very helpful and kind in assuring I was home and well. My airport experience was normal, relaxed even as the UK were so behind on implementing anything. I knew I had to self isolate for 14 days. I maintained a positive attitude as it had to be done and it is for the best.”

Other students have not been able to return to Ireland.

Andrea Sheehan is also a 3rd year Journalism and New Media student at UL studying communication at Universidad de Navarra Spain for Erasmus.

“I really liked the university and the classes. The university is in a nice small city with everything you need within walking distance. I made some good friends and I had a really enjoyable experience and then everything seemed to happen very suddenly with the university closing and people flying home within just a few days. The situation seemed to get serious very fast and it was hard to process everything. It is stressful to decide what the best option is to take. My host university went on lockdown after UL and it happened very fast. We got an email on Thursday evening at about 6 pm to say it would be closed from the next day onwards. However, the international relations office was very helpful and kept in touch a lot to see how we were and to keep us updated. I had a lot of anxiety as there were no flights back to Ireland at the time for most of the month of March so we couldn’t return home like most of the other students.

“I was a bit annoyed as the first emails we received were about the uni closure. Many of which were just to make sure we still had a way of doing assignments and exams online.

“It was 100 per cent our responsibility to pass every class or we would fail our Erasmus. I feel this made people more stressed and anxious about the situation. The emails which followed in the days after were a bit more helpful, but UL did not keep in touch with us individually as much as our host university.

“I have had to remain in Spain due to the lack of flights and the closure of borders. It is a very sad time as Erasmus was something I have always looked forward to and was one of the deciding factors of me picking this course in UL. It is also quite stressful to have to adapt to online work and there is a lot of uncertainty about exams and projects etc.

“I am still in Spain right now, however, another girl from my course at home is staying in my apartment with me and one other international student so we are keeping each other company and keeping busy with online work.

“If I was at home in Ireland I would have to self isolate in my bedroom and I would be afraid I would be putting my family at risk. Hopefully, I will be able to return to Ireland in the first or second week of May but I am unsure as I have exams online for the first week.”