Act II
My ignorance lasted surprisingly long. Only eventually forced out with brutal facts and shocking news.
Probably almost a week after I arrived in Canada, I still thought about how to get to NYC a week later. Sure, it might be a bit more tricky. I’d have to prove that I really had been outside of Europe for more than 14 days.
But reality slowly sank in. I was nervous, but still in denial.
Restaurants in New York were closing. Broadway shut down. Even if we were going to make it, I already knew it wasn’t going to be the experience I had imagined. The number of those infected went up. The death toll rose.
In the grander scheme of things, I know how selfish I sound.
People were literally dying. And here I was, clinging on to my (slowly disintegrating) plan of interning in New York. It felt like a moral conflict. Until I realized that you’re allowed to be sad about things you were looking forward to falling apart.
So, with what little hope (denial) I had left, I kept telling myself “You’re going. This is all going to calm down soon. You will go, and it will be great.”
I informed my visa sponsor and my internship provider that I could still come. I dreaded reading the news and updates on what else had been restricted every day.
And then, I heard Premiere Minister Trudeau addressing Canada. “If you’re abroad, it’s time for you to come home.”
I heard his words, sitting in a living room in Canada, thousands of kilometers away from home. I wasn’t going anywhere. I wasn’t going home. And I definitely wasn’t going to New York.
More borders closed. The situation in New York got worse.
Do you ever get anxious about something you have no control over?
The dreaded e-mail came: “We regret to inform you that, due to the current circumstances, your internship has been canceled.” There’s an actual pandemic, and there I was, worrying about doing my internship and graduating. I didn’t want to go to pandemic New York, but I also didn’t want to mess up my uni career. I panicked about it for a while. But I realized something – it’s pretty obvious, but when you’re anxious, things outside of that can go unnoticed.
I’m not alone.
Across the world, there are so many more people who are affected by this. Whose education is affected by this. And whose stories are so much more fascinating than mine.
Which is exactly what I want to explore. Over the next few weeks, next to my own, I will write down/narrate others’ experiences of interrupted education. Canceled classes, online learning, study delay and more – the current situation affects the learning environment of pretty much everyone. And if you’re among those affected, whose stories I’ll begin telling next week, feel free to reach out!
