Ezaldeen's Semester Abroad: Challenges and Silver Linings

COVID-19 has been extremely disruptive for study abroad students. Computer engineering major Ezaldeen Arafat knows this all too well - he departed to Louisiana State University this semester and has been unable to return to the UAE because the university shut down relatively late. The pandemic has been challenging for Ezaldeen in many ways, but it hasn't been all bad - due to the situation, he was able to grow closer to his extended family in the USA.

Ezaldeen and a friend at the New Orleans ferry

Ezaldeen's experience with the pandemic in Louisiana sounds very similar to the experiences of our study abroad students here at AUS: "When the university shut down, I was spending time with my friends before they left. Since they all live in countries where they hold citizenship, they were able to travel home (most of them were exchange students). Restaurants are still open for takeout, so you can get food but you can’t eat there. So we would get food and eat at somebody’s place, but around 95% of my friends have left to their home countries, so I was running out of things to do."

Despite this, he says he's coping pretty well with the situation. "I try to focus on my online courses and I know that I would be in quarantine even if I did make it back to the UAE, so for now, the only option for me is to wait things out anyway, no matter where I stay."

Staying in the USA during this pandemic was not Ezaldeen's choice to make: "My university shut down pretty late in response to COVID-19, and as I was making plans to go back to the UAE, the country closed its borders to everyone who wants to enter the country except their citizens.

"I stayed for a couple of weeks in Louisiana when the university shut down, but my uncle, whom I’ve met only once before, offered to let me move in with him and his family in North Carolina as I wait to be able to return to the UAE. Even though I still had some people that I could see in Louisiana, things were getting pretty dull, so I booked a one-way ticket to North Carolina and am currently living with my uncle."

Ezaldeen has observed how the pandemic has transformed Louisiana and North Carolina - which hasn't been all too different from how it has affected the UAE: "Louisiana was absolutely empty in terms of pedestrians. The number of cars you would see on the street didn’t really change, except for drive-throughs, which were always packed. The situation is the same in North Carolina."

Needless to say, the COVID-19 outbreak has heavily affected Ezaldeen's study abroad experience. "I realized that even if I decided to stay at the university, my study abroad experience had ended anyway since the university had shut down and I would have to quarantine myself for the remainder of my stay in the USA," he said. "At this point, it really didn’t matter where I stayed; I just wanted to stay with people whom I could rely on while I go through this pandemic. That's why I chose to move in with my uncle."

The transition to online courses has been pretty rough on Ezaldeen, but the fact that study abroad grades (that are passing) don't affect AUS students' GPA is a safety net. "I basically have no motivation to work when I stay at home 24/7 - kind of ironic since I basically have all the time in the world - but my courses are pretty easy. I’m also only taking four courses and a lab, because I planned this trip to have a very low amount of work compared to a regular semester at AUS. The easy courses mean that I have to work minimally to pass since I only need a C, but my grades have definitely dropped. I used to average A/A- on my exams, whereas I am now averaging C/D on the online exams I am taking. Since I did well in the beginning of the semester, I’m hoping that these grades average out to a passing grade."

Unsurprisingly, Ezaldeen's experience with the pandemic has been mostly negative, but he sees a bright side to the situation: "I got to form a relationship with a side of my family that I never thought I would see before. I also got to explore North Carolina’s capital, Raleigh, by car, which is indeed a very beautiful city."

Finally, he would like to leave everyone with this message: "I hope that everyone really is safe and that everyone spends their time in quarantine where they belong - with their close family. Unfortunately, I don’t get that privilege. Even though this is a really tough time, we do learn to appreciate even the smallest things that we have in our regular everyday lives. And even if somebody’s pandemic experience is extremely negative, just know that we become better people through our struggles and that the outcome will be a new and stronger you!"


Suzana Saoud
IXO Publicity Specialist