Photo Courtesy of Pearce Smith

“I am an international student from Jamaica, and I am majoring in computer science. This time specifically, I came [to America] for college, but I have been to America before for vacation … Some major differences, I guess, between Jamaica and New York are that New York is a lot more diverse. We do have diversity in Jamaica, but not to like this level … Transitioning from classes at Hofstra to online wasn’t as hard for me, given the fact that I didn’t live on campus, so it just meant that instead of getting up and jumping on the train to go to school, I’m just getting up and turning on my computer. So, I didn’t have the whole issue with like moving off [campus], and like finding somewhere to live frantically [and] running around, because I just stayed home. So that’s a plus side in this specific situation. Adjusting to America, another big difference is the weather. Because Jamaica doesn’t get cold, so we don’t have snow, we don’t wear, like, sweaters. What you guys call sweatshirts, we call sweaters. We don’t wear anything thicker than that in Jamaica, and that’s [for] the cold time of the year, which is like winter … The transition to online, because we were sent [an email], I remember the night, that was near the start of March. I got the email that was [late] on that Sunday night. I was getting ready for a test that I had the next morning, and then [the email was] like, ‘Hey guys, a student has [coronavirus], they may have it, no school this week.’ Okay, that happened… Transitioning to online, knowing that I wasn’t going to see some people for a while, was actually kind of saddening. Because when I left campus one day – like this was during the week when they said no in-person classes – someone said to me, “Hey, let’s take a picture, because I just feel like I’m not going to see you again after this day.” And then they were right. And then it’s been like more than a month since I’ve seen that person, along with a lot of other people. And I’m like hey, it’s kind of sad. And then no one knows what’s going to happen for the fall, because for all we know we’re still online in the fall, and we don’t know how long this will truly last for. So, I’m just really playing the waiting game and seeing. And especially being an international student and the fact that I’m still in New York, I’m like, ‘Hey, what about me going home?’ Am I going to stay here? Am I going to go home? Can I go home? Can I stay here?’ There’s a lot of uncertainty for international students on a whole, because if I do go home, coming back, that’s going to be a whole other thing. So it’s just all a lot. But it is what it is.”