Three confirmed cases in Berlin. Six confirmed cases. Thirteen. Forty-eight confirmed cases after someone went clubbing and infected sixteen. These were the daily headlines that I would read when tracking the pandemic in my study-abroad country of Germany. Originally, Germany was a hotspot for CoronaVirus in Europe, but it affected the western region of North Rhine-Westphalia.
I had gotten to Berlin on March 2, after travelling throughout Spain as I detailed in my previous blog. Within a couple days of being in Berlin I was realizing that students studying in Italy may not be the only ones getting sent home this semester. My semester in Germany was very unique compared to other schools. My school, the Berlin School of Economics and Law started April 1, and went throughout the summer. With an April 1st starting date, and the pandemic rapidly getting worse in Spain, Germany, and France, I had to make a decision. I talked with my parents and after much consideration, I decided to book a return flight home for the following week because I had a gut feeling I would be sent home before my semester even started on April 1st. I wanted to get out before things got worse, and try to beat drastic increases in airfare in case a travel alert was sent out.
The global experience, as told by SDSU students 