UMES senior returns from Peru study abroad after country’s borders close
MARYLAND – One senior at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is thankful to be home after she was was studying abroad in Peru when the country completely closed its borders due to the coronavirus.
“[The President said], ‘We’re going to close the borders in its totality within the next 24 hours. If you’re not gone, you’re just going to be here,” says Samantha Hernandez.
Hernandez, a senior at UMES, was about 35-hundred miles away from home studying abroad in Peru when the country announced major COVID-19 restrictions. “We saw the developments back in January. We were just like, ‘Oh that’s not gonna happen.’ And then in March it got cut short.”
She went from taking in sights and sounds of places like Machu Picchu to quarantine in a foreign country. “When we went to the grocery store, we were walking too close together and we got yelled at by the police and they were threatening to arrest us if we didn’t keep up with the social distancing rules .”
About one week after the quarantine began, she and her classmates were able to work with the U.S. Embassy to get a rare flight back home. “I just stayed away from my family and it was really sad because I know my mom really wanted to hug me but I was like you can’t. I won’t let you do that mom. I know you love me.”
When it comes to coronavirus restrictions, Samantha says she was surprised to see the difference between Peru and the U.S. “I was in reverse culture shock when I landed in Miami and I noticed that nobody else was wearing masks or gloves. I was shocked. And when I landed in Reagan me and my friend were the only ones wearing masks.”
Despite the unique circumstances she says she’s thankful for the time she was able to spend in Peru, interning at a clinic. “Not only personally because I was able to open up and live in a different culture but professionally. I did an internship and got to work along side nurses and doctors and that experience alone pushed me now to become a doctor in osteopathic medicine.”
Samantha Hernandez was able to study abroad through the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship Program. She still plans to follow through on her scholarship proposal requirements but it seems like that’ll have to be done virtually for now.
