Crossing Borders (Part II.)

Signs like this one have been plastered all over the now emptied streets of Buenos Aires. This one roughly translates to: Let's All Help to Prevent the Coronavirus. March 16, 2020.

I resumed classes on Monday, March 9, with business as usual. My Spanish professor told our class that on Thursday we would be going to the Museo Evita on a field trip, a museum that I had wanted to see for some time. On Tuesday, I had my internship. There, I sat through a lengthy meeting, all in Spanish, and then some of my coworkers took me out to lunch. By then, Italy had closed its borders and the whole country was placed under lockdown. One of the guys showed me pictures of his relative in Italy in a deserted airport. We both nervously laughed. That was there and we were far away in CABA (Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires).

That Wednesday, I woke up to the sound of a torrential rainstorm which made me not want to leave the comfort of my own bed. However, I was still excited for a tour that was planned for me at the TV studios of, América Televisión, in the nearby neighborhood of Palermo Hollywood. My professor that oversees my internship was able to snag me a visit. The security was not extensive, and a producer led us into a studio where a live show was being taped. It looked similar to all the studios I had worked in while attending Ithaca College, just bigger. However, what they were filming was bizarre. An exotically dressed older man donning large sunglasses sat on a couch and my professor explained to me what was going on. A news anchor was asking a theatre producer what he thought about the Coronavirus and everybody was laughing about it. Furthermore, everyone in the film studio, just like all of Argentina, greeted each coworker by kissing each other on the cheek, probably not the best protocol for a TV studio during a pandemic...

For the rest of the day, I caught up on homework and I did some work for my internship (what I have done so far is translate documents to English). Following a productive few hours behind the computer, I resolved to go to the gym. There, I saw posters plastered on the walls about the symptoms of the coronavirus. I never thought I would be learning Spanish vocabulary concerning pandemics, but here we are.

When I returned home I decided to get…quite intoxicated. I had been productive all day and decided that I earned it. My timing could not have been any worse. I was with a few people and someone shouted out that Tom Hanks got the Coronavirus. I didn’t believe them, so I checked on my phone. They were right, and the NBA was also cancelled. I began to panic. According to my state of mind, if Tom Hanks wasn’t safe, then none of us were. I also found out that my home university, Ithaca College, was moving classes online. A friend of mine from home texted me in all caps “COME HOME."

As I walked into my Spanish class the following morning, my professor immediately notified us that our field trip to Museo Evita was cancelled. The Argentine government shut all museums and would forbid large public gatherings as well. My mouth gaped open. Our professor continued the class with a different lesson, but I did not hear one word it.

An hour after my class ended, I received an email from my program saying that there would be a video conference later that day to discuss the state of our program. There we were told that for students at the CEA study center, we would have our classes moved online and students at the University of Belgrano had an uncertain future. Tons of already panicked students from my program received emails from their home universities seemingly overnight. Many were urged to come home and some were even threatened with the possibility of losing their scholarships or enrollment status for not complying.

Empty hallways at the Asociación Argentina de Cultura Inglesa, where CEA classes are normally held. March 16, 2020.

A locked classroom in the Asociación Argentina de Cultura Inglesa. March 16, 2020.

As for myself, no American university currently claims me as my degree sits on my desk at home. It is only by pure dumb luck that I have a degree while most of my friends back home live in uncertainty over the status of their education. I have immense sympathy for those holed up in their hometowns, tearing out their hair, and in disarray about how they will finish their last semester.

That weekend, almost everyone decided that they wanted to return home to their families or they were recalled by their universities and thus pressured to leave. I ended up seeing the sunrise most of those nights. During the mass exodus, I scheduled as many interviews as I could with students who were leaving so that I could document the diversity of emotions amongst them as they were ripped away from their programs and their loving host families. (The following blog entries will be interviews with the students I was able to meet with before they were recalled). When I wasn't conducting interviews, I was reading the first few chapters of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (the English translation). The magical realism contained in the book feels more and more plausible every coming day.

Photos of all the students that were on CEA international study abroad programs in Buenos Aires. March 16, 2020.

However, my good friends Joe and Matt were planning on staying. Matt and I had been living together in an apartment in Palermo Soho since January. Joe lived nearby with a host family and one other student from the program. For the last two months, we basically spent everyday together. This included our extended Spring break in which the three of us traveled through Patagonia for two weeks. We stocked up on groceries and Joe made tentative plans to stay in our apartment in case of a 14 day mandatory quarantine, something the Argentine government has considered. That night, I remarked, we made it through Patagonia, so this is just our next challenge. However, I was not prepared for what was going to happen the following morning.

I woke up to a barrage of information on Tuesday, March 17th, concerning changes to our program and even more messages urging us to go home. For everyone else still in CABA, this was the last straw. By the time I got out of bed at 10AM, Joe already had a flight home for later that evening. Matt and I rushed over to say goodbye.

Joe Coppola (center) with his host parents, Marina (left) and Fabricio (right) shortly before departing for the airport. March 17, 2020.

Matt O'Heron (left) being consoled by his friend, Joe Coppola (right), shortly before Coppola departed for a return flight to the United States amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. March 17, 2020.

That afternoon, Matt booked a flight for the following morning. We stayed up late and reminisced about the two months we had together. Matt had to leave at 6AM for the airport so he eventually turned in to get some sleep. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep myself so I stayed up all night watching Spongebob. It helped distract me from the inevitable and remind me of a time when life was simpler. We descended from our 11th floor apartment in our rickety elevator to meet Matt's Uber outside slightly before 6AM. I saw the first rays of sunshine before I closed my eyes to sleep.

As of writing this entry on the evening of Wednesday, March 18th, there are only 97 confirmed Coronavirus cases in Argentina. Fortunately, as a late arrival to the pandemic party, Argentina's government has the foresight in knowing how dire the situation can get. In New York City alone, there are 1,800 cases of COVID-19. Furthermore, it has been reported from the New York Times in multiple articles that many young people can harbor the virus and be asymptomatic. With that reasoning, why in the hell would I want to go to a crowded airport and board a plane to possibly infect those with vulnerable respiratory functions?

After careful consideration I have decided to remain in Argentina despite the ongoing pandemic. I won't lie, it is going to be tough remaining here alone in my apartment as the last on site resident of the CEA study abroad program in Buenos Aires, but I am going to try my best. New York, while it is my native land, is not somewhere I desire to be at this current moment for many logical reasons. I hope to continue my internship here as well as document the state of things in CABA for the remainder of my stay. Currently, I posses a return flight to NY for May 9th, but there is a chance that the pandemic will get worse and I will be unable to return to the United States for quite some time. I have accepted this possibility. We are living through a tumultuous time in HUMAN history, and as such, we have no way of knowing how this will end. All we can do is persevere.