Why would anyone want to stay on a college campus during this time? Well, only if their other option is the street.
That is the reality for a number of international students at Bradley and all over the United States. A lot of who do not have family members they can stay with amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Undergraduates students from Africa, Asia and South America have had to apply to stay on campus with no other alternatives on their tables. Closed borders or unsafe airports are what some students have to deal with if they desired to go back to their homes. With no other alternatives left, they turned to the only place they can: the dorms.
It is no secret that life on campus is considerably different now that it has been all year. Bradley feels like a ghost town. With only about 30 students still on campus, everything seems lifeless.
Not a soul can be spotted on Olin Quad or the Alumni Quad. No Greek Life fundraiser, no Student Center, no classes, no Center Court, no Markin, every area on campus that brought people together is closed or desolated.
A few students can sometimes be seen walking back to their buildings after having gone shopping or getting food. A few Peoria residents walk through the empty campus in the afternoon
Life for students that are still on campus has changed dramatically. Williams dining hall is only open an hour for each meal Monday to Friday. On weekends, it is only open two hours for brunch. Social distancing rules are always enforced by the personnel still working in for dining services.
The mailing system is still operational during this time. Students no longer have to go pick up their packages on the first floor of their building but they are delivered straight to their rooms.
Residential Living is doing its best to provide students that are still on campus with everything they need. Detergent, toothpaste, body wash and other necessities are all available to students free of charge.
Amidst the uncertainty during this time, everyone hopes everything will return to normal as soon as possible. For those students with limited choices, the next few months are still to figure out while still having to stay focused on the last few weeks of class and final exams.
While a lot of undergraduates are still unsure what their summers will look like, this reality is even worse for international students. Multiple students are juggling between going back home, staying in the dorms or staying with friends.
“I would like to stay and work but right now there are basically no jobs available on campus and I technically can not work outside campus,” Dorian Cyubahiro, a sophomore Industrial Engineering major said. “My parents want me to go back to Rwanda, I would rather stay and work but I don’t know if that is possible.”
While a lot of people are trying to figure out what the next two to three months are going to look like, some international students are blindly going into it hoping to figure things out along the way.
Staying productive during this summer is going a tall task for a lot of these students who hope to figure their plans out.
“I just don’t want to be sitting doing nothing all day,” Cyubahiro said. “I think most people think the same, as long we have something we can look forward to and do consistently, we are good.”