With the CDC’s recent recommendation to avoid all unnecessary travel to Italy, many Connecticut colleges are scrambling to bring those studying abroad back to the U.S.
In an email from a spokesperson Saturday, UConn says they’re actively working on logistics to get 88 students studying in Italy back to the states.
They’re just one of the latest schools to take action.
Saturday, Trinity College said they are suspending the program at their Trinity College Rome campus, and they are urging all students to return home. A spokesperson for the colleges says the program is hosting 39 students this semester, including 18 of which are from visiting institutions.
A spokesperson for Quinnipiac University says they're having students in Italy head back home per the CDC's increased warning.
NBC CT spoke with a Quinnipiac student overseas who says he’s sad to be packing up his bags
“What time is it there?,” asked NBC CT's Caitlin Burchill.
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“It’s 1:11am,” said Declan Murphy laughing.
Staying up late and studying abroad are some of the unique experiences CT college students like Murphy looked forward to enjoying.
“Once he went home, we kind of knew everything was going downhill from there." Like other friends studying in Italy who had to pack up this week, Murphy learned this morning that his program in Florence has been suspended.
“Something that I’ve looked forward to for so long has just been cut short.”
We caught up with Murphy in Prague.The start of his spring break trip that has to be cut short too, “We were planning on Vienna and Budapest.”
Now Murphy says he’s in a rush to get back to Italy, pack up his stuff, and get back to the states.
And in Lisbon, NBC CT connected with another jet-setter enjoying her spring vacation. UConn student Olivia Hamula says her program informed her of the CDC’s most recent travel alert.
“They have just told us not to travel to Italy.”
But since she’s based in Paris, she can continue her studies unlike her classmates in Italy.
“We definitely are being a lot more careful. We’re washing our hands a lot, using hand sanitize, we were wearing masks.”
Now many Connecticut college students, like Murphy, are getting a lesson in life, that not everything goes as planned.
“But I’ve also been grateful for the experience I’ve been given. Two months abroad is something not a lot of people get to have,” he said.
Murphy says he has lots to figure out in the next couple of days, including if he’ll be losing any money and were he'll live. He gave up a dorm room to live abroad.
But, Murphy says the university has been very transparent and he knows he’ll still be able to take his classes online.
