The University of Kentucky and COVID

Since I was a kid, my dream had always been to study abroad. For some reason, I never felt comfortable enough in my city and my house to stay after high school. I have always envisioned myself living somewhere else, expanding my horizons, meeting new people, exploring new places and cultures. On December 2019 this dream started to become a reality, after receiving my acceptance letter to the University of Kentucky I thought everything was set, I just had to take a flight with no return ticket and begin the rest of my life. Simple, right? But then COVID came around. 

When they first canceled international flights due to the pandemic I was devastated. The promise of reactivating them before August kept a little sparkle of faith in me, faith in making it to my long-desired dream. But that promise was not fulfilled. Five weeks before my scheduled flight, the airport was shut down and international flights were banned.  I don't think I can type out the deep sadness I felt; I felt impotent, powerless. Angry, FURIOUS with the president for how he managed the situation since the beginning. After lots of nights of crying myself to sleep, I finally came to terms with it and finally was able to tell my UK friends. 

Friends? How? You live in another country. Yes, friends. From thousands of miles away I was able to meet some of the most amazing people I have ever met, people I was very excited to meet in person, but I didn't. The same people who had my back and cried with me on FaceTime after the news. 

But these friends have been my way to experience UK through their eyes. Even if I can't be there, they are making everything they can to share their experiences with me and make me feel less alienated. From my (their) perspective, the university has done an amazing job at trying to control the uncontrollable, making sure their students are safe and can remain on campus for what's left of the semester. I have been able to see a tremendous compromise from everyone, and I do believe that if people on campus keep up the good work they will be able to stay there until late November, and even better, allow the campus to reopen in January so I can be there myself. 

This is my window. I drew this the day flights were canceled while sobbing, it has stayed intact ever since. Every day I feel one step closer to seeing "y'all".