You may be wondering if I mistakenly put “leavin” in the title rather than “livin” like I did for many of my previous posts. Unfortunately, it’s not a mistake. Due to the increasing spread of the Coronavirus and the travel ban declared by Trump, my internship program was suspended and I had to go back home to LA. While I originally planned on staying in Edinburgh until the end of May, as a result of the State Department urging U.S. Citizens to come home as soon as possible and commercial flights being cancelled left and right, I made the prompt decision to book a flight for Wednesday, March 25th. I started packing my stuff, went and bought a few (not enough) souvenirs, and emotionally and mentally prepared myself as I panicked about the high potentiality of catching the virus in the airport. I thought that would be the worst of it. I was wrong…
On Thursday, March 19
My friend from my program who had already returned to LA frantically texted me that an immigration officer informed her that citizens abroad who didn’t return to the U.S. by the weekend would have to stay in place indefinitely. In other words, if I didn’t fly back the next day, I would be trapped in Edinburgh.
So then I checked my flight’s status for Wednesday.
It was CANCELLED.
While my flight from Edinburgh to Paris was still scheduled, the one from Paris to LA was not. Anxiety and panic took over me as I sent out a rash email to my travel insurance company to book me the next flight possible. Thankfully, they were very prompt and scheduled that I fly home on Saturday morning.
During this whole ordeal, I was bombarding my parents with messages, Skyping my sister and updating my friends about this crazy situation. They were all very integral in calming me down and reassuring me that somehow, everything would work out.
And of course, I can’t forget about my flatmates. While I was spiraling out of control at the uncertainty of everything, their encouragement and their attentiveness as I processed out all my thoughts meant so much to me.
On my last night, we all hiked up Calton Hill and saw the lit up landscape of Edinburgh together. And as cliche as this sounds, I really did hit the jackpot with these flatmates. Even though my time in Edinburgh was cut short by two months, the three months that I did spend with them were nothing short of great! From sprawling out in the living room together and discussing everything from Love is Blind to the meaning of religion to American/British/Northern Irish stereotypes, having caring individuals to come back home to and spend time with was a real blessing.
Anyways, I’ll reflect more on my overall experience in Scotland in the next post as this was already a lot.
See ya! :’)
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