Should I stay or should I go?: How Four International Students are Dealing with Online Classes

Maria Paulsen, a Santa Monica College (SMC) international student and sociology major, talks about her life in Norway during the age of Coronavirus (COVID-19) compared to Los Angeles over a Zoom call at 1 p.m. PST, 10 p.m. GMT, on Thursday, May 14, 2020. Paulsen, calling from her home in Norway, explains how the situation has calmed down since the first wave of COVID-19 had passed. After attending four semesters at SMC, Paulsen was in Santa Monica for only a month before she flew back to Norway. Screenshot by Marco Palloti via Zoom Video Communications.

When Santa Monica College (SMC) made the decision that the spring semester was going to be completely remote through the summer, some international students made the decision to travel back to their home countries whereas others decided to stay. International students in the United States now lead an uncertain future as SMC among other schools, announced the fall semester will be online and the US borders are still closed due to COVID-19.

Sociology major Maria Paulsen from Norway has been at SMC for two years and decided to move home during the pandemic.

“What I noticed before, Norway was a little bit ahead of LA as it got worse [in Norway] quicker, but when I was in LA I was kind of following up with my family in Norway, seeing how everything was there, everyone was just panicking. So that kind of made me feel like I should go home because I felt like it would come to LA sooner or later.” Paulsen also said that things in Norway are almost back to normal again after the first wave of the coronavirus.

Paulsen originally planned on coming back to Los Angeles this fall, but now she is uncertain if she wants to.

“This is actually something I’m still kind of thinking about, but I think I’ve made up my mind of not going online for the next semester and just waiting and see if they open again after that. I want to get the full experience of being in a classroom and everything, because I learn better when I can be there and participate in the real world," Paulsen said. “I’m definitely going to focus a lot right now on finding a job so I can get some money to go back again. Living in LA as an international student isn’t cheap.”

A student who was unable to go home is Sharon Thet, an English major from Myanmar, a nation in Southeast Asia formerly known as Burma. When she attempted to travel home in March, her flights were cancelled. “[I] totally regret being here during this time. I wish I could be with my family back home,” she said. Thet has had a hard time with quarantining in LA, “I feel sad to know that it can be a long time until I can see my family and friends back home again with all this uncertainty.”

In terms of classes and the future, Thet explained that her plan is to get home to Myanmar and take her online classes from there. “I feel like paying a chunk of money to the school just for online classes plus rent money is a waste when I’m not even physically required to be here,” she said.

SMC alumnus Lea Yang, who is now a public relations major at California State University, Fullerton also regrets staying in LA during quarantine. “My country, Taiwan, has managed to have no new coronavirus cases for 43 days and it’s still counting. Everything remains open and people’s [lives] are still functioning normally.” She explained that the reason she decided to stay was the immigration uncertainty, and fear of border closures.

Although she wishes she could be in Taiwan, Yang feels like her online classes are going well. “Switching all classes into online mode is a bit hard at first since you don’t feel like you’re going to school. You feel less motivated somehow. But after a week or two of getting used to it, now I’m doing pretty fine,” Yang said.

Julian de Bri, a business major from Sweden that The Corsair previously spoke with about the fallout of the coronavirus, has one more semester to finish before transferring to a four year university and has no plans of leaving even though classes will remain online in the fall. “I am planning to continue to study at SMC,” de Bri said. “I want to finish my associate's degree.... in a recessionary economy, getting jobs is tougher overall and therefore education becomes more valuable.”

Click below for our conversation with Maria on how life is going in Norway and her plans for eventually coming back to LA.