I Have Been Isolated for Nine Days! – Fund for Education Abroad

The last two weeks have been chaotic. We made a stop at Gibraltar after Spain for some complicated reasons related to our stay in the European Union (EU). Gibraltar is a British territory located under the country of Spain. It is so little on the map that I thought it was a city in Spain. We needed to be outside the EU to acquire more days, so we made a one-day stop in Gibraltar.

Students and staff are expected to be tested before and after their arrival at ports. Yes, after anticipating it, I finally got COVID-19. Since the pandemic began, I haven’t had COVID, and I could see it coming with all previous cases on the boat. On February 28th, I started quarantining. The medical team needs us to be quarantined for five days, afterwards, we have to be tested again, and the results decide whether we need to be quarantined for another five days or whether we are virus-free. Fortunately, I just had a sore throat during the five days and a mild fever on the second. We were supposed to arrive in Portugal on the day of my second test, March 5th. When the day came, I had a feeling I’d be tested positive once more since I still felt like I had a sore throat. Sadly, I was right.

If you’ve been following my previous posts, you’ll know that I was quarantined for being in close contact with a close contact, then for the increase of the COVID cases, and now for getting COVID. Already three times! I cried when I was told that I would have to be isolated for a longer period of time since I had tested positive again. I wasn’t doing so well with all the isolation already, but this time I felt it was too much. I had been trying to keep it together, but this time I needed to cry. The other students disembarked to explore Portugal, but I stayed on the boat to finish my quarantine.

Don’t get me wrong: Semester at Sea is a fantastic program I have absolutely loved. The part of all of this that I dislike is COVID. I can’t refuse to quarantine because I don’t want to jeopardize other people’s health, so I understand when I have to. I was relocated to a hotel in Portugal after seven days of being isolated in my little cabin. I’ve been here for two and a half days. I will be tested again on my tenth day, which is tomorrow, and hopefully, I will test negative for COVID. I am disappointed that I did not experience Portugal, but I try to look on the bright side of things. France is the next port, and I am quite enthusiastic.