Chloe Chauvin, currently in Wyoming, from Shanghai, China
July 24, 2020
Chloe Chauvin is cut off from her family in China by travel restrictions. Photo courtesy of Eugene Yang.
Chloe Chauvin is stranded in the U.S.
After Emerson’s March announcement that all students must immediately vacate campus residence halls, Chauvin was given little time to make an impossible decision—return home to her parents in Shanghai, where travel restrictions may prevent her from returning to Emerson in the fall, or stay in the U.S.
For the past four months, Chauvin has been living with her brother, dividing her time between Wyoming and San Francisco. She no longer has the option to travel to her parents in China due to a nationwide restriction on entry of foreign nationals announced March 28.
“My nationality is French because my dad is French,” Chauvin said in a Zoom interview from Wyoming. “China does not offer dual citizenship so when I was living in China, I had to use a visa. I want to go back to China, but now I don’t even think it’s an option.”
Although Chauvin would prefer to study remotely off-campus, she is currently waiting to see the online course options before making a decision about her fall plans. As information regarding online course availability is currently limited, she is concerned she won’t be able to attend any of the journalism classes she needs to graduate. She also fears returning to Boston as she does not believe the college will be able to contain the virus with an influx of students using public transportation to return to campus from around the world.
“My flight from China is usually 14 hours and it is not safe to be on a plane at all, let alone for that long,” Chauvin said. “I get that people want to go back, but it really feels like campus is just going to become a breeding ground for the virus.”
Chauvin said living away from her tight-knit community, which she describes as a bubble, has been difficult. As a rising junior, she does not consider the U.S. to be her home yet and has been finding other ways to feel connected to China.
“The longer that I am in America, the more I feel like I am forgetting how to speak Chinese,” Chauvin said.