Last summer, Andie Yu arrived in Beijing for a yearlong program at Peking University. The UC Irvine computer science student from Las Vegas was eager to improve her Mandarin and gain experience to be a more competitive job candidate in China.
But her program was cut short after the University of California suspended all non-essential travel to China, including study abroad programs, in response to the fast-spreading coronavirus.
Now Yu, 23, an American citizen, is stuck in Xiamen, China, where she has relatives. She booked a flight to Los Angeles but is unsure when she’ll make it home to her parents in Las Vegas — and expects she’ll be quarantined.
Yu is among hundreds of college students nationwide whose study plans have been upended by intensifying response to the virus. Students and university officials alike are scrambling to secure visas and flights back to the U.S., reenroll in coursework so as not to lose out on an entire semester, or find alternate study abroad programs, typically a highlight of students’ college experience.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.