By Adama Turay

Many students at the University of Maryland struggle through online classes.

But some of them do it from halfway across the globe.

For international students, the pandemic has increased financial and logistical challenges. Many have had to take classes in different countries and time zones. Others have remained on campus or have stayed with close friends or family.

Priyatham Kattakinda, a doctorate student studying electrical and computer engineering, said he could not travel to the U.S. to begin his program in fall 2020 due to the pandemic. Once he arrived for the spring 2021 semester, the COVID-19 restrictions made it harder for him to adjust to the new environment.

“I understand and support the restrictions, but I can’t deny the fact that it’s made it much harder for me to settle in,” he said.

Kattakinda also said that he is missing out on the social rapport with fellow students since he is now nine months into his program but has barely talked to his peers.

“It still doesn’t feel like I’m doing my Ph.D. here because I haven’t been able to go to my lab or have any in-person instruction,” he said.

Ardya Suryadinata, an Indonesian master’s degree student in cybersecurity also took classes from his home country and said that the pandemic has heavily affected his studying experience.

“I was expecting more networking during the semester with someone from my major. However, because of the pandemic, I couldn’t do that,” Suryadinata said.

Freshman Shashank Lamba took online classes for the fall 2020 semester from India. He said he could not get a visa because consulates and embassies were closed.   

Lamba said he did not enroll for the spring 2021 semester because it did not seem worth it to pay almost $20,000 after taking his previous classes online.

“I had to drop spring 2021 because my experience just wasn’t good enough to spend so much again for all the online stuff,” he said. “My parents are spending so much, and none of us felt it was worth it to pay this much for online.” 

The freshman expressed his disappointment about starting his first semester online. Lamba said he has not been able to meet his friends at UMD in person due to the pandemic.

“I still haven’t seen my friends with who I’ve been zooming for around a year now. And I’ve already lost a lot of them because they’re all on campus and not all of them would want to sit in front of a screen to talk to someone halfway around the world,” Lamba said.

Lamba said that it’s difficult for international students who stay abroad to participate in clubs and extracurricular activities.

“All of this while paying the most out of any group of students at UMD. It’s a very hard pill to swallow but we don’t really have a choice,” Lamba said. “I’m feeling pretty disconnected, both socially and academically.” 

Christine Laurie, a senior kinesiology major and athlete from Canada, said she was able to take her online classes in the U.S.. She was able to fly home in the winter to see her family during the holidays. 

But Laurie said she had difficulty when returning home from school during summer and winter breaks because the U.S.-Canada border is closed. 

“The struggle with visiting home is there is a mandatory 14-day quarantine with a three-day hotel isolation once arriving from Canada in an airport that can become very expensive,” she said.

The athlete said her family is not able to visit her during the school year or to come to races that are closer to Canada because of the pandemic. She said her mental health has declined since the start of the pandemic.

“This year has been an extremely challenging personally, academically and athletically,” Laurie said. . “COVID-19 has changed so many things in my day to day life.”

Featured image: Ardya Suryadinata studied for his master’s degree at home in Indonesia, which has time zones more than 10 hours ahead of Maryland. Photo courtesy Ardya Suryadinata.