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The only choice they have now is to sit out the pandemic in foreign countries that may just be very far from home. Cherisse Halsall reports:

I touched base with three such students spread across the world in the UK, Spain, and even South Korea for a description of what it's like to endure a global pandemic while far from home.

Dino Gutierrez, Student, Seoul, South Korea
"It was really scary at first because like I said I didn't know much about the virus. I felt very vulnerable because I didn't feel as though I had anyone at home who could relate but now we know that that's not the case."

Cherisse Halsall:
"So what are the precautions that they've advised for you guys there are you wearing masks, gloves?"

Dino Gutierrez, Student, Seoul, South Korea
"Not gloves, some people do wear gloves, everyone wears a mask. Here in Korea if you're not wearing a mask people look at you very scornfully but more in a reprimanding way like why are you not wearing a mask you know that you're supposed to be wearing one."

"On the buses there are bottles of hand sanitizer so that you can clean your hands with hand sanitizer as soon as you get on the bus and as you're getting off the bus."

Jane Salazar Mcloughlin, Erasmus Mundus Scholar
"Well when it hit the news really this was last year it was still really focused in China and because I guess of where I am and my program has a lot of international students it was already part of the conversation."

Cherisse Halsall:
"So I know that following Italy Spain has had the highest incidence of cases in Europe, what's the day to day experience like living in Spain at this time?"

Jane Salazar Mcloughlin, Erasmus Mundus Scholar
"Honestly, everything is on lockdown there is a lot of authority on the ground lots of police, lots of militaries, everybody here seems pretty respectful of that."

"You can sense some bit of apprehension from just people in general, I mean, we can only go to the store or the pharmacy or to seek some sort of healthcare provider for whatever reason but just walking around the streets people are wearing masks they're wearing gloves. If you're on the same side of the street with one person one of us will cross the street, you can only go out as one person absolutely no gatherings. Police will stop you."

"And I guess if you can't prove a reason to be out you will be charged."

"On the medical front to be quite honest I haven't really seen that because we stay home, I mean and I have no intentions of going to the hospital if I don't have to."

Christine Coc, Chevening Scholar
"As you can see right now I'm talking to you from the comfort of my room which is actually accommodation on campus."

Cherisse Halsall:
"So now, what has been your experience on the streets of Norwich at this time, how does it look there and what are the regulations."

Christine Coc, Chevening Scholar
"To be fair I can't really tell you because we are not allowed to go out on the streets, we can go out one time for the day and you can't go far and it's basically to exercise, but from looking out my window there is absolutely go to the supermarkets and so forth."

Cherisse Halsall:
"And what are their impressions of what's been going on here at home?"

Dino Gutierrez, Student, Seoul, South Korea
"Hubert Pipersburgh was a personal friend of mine so it hit really close to home. He wasn't just someone I happened to know."

"It's been really tough for me to be consoling my friends from halfway across the world and now that San Ignacio seems to be on the way to becoming the epicenter of the virus in Belize it's very hard like I haven't been able to concentrate."

Christine Coc, Chevening Scholar
"I can sense that My Belizean people are very afraid they are very confused they're finding someone to blame, which is it's just human instinct. What I would tell them is what made me feel better was that okay what they did for us was they say okay we have the pandemic, but here is a proposed plan just in case somebody catches Corona. So for me I would advise them for them to reduce a little bit of the panic and the nervousness and the anxiety I can tell they are having, is to have like a proposed emergency plan for their individual homes so that it can at least reduce it."

Jane Salazar Mcloughlin, Erasmus Mundus Scholar
"I'm really worried, I mean my family is there I have a lot of family and we are all very close and I speak to them every day and continuously stressing please stay home. Fortunately, my sisters are able to work from home, but I have families that lost jobs when the tourism sector lost a lot of employment. I have other families that work other jobs that get paid by the hour who are struggling now. So things lke that makes it a bit more closer to home for me even though I am so far away."

Tomorrow night we'll have part two of the story where the three students talk about what they felt after realizing that, at least for now, they can't come home.