Visalia native Christine Bianco was living her dream of studying in Italy when the coronavirus outbreak descended on the region in February, cutting her semester short and forcing her out of the country.

The 21-year-old left Italy on March 6 as the virus was picking up speed throughout the country. She took a connecting flight in Philadelphia and landed in Los Angeles. During the 6,000-mile trip through three airports, she only was medically screened once.

“In the Rome airport, I was scanned for my temperature using a piece of equipment that resembled a camera on a tripod, and it was made clear that anyone with a temperature of 99.5° F would not be able to board,” she said.

Her parents drove her home to Visalia, and at the advice of the Centers for Disease Control, she self-quarantined for 14 days and, fortunately, never became ill.

The day her quarantine ended, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the statewide stay-at-home order.

Her travels over the last two months have given Bianco a rare glimpse at how the coronavirus swept through three countries on two continents, changing lives slowly at first and then suddenly and dramatically.

Anxiety takes hold in Europe

Bianco was at Fashion Week in Paris and Milan in February, where events continued as normal even as tension and fear mounted.

“I was in Paris when it got super insane in Lombardy, so people were concerned and extra cautious, but nothing was closed at the moment,” she says. “I think people were just nervous.”

When she arrived back in Florence after spring break in late February, she noticed fewer people out, though nothing had closed down there either.

“There weren’t any lines to get into the Florence cathedral or museums, and the crowds had really died down.”

By this time, several small towns in the Lombardy region had been put under quarantine, as schools began to shut down, and events were canceled.

On Feb. 26, she received an email from Gonzaga University telling her the study-abroad program had ended and she’d have to leave her housing by March 6 due to COVID-19.

As Bianco prepared to leave, the Italian government was days away from shutting down the rest of the country before the virus’s epicenter turned its eye from China. Now more more people have died in Italy than in any other country. Some health officials have criticized Italy’s staggered and slow closing of the country as too little, too late.

Where Bianco lives in Tulare County, there are now 43 cases of COVID-19 with one death. The United States has overtaken both Italy and China with the most cases, at more than 175,000, although a majority have been centered in the New York area, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Dreams cut short

Even with her dreams cut short, Bianco is grateful for the experience in Italy.

“Most of my high school and college life I had talked about studying abroad and wanting to live in Italy,” Bianco says. “The fact that my only chance ended far before it should have was really upsetting.”

Richard Menard, the director at the Center for Global Management at Gonzaga, says the university tried to keep the program going, but “we also didn’t know what the Italian government was going to do.”

Officials worried that students could be stuck in Italy for an extended period if they didn’t leave.

Like many college students, Bianco is now trudging through her online classes, which she finds unstimulating, especially for a studio art major used to being in the classroom.

“I had 3-4 hours a week worth of lectures that have now been diminished to the 2-8 minute videos that are placed on Blackboard each week,” she says.

Menard said like most colleges in the world, the university rushed to get its classes online and keep students on track. He said he understands the disappointment students like Bianco feel about their education.

And like many college students, she feels the quality of education suffers greatly online, but the price tag remains the same. Now she looks forward to returning to Loyola Marymount University - and a normal life - for her senior year in the fall.

At least the memories of living in Italy, even if only for a few weeks, will always stay with her, she says.

“I was meeting amazing people and overall it was probably the best time of my life,” she says. “It was a weird, bittersweet last week.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 10:52 AM.