Today will be Hannah’s last day in Denmark. Covid-19 has slowly eroded her study abroad program. Last week, her program canceled all travel outside Denmark (Normandy, Vienna, and Prague). Earlier today, we learned Denmark is shutting down schools, universities, and non-essential public work for a fortnight.

Tonight, in light of that decision, along with Denmark’s increased travel restrictions to slow down the spread of Covid-19, her program has decreed that all DIS Copenhagen classes and activities are suspended immediately. Students are to leave Denmark within the week and will continue their studies remotely from home.

Not ten minutes after receiving that email, we saw President Trump’s press conference where he announced the ban on travel to and from Europe beginning Friday.

Well, this mama bear went into panic mode. While Hannah slept in Denmark, I hacked into her travel account and called the agency to work on changing her flight to get her home before Friday. The computerized voice on the phone informed me that I was number 453 in the queue. I hung up. Hannah called having just read her email with the news (at 4 a.m.). We agreed the best thing to do was purchase a brand new ticket and fight for credit on the other ticket later. In the 20 minutes between when I first looked at the ticket prices, the lower-priced tickets were snapped up, raising my price by $200.

Moments after purchasing the ticket, we learned through clarification with Homeland Security that the European travel ban did not include U.S. citizens; wish they’d mentioned that in the press conference. I felt an immediate buyer’s remorse. Hannah could have had a couple of more days in Copenhagen. After talking it through with Hannah, we are at peace with our decision to bring her home Friday. She said now that she knows the jig is up, she just wants to come home. “If I were here longer, I’d have anxiety through the roof about something else happening that would stop all flights completely.”

So Thursday is a day of packing and tying up loose ends to depart on Friday for a flight to Boston.

This picture is from today. A class canceled, giving Hannah a free afternoon, and she was able to play tourist – unaware of the events about to unfold. For a little while, she was able to smile and enjoy her adventure.

I am heartbroken for her but eager to have her home safe and sound!

UPDATE

Hannah called at 3:45 a.m. to tell me that neither her Swiss Air app nor their website could find her ticket. I tried calling the travel agency again – 1371 ahead of me in the phone queue. We tried calling Swiss Air only to be put on hold. After much troubleshooting and sorting through well-intentioned misinformation, Hannah finally took the train to the airport and spoke with a human at the ticketing booth They were able to find her ticket, she’s all set. Why is nothing ever easy?! I’m running on two hours of sleep and have a ball of acid/anxiety in my stomach.