Peyton returns from study abroad program in Spain

The Coronavirus changed Cassie Peyton’s study abroad program in Spain very quickly.
The 2018 Humboldt High School graduate is a sophomore at Iowa State University. She was studying at the University of Extremadura at Caceres, Spain, a program that started at the end of January.
On March 12, Iowa State University notified students studying abroad that they would have to come home. They said they would need to return home by March 23. So Cassie and her roommates booked a flight back on March 19. But on March 13, the President of Spain put the entire country on lockdown and Cassie’s group re-booked their flight for Monday, March 16. They had to wait on hold for three hours just to talk to someone to change their flights because so many people were calling to rebook their flights.
“We were about half way between Madrid, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal. With the way the Coronavirus was spreading in Madrid, we thought flying out of Lisbon made more sense,” Peyton said. Lisbon is the capital of Portugal.
The bus they lined up to take them to Lisbon got cancelled at the last minute. The border between Spain and Portugal was closing. They scrambled and were able to get a very expensive taxi to take them to Lisbon and Iowa State provided paperwork to get them across the border (although they didn’t have to use the paperwork because the southern border was still open at the time). After spending the night in Lisbon, they went to the airport for the long journey home.
“It was a stressful, long day of traveling,” Peyton said of the 27-hour journey.
They flew from Lisbon to London, then from London to Dallas. Then from Dallas to Des Moines. There was a medical emergency on the plane during the London to Dallas leg of the trip, although they did continue flying. They were met by emergency vehicles when they landed in Dallas, but Peyton thought everything turned out ok for the passenger.
When they arrived at the airport in Dallas they went through U.S. Customs and Immigration. When asked where they had been, they were referred to the CDC where they were questioned and some had their temperatures taken. Cassie and members of her traveling party were given packets of information and told to quarantine for 14 days. They were also required to take their temperature daily and report any symptoms to Iowa State University.
Cassie was picked up at the airport in Des Moines by her parents, Gary and Sonja Peyton, who were self-quarantined after a trip to Mexico.
“We went straight home and haven’t left the house. My sister is staying with my aunt and uncle,” Peyton said on Monday, March 23. None of the family has shown any signs of illness.
Before the spread of the Coronavirus, Cassie was able to visit many cities in Spain, and also travel to Portugal and Morocco.
A unique fact about her host city, Caceres, is they had an episode of Game of Thrones filmed there.
“We attended class during the week and were able to travel on the weekends,” Peyton said.
At the university in Spain the group of 20 students were taking Spanish classes. ISU’s coordinator for the program is originally from Caceres, where they were staying.
“It’s a really small university and they do not have online classes. But Iowa State is working with them to develop an online platform and we actually had our first video chat class this morning,” Peyton said. “My professors in Spain are trying to do everything they can to get this all to work for us as are our directors at Iowa State. They’re all great and really helpful during this time.”
It is hoped the students can finish the semester through the online platform. The class was scheduled to be done on May 8, and Peyton was unsure if it would be extended because of time they missed.
For Peyton, she’s glad to be home but she really was enjoying her time in Spain and the unique learning experience it provided.
“It was so much different than taking a Spanish class at Iowa State. I really enjoyed it,” Peyton said. “As the cases of the virus kept growing we knew we wouldn’t be there much longer, but we were holding on to hope.”
For now Peyton is hanging out with her parents and starting back to school via online classes.