ASU student's study abroad program in China ended early due to coronavirus

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(Courtesy Margaret Zheng)

TEMPE, Ariz. - An ASU student who was studying abroad has been directly impacted by the coronavirus. The senior was forced to come back to Arizona with only a few day's notice that her program was canceled.

Margaret Zheng had to leave all her belongings there to catch the closest flight out. Now, she doesn't know what to do the rest of the year, or when she'll ever get her stuff.

Zheng was studying abroad in China as a part of the Chinese flagship program.

"I was so anxious about what was going to happen and this study abroad program, I planned my whole year around this program," Zheng said.

The program was based a few provinces away from Wuhan. She says at first, no one was panicking but as time went on, everyone was wearing masks and cities looked deserted.

(Courtesy Margaret Zheng)

"If you want to get on a train or airplane they take your [temperature] with a gun which is always nerve-wracking because you know you are healthy but think, 'What if I have a temperature?'" Zheng said.

After she finished her first semester, she traveled to Taiwan to meet a friend, but when she got there, she received an urgent email from her program.

"They said you could go back to China to gather things in your apartment, but they highly discouraged us from doing that because airlines were canceling flights," Zheng said.

From Taiwan, she got on a flight to take her back to the United States. The only problem was that she had to leave everything that was in her apartment in China behind.

"For the last month, I have been rotating between three shirts," Zheng said.