In spring 2019, OPRF students signed up for the Mag Vacations China trip full of excitement. They were ready for “green scenery, new experiences, and hilly and winding streets” as advertised by the school.

Junior Wren Edwards signed up to “experience the food and see different places.”

“I wanted to experience the culture there and wanted to see how well I could get around with the Chinese I had been learning,” adds junior Sadie Halverson.

Seven months later, they learned of the coronavirus.

January 30, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emer- gency of international concern,” according to the Center for Disease Control. The virus “was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China” and has killed more than 75,000 people.

It “has now been detected in 37 locations internationally, including cases in the United States.” The United States has 34 confirmed cases.

Since the virus is spreading fast and easily, the trip was canceled.

“At first, I wasn’t really worried because it didn’t seem serious in the begin- ning,” said Halverson. “But when things started getting worse, I kind of expected the trip to get canceled.”

“OPRF waited a while to cancel it,” said Wren.

When it was announced the trip was canceled, Chinese students like senior Simone Kul said “We’re disappointed but we understand why we can’t go.” She adds “Our class has been taking Chinese together for the past 4 years, so we’re practically a family. So this was kind of going to be our last trip together.”

“A lot of the seniors signed up when we were sophomores but it got resched- uled to our senior year, and now this happened,” said senior Maya Guang.

Although most seniors won’t be able to travel with their class next year, they still plan on traveling to China in the future but add “it still won’t be the same.”