Brentwood Student Describes Traveling Home from Spain Amid COVID-19

Parker Woods
Parker Woods with his host parents in front of the bullfighting arena in Valencia.

Spending a year in a foreign country is the dream of many a high school student, and Parker Woods is no different. On track to graduate from Ravenwood High School a year early, he knew he wanted to spend what would have been his senior year as a gap year and do something different before going to college. Something that would provide him with a unique experience. A life-changing adventure is what he ended up having.

Through Ravenwood High Schools’ Assistant Principal, Bridget Gorokhovsky, he learned of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program, and he decided to apply. The highly respected study abroad program arranges between eight and nine thousand exchanges each year. It was created to help students develop international friendships, broaden leadership skills, and learn about different cultures. Once accepted, he decided to use the opportunity to fulfill his goal of becoming fluent in Spanish, and to spend the year in a different country. He chose Spain.

“In Spain,” Woods said, “I was living with a host family in a small city called Albacete. I was learning the language and culture by integrating myself into my new Spanish life. I went to classes of Segundo de Bachillerato, it’s like their senior year, and making new friends with Spaniards and other students of all different nationalities.”

He focused his time on improving his Spanish, with the objective of getting an official certification from the Instituto Cervantes at the end of the school year. Unfortunately, his plans had to change when COVID-19 hit Italy.

“We knew it was just a matter of time before Spain followed in its footsteps,” added Woods. “I had hoped that life would not be too heavily disrupted, or that it would be better managed in Spain, but as the situation progressed it became clear that things were getting worse. Schools started closing, shops were closing, grocery stores were completely empty. The Spanish government took action and declared a state of emergency, prohibiting the free circulation of people in public. We could no longer leave our houses except to get groceries. After a week of this, my family and I made the hard decision to cut my time in Spain short. I would be returning to the United States.”

Plans were quickly made for him to return to the US. On Saturday, March 21, he would take the train from Albacete to Madrid, stay in an airport hotel overnight, and then take an early morning flight on Sunday, March 22, back to the US with layovers in Amsterdam and Detroit. And then all hell broke loose.

“Starting Saturday morning this plan began to fall apart,” said Woods. “I received an email from the hotel I had booked telling me that my reservation was canceled. Upon calling, I was informed that the government in Madrid had shut down all hotels in [the city] and was converting them to health centers or makeshift hospitals following the shortage of beds in the Madrid hospitals. So, I had to spend the night in the Madrid airport, which was not the end of the world, but I also found out my flight from Madrid to Amsterdam had been delayed and I would not make my connecting flight to the US. I still wasn’t too worried. The important thing was to just try to get out of Madrid because once in a lower risk country, I knew I would have more options to get home. Then, my host brother texted me an article saying that the Netherlands was closing its borders to Spain due to the increasing number of cases. We spoke with the airline on the phone and they assured us that the flight would leave and that there should not be any problems with it.”

But as we have all learned, what is okay one day during the coronavirus epidemic, is not okay the next day. In the morning, the airline employees at check-in told him that he would not be able to board his flight and that he would need to book another flight.

“I finally found a direct flight from Madrid to New York for later on the same day. I immediately booked it and after 23 hours in the Madrid airport without sleep, I was on my way back to the US. While waiting on my first flight, I found another flight from [John F Kennedy Airport in New York] to [Nashville] the next day, so I ended up spending the night in a hotel in New York at JFK. And finally, after three days, I arrived in Nashville.”

While traveling, he took as many precautions as possible. Before getting on that first train, he made sure he had several face masks, multiple pairs of gloves, sanitizing wipes, and rubbing alcohol. Changing gloves and masks as much as possible during his journey, he also washed his hands religiously.

Since his return, Woods has checked on his host family, and they are all doing well. Their son, who was in the United States, has returned to his home in Spain.

Now, Woods is home with his family, getting some much-needed sleep, and staying safely indoors as he watches the continuation of the coronavirus story unfold with the rest of us.

“As much as I want to go and see all of my friends who I haven’t seen since last year,” said Woods, “I know that the only way we can flatten the curve is if every one of us does our part and stays home for now.”

This is a gap year he will never forget.