COVID-19: Studying in Italy While Asian

My experience navigating the public transportation system and a manic flight home in the midst of a pandemic taught me to conduct myself with dignity in the face of uncivil behavior.

Me in my mask and fake eyelashes at the Florence Peretola Airport

My name is Tiana and I am a Vietnamese-American who was previously studying in Italy this year at NYU Florence. When the first cases of COVID-19 started popping up in Italy, me and my friends were only vaguely aware of it. The coronavirus was a kind of distant chatter in the background of our experience. Little did I know, soon it would be front and center.

The First Signs of Something Wrong

"Did you hear? A bar in Rome just banned Chinese people."

When my friend told me that businesses had started restricting Asians and specifically Chinese people, I knew that we could no longer ignore the affect the coronavirus was having on our community. Throughout January and February, Italians had begun treating me differently as I moved throughout Florence. If I sat down in the tiny C1 bus, people would cast alarmed glances at me, either moved away or put on masks. If I happened to cough or sneeze in public, everyone around me would cringe away in fear. While this didn't happen to me personally, I know that my Asian friends faced heightened scrutiny from the transportation authorities throughout this time. When the ticket officers would walk through the bus, they immediately targeted Asians. If the person, often a student, didn't have a ticket, they would be dragged off the bus and fined. If they seemed to resist the fine in any way, the officers would threaten to call the police and ask whether the student was Chinese. Such incidents were all too common during the first half of the semester.

One day while I was on the bus, Italians broke into a verbal fight over the coronavirus. One woman put on a mask when me and Chinese man I didn't know entered the bus. Thinking that this was alarmist and racist, other Italians on the bus started yelling at the woman. After a long and heated confrontation, she stormed off the bus. As this was going on, me and the other Asian guy just made eye contact and were like, "Really?" We both knew that the argument, while it seemed to be about public health, was a thinly veiled attack at us. We both exited the bus.

That night at dinner, some guests of my host family asked whether they sure they "felt comfortable having an Oriental living in their house." My Italian family responded that I'm not Chinese, but he simply said, "Aren't they all the same?" It was clear that Italian attitudes towards me, however thinly veiled, were changing rapidly.

A few days after that incident, we received an email from the university sending us home.

My Journey Home

We got the news at midnight. I immediately called my mom, who was staying in India, and asked her to help me buy a plane ticket. With the schools closing, we were worried that tickets would sell quickly, leaving me indefinitely stranded in Italy. I got a ticket on a plane that left three days later.

There was a cloud of misinformation leading up to my flight. There were rumors that Asians were getting arbitrarily kicked off the planes. The day before my flight was scheduled to leave, there was a fire in the airport and all departures got cancelled or delayed. I heard that Italy was on the brink of closing its borders, in fact the morning of my flight my mom called and TOLD ME the borders were closed. (Obviously, this was untrue.) I heard that anybody coming from Italy would be detained in the U.S. However, the smack on the street was that Asian women were less likely to appear sick and get kicked off the plane if they wore makeup. So, that morning I went wild and applied a full face of makeup, lashes and all, for a 10+ hour day of travel. I'll admit that I was scared.

At the various airport, I was subject to rigorous security and stares, but was thankfully allowed on all my flights. My fears that I would be forced to enter quarantine at JFK were unfounded. However, throughout my day many of my fellow travelers took out their phones to take pictures and videos of me. As an Asian wearing a mask, most others gave me a wide berth. For one of the first times in my life, I felt like a spectacle because of my race.

Conclusions

I can only hope that Italians will use this challenging time to show the rest of the world the moral leadership that defines them.

Now at home in Maine, I think it's more important than ever that Asians share their stories to document this strange and divisive time. Rather than justify bigotry, this crisis is an opportunity for Italy to demonstrate its unity. The treatment of historically marginalized groups is a strong indicator of a country’s ethical character. With a culture based on hospitality and community, toleration should be part of the nation’s lifeblood. While many Italians have joined with Asians out of solidarity, the trend towards ignorance speaks volumes. However, I do not feel that these cruel and racist incidents represent the true nature of the country. Fear brings out people’s most base and animal instincts, making xenophobia an unfortunate side effect. I can only hope that Italians will use this challenging time to show the rest of the world the moral leadership that defines them. Small acts of solidarity have the power to clear the fog of hate until health is restored. The fight for collective freedom is grounded in Italy’s way of life, and we cannot let that slip away.