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USA student will see her parents for the first time in two years this Christmas


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Urvashi Dixit said she’s excited to reunite with her parents after being apart for more than two years.

Dixit is from India and she’s a doctoral student at the University of South Alabama. The last time she went home to see her family was in 2019. Months later the COVID-19 outbreak caused international travel to shut down. There were international travel bans put into place. It practically caused Dixit to be stuck in the United States.

"Travel had really stopped. So, my parents couldn't come visit me and later in 2020 things became even worse. So, I couldn't go home,” Dixit said.

Both the United States and India were dealing with their own tragic pandemic challenges. Being her parent’s only child, Dixit worried about them. She said video chatting with them often and her college friends kept her spirits bright.

"Needless to say, it was super hard not to be able to see family," she said.

At one point during the pandemic she asked Google, when would the pandemic end?

"I was ready for it to be done and you know it's been two years and it still hasn't ended,” Dixit said.

After a recent dip in COVID cases, the US lifted international travel bans. Making it possible for Dixit to see the two people she holds near and dear to her heart.

"It's crazy to even think about that. It just feels like a dream now to be able to go home," she said.

Dixit plans to catch a flight from Mobile to India next week after completing finals. Her fingers are crossed that the new COVID variants won’t cause any travel bans to stop her holiday break trip home.

"Most looking forward to is just hugging my parents. It's such a silly little thing, but I haven't been able to do that in two years," Dixit said.


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