Otago University PhD student Hannah Mello was in her family’s home in Wisconsin when New Zealand closed its borders in March last year as the coronavirus spread around the world.
It turned the marine science student’s two-week trip home to Milwaukee into a nine-month stay away from her studies in Dunedin and her dog Quercus.
But when the Government announced late last year 250 international PhD and postgraduate students could return to New Zealand, Mello took her chance to come back.
She’s now Otago University’s first international student to return to the country.
“Not quite the best switch trading New Zealand for the US in some respects,” Mello told Breakfast, speaking about her nine months locked down in the US.
She said she made the most of her lockdown experience, supporting her family through a “pretty tumultuous” time.
The difference between the US’ Covid-19 response and New Zealand’s was “light years away”, Mello said.
“When I returned and got out of quarantine in Christchurch, it was just complete business as usual. … It’s wonderful.”
The US President has signed a slew of executive orders, taking both mask wearing and science seriously.
As for Quercus, Mello said she had the misfortune of returning home while he was having his dinner.
“Once he had his kai, I was back in his mind. … since then he hasn’t really let me out of his sight much,” she said.
“It’s been a lovely reunion.”
Mello is now completing a PhD investigating the restoration of bryozoan colonies - microscopic aquatic invertebrates home to many fish species - from destruction caused by bottom trawling.
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