It was the beginning of 2026 and the people of Fieldston were celebrating the new year from both New York City and their hotels. For many, the new year marks hope, the ability to improve and see the world hopefully get a little better, and for the students of Fieldston, it also means one day closer to Semester 1 finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, soon after the dawn of the New Year, to the surprise of many, the United States President Donald Trump decided to follow up on the escalation he had been making all through December and launch a raid on Venezuela’s capital, capturing the country’s President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. This was preceded by the US raiding and seizing several oil tankers going to and from Venezuela and constant, public threats by Trump. Of course, the capture of Maduro was a global event, with the repercussions of the raid to capture him still ongoing. However, Trump\u2019s actions in Venezuela had a more specific effect on some members of the Fieldston community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We all hate traveling, right? I mean, sometimes it can be nice to have a pleasant flight but the stress of going to the airport, having the fear of a flight getting delayed or cancelled and figuring out what you are going to do if that does happen can be stressful. This type of stress is especially heightened if you are in a foreign country and need to get back to New York as fast as humanly possible because you are not only missing school, you are also missing time to study for your finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the experience of many in the Fieldston community because unlike most schools, our fall semester final tests occur after winter break. As a result, when many flights were cancelled in the whole region from Central to South America during the tail end of winter break, it posed a problem for those vacationing in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take Asher Gordon (Form III).\u00a0Despite his flight getting delayed while he was in Anguilla, he still was able to make it to school on Monday after break. The only consequence of these delays was that his sleep schedule was disrupted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am still lowkey recovering from the night without sleep,\u201d he explained, \u201cNow I\u2019m thinking about the future, wondering whether or not we are going to be taking over Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asher seems to count himself as lucky because he is aware his situation could have been worse, like many others vacationing in the region who would end up missing days of school and important review time as a direct result of what happened in Venezuela. For example, Maya Sener (Form III), who vacationed in Aruba, a small island off the coast of Venezuela, ended up returning to NYC on Jan. 11, far from her originally scheduled flight on Saturday, Jan. 3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A common theme expressed by the extended vacationers was that the whole ordeal of getting back was very stressful. One Form III student who vacationed in St. John ended up missing the first two days after break, \u201cWe [her and her family] were pretty stressed out at first because we were kind of ready to leave. We spent a lot of time and we had to find a place to stay, and also it was a big turnover day and everybody was trying to leave and now nobody was able to leave.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added, \u201cWe were kind of stressed out by the logistics.\u201d When reflecting upon how it affected her, she said,\u00a0\u201cI feel like I wasn\u2019t too affected by it, I know going back to it, it\u2019s gonna be like, \u2018Remember when our flight got cancelled? and when we couldn\u2019t go home?\u2019 Obviously I\u2019m upset by what happened in Venezuela, and I wish that didn\u2019t happen, but now with the flights and coming home I feel like I\u2019m not too affected by that, but now I\u2019m behind on school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It appeared that a common sentiment shared by those interviewed was that the stress of the moment was very real as they didn’t know when they would get back or the overall \u201clogistics\u201d of it. However, it seemed that when people finally returned they were able to put it past them as all their uncertainty subsided. Still, they continued to consider the events in Venezuela, and what it means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good example of both these sentiments is through the remarks of Hunter Pilaro (Form III) who said: \u201cThere was a bit of stress built because we had made important plans, especially this being the week of finals but overall we knew we were in a safe space.” He also mentioned that when looking back on the situation in Venezuela, he’s \u201chonestly still processing it because it’s a huge historical event that could have affected a huge amount of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, everyone was relieved that they were able to return safely, and all seemed to recognize that the ongoing situation in Venezuela had more serious global repercussions than the relatively minor inconveniences that followed it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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