"I'm safe, I feel secure now." Xuan Yingying, a graduate student at the University of Zurich said Sunday when she settled into a quarantine hotel in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. She will stay there for 14 days as mandatory quarantine before going home, but the most fearful part of her 40-hour journey from Switzerland back home is over.

Long journey home

Getting home amid the pandemic is difficult.

The price of airline tickets had soared. "If I had booked just one day later, it'd be double the fare," she told CGTN.

She flew from Zurich to Hong Kong, with another connecting flight to Shanghai. Flying is a "high-risk" activity that prompted her and friends to stay alert the entire journey.

"For the first leg of the trip, I didn't eat. I didn't drink." Many of those who landed in Shanghai with her were also overseas students.

She had given her travel history and health information several times over the trip, filling in report cards and telling check-up personnel upon arrival. She was shuttled from Shanghai to a control point in Zhejiang Province before she was sent on an organized bus trip to Ningbo.

"I'm feeling safe now because I know the government is protecting us, it has step-by-step measures to help us get back."

Navigating the rigorous, zero-outside-contact home return process took time, but Xuan said it's what is needed. She has decided to come home, partly because she considered Europeans "still not serious enough" about the COVID-19 outbreak.

"Many were still out and about," she said. "They didn't seem to care."

"Please be vigilant"

It's a worry other returnees share.

"Chinese students are generally the most cautious ones, local students less so," Yu Hang told CGTN. He had come back from his exchange program in Oxford University on Wednesday to Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. The program had asked all exchange students to return to their home country when Oxford found confirmed COVID-19 cases.

"But the news and information about the situation doesn't seem to be enough," Yu said.

He had gone through a similarly long process to get home. Direct flights were sold out so he had traveled through London and Bangkok. The crowds that traveled back to China with him almost all wore face masks, "some were even in protective suits."

He's worried about Europe's lax screening measures: "Before I came into China, I didn't even go through any temperature checks."

"I had seven, eight temperature checks since arriving in China," he said. "I get one every time I'm in a new place."

Yu is staying in a quarantine hotel near his home for two weeks. There, he reports temperatures twice a day, as well as any discomforts.

While relieved to be home, both students say they feel the future is uncertain at this point.  "Can I return to the university after two months? Three Months? I don't know," Xuan said.

Both now do their coursework online.

"It's an individual decision whether or not to get back to China," Yu said. "But people need to stay vigilant and protect themselves wherever they are."

"They deserve our respect"

Xuan arrived at the control point in Zhejiang Province at night in the pouring rain. She took photos of ground personnel keeping order and guiding passengers. "We are very grateful," she said. "I feel they're protecting us."

Yu also captured the most memorable moment on his way home with a photo. It showed control point staff grabbing a bite to eat after long hours at work. "They deserve our respect and love," he said. "They made this possible."