Jenna Davidson arrived in Shanghai three weeks ago.

The Arizona State University student was supposed to spend the semester studying abroad at East China Normal University until the Wuhan coronavirus prompted the university to shut down.

“We got here before the outbreak, and it went south really quick,” she told CNN. "I think things unfolded a lot faster than we thought that they would.

"We went from just being, you know, encouraged not to go outside and not to go to, like, crowded places to 'do not go outside, do not ride the metro.' It went from being just a little scary to pretty scary.”

Davidson sent this photograph to her father. Courtesy Jenna Davidson

Classes were canceled, Davidson said. She and her friends have been stuck inside for days -- “no one in, no one out,” she explained -- and they’ve been filling their time playing the card game Uno.

Davidson said her study abroad group had started trying to leave campus because they were running out of food and school cafeterias are closed. A teacher was bringing them food, even though staff were told not to go on campus.

A few students put on masks and went shopping at Costco, and since then they’ve been making the food last.

“It's a ghost town. There's 24 million people in Shanghai and there's no one on the street. It's kind of spooky,” she said.

Davidson said was able to book a flight to Africa -- she was planning on studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, after China -- after hours of searching and paying much more than she expected to.

However, she doesn’t think she's guaranteed to avoid catching the coronavirus.

“What’s most stressful is even though we’re leaving I still don’t feel like we’re in the clear yet because what if we catch it in the taxi, or at the airport on the way home, or on the plane? We still need to be very careful. It’s not over yet,” she said.

Despite the ordeal, Davidson said one day she’d like to visit China again.

“I've always wanted to see China and it's a little frustrating, even though this is out of anyone's control. I have so many things that I wanted to see and do and we haven't been able to go outside. So it's a little frustrating,” she said.

“Hopefully I can come back.”

CORRECTION: This post was updated to amend the destination of Davidson’s flight.