After a long two weeks stuck in a foreign country, Kirby Given is finally home.

The 2013 Point Pleasant Beach High School graduate saw herself trapped just outside of Lima in Peru when that government declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic and sealed the borders.

International flights out of Peru were canceled and a mandatory 15-day quarantine was issued. Given, 24, was in the country for a spring break vacation with six of her teammates of the Salisbury University (Maryland) women’s club rugby team.

After about a week of uncertainty, not knowing when she would make it back home, progress was made as Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., helped make arrangements for Given, her teammates and several other Americans to be repatriated.

“We’ve worked it night and day,” Smith said in an interview with the Asbury Park Press. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

Peru closed its borders two days into Given's trip. Given, a graduate student at Salisbury, and her teammates waited as they received vague information from the U.S. Embassy. It was unclear when they would be able to fly home.

The group finally received good news March 22: The U.S. government said flights were being scheduled.

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“That week of, ‘what’s going on, how are we getting out of here, everybody telling us the same thing,’ that was concerning. Hearing all the major airports closing was concerning,” Given said. “Once Sunday hit and it was a waiting game, I was just waiting and in no rush. They were doing what they needed to do.”

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They got a taxi to the U.S. Embassy and checked in there. They then took a charter bus to a Peruvian Air Force base where they went through security and eventually boarded a United Airlines flight.

“For me, the biggest thing was getting separated,” Given said. “I was anxious to get home and be in a normal setting, but what was more scary was going through that whole process all by myself in a foreign country with hundreds of other people.

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For the 12 days they were stuck in the country, the group stayed at an AirBnB for 10 days, costing them about $68 each per night, before moving to a hotel with a better WiFi connection for the final two days. Salisbury gave the students financial aid for the hotel stay as each paid about $70 per night.

The group’s stay in Peru was relatively comfortable, Given said, but it began to take its toll. Their neighbors yelled profanities and told them to go back to the hotel when they went out to shop for groceries, she said, and a couple of girls were chastised by police for not wearing proper face masks.

Smith, who represents New Jersey’s 4th congressional district, which includes portions of Ocean, Monmouth, and Mercer counties, wrote three letters to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo illustrating the situation of Given and other New Jersey residents in Peru. He also worked closed with U.S. Ambassador to Peru Krishna Urs and Deputy Chief of Mission Denison Offutt.

“If they are going to be sheltering in place, what better place to do it than in their own home as opposed to a hotel room or some other accommodation in a foreign country,” Smith said. “I’m ecstatic that they’ll be far better off. God forbid anything does happen with the sickness, we do have world class physicians and doctors in our area that can help.”

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Now home in Maryland, Kirby Given has seen the comments on the Internet, criticizing Americans who traveled abroad. Given said that there was a Level 1 travel advisory when her group left the U.S. When they landed, there were only nine cases of coronavirus on Peru.

She said her mother pleaded with her daily to stay home. However, the group felt it was safe enough to travel given the low rate of infection in South America at the time.

“It was a trip of a lifetime that we were planning for six months,” Given said. “We took the risk and rolled the dice. I don’t disagree with people (who have criticized the trip). We were all taking a gamble going.”