Harriette Overend, 20, flew back from the United States on March 14 and had to go straight into the 14-day self-isolation.
The Villanova University student had been self-isolating for 10 days before the New Zealand Government announced the whole country would start a one-month lockdown.
As New Zealand goes into Alert Level three today, Overend will be finishing a 45-day long isolation period.
"The 10 days by myself were definitely challenging, I'm an extroverted person so being by myself was hard, but when my family finally came into lockdown also, things got a lot easier."
Overend said the temporary move back home from Philadelphia all came at a very fast pace.
"It was quite a whirlwind experience, I had to quickly pack up my entire life over there and say goodbye to everyone within 24 hours, so it was quite crazy.
"I found out I would be having to go into lockdown while I was sitting at San Francisco airport for my connecting flight to Auckland. I was super nervous because at the time I wasn't too sure what 'lockdown' meant."
Luckily for her, she had plenty of Uni work to keep her busy.
"I am still completing my workload online until summer break which is a little bit hard keeping up with seeing as we are 17 hours ahead so I'm asleep during my usual class hours. Luckily my professors have been super cooperative throughout the entire situation."
Overend is also a lacrosse player on a full scholarship at Villanova so she was doing plenty of training set by her coaches.
"My stepdad does my workouts with me which our strength and conditioning coaches have sent out to our team. They are really good workouts, designed so we can complete them without access to a gym or lots of equipment.
"I've also been using my re-bounder for stick work and my goal for shooting."
Despite being away from University, Overend said she loved having the time with her family and being given the opportunity to stop and reflect on many things, take a break, and even learn some things she'd been wanting to do for a long time.
When asked what she was most excited for after her 45 days in isolation, she said: "I'm definitely most excited to go get some Maccas".