The last few months have turned many of our lives upside down. For students especially, many of whom have packed up to return to their parents’ house, waving goodbye to their friends and their whole university lives for the next few months. And although at first I was hopefully adamant (and obliviously naïve) that things would eventually go back to normal before my third and final year of university begun in October, I now realise how wrong I was, and how different things will truly be. The next academic year will be like no other, and although lockdown has destroyed aspects of our lives; relationships, grades and our mental health, there are some things I’ve learnt during lockdown that are definitely going to impact my next year:
- It is possible to productively study (or work) from home and I don’t need to rely on going to the library. Next year, with social distancing measures, my contact hours have been severely reduced, and I assume the library will be inaccessible due to the high demand and fewer spaces, however, facing exams during lockdown has taught me that I’m more than capable of getting work done despite being settled in the comfort of my bed.
- You can make a long distance relationship work (almost) as good as a real life one: although I know some people are struggling in their long distance relationships and friendships, I personally am so grateful for FaceTime, Netflix Party, and all the other apps that make dating from separate houses not so awful. Although lockdown has taught me to value and cherish time with my friends at university next year, especially as we won’t all be seeing each other on a daily basis the following year, my anxieties surrounding keeping relationships alive during lockdown were far worse than the reality I currently find myself in.
- That one walk a day outside really does make a difference to my mood: even if we are all reduced to studying from home next year, with clubs, restaurants and everything else in my small uni town being shut, taking a break from studying to step outside really does do the world of good.
- Perhaps the final lesson I’ve learnt, is the fact that the golden glow of university, and a distortion of my memories is perhaps real. There have always been down days at university, and in my opinion, the university experience in general is quite overrated. However, looking back on the last two years, I can still say those have been the best of my life. And being in lockdown at the moment has made me realise just how grateful I am to have those memories – even if I am only choosing to remember the good and forget the bad.
Meg Amin
Image courtesy of @thoughtcatalog on Unsplash.