March 2020 and panic buying for loo rolls as lockdown began. I made it back home, sat down and, like thousands of other university students, tried to study.
It’s been tough. The assignments have been piling on and on. And so has the stress.
The family home was a refuge; now it’s a frustration. I want peace and quiet. Then a split second later, a member of my family calls my name. I constantly think about the tiniest of distractions, and it has been infuriating.
Sometimes my IT kit is not up to it and, before Covid, I could have gone, popped to the library for books, a different peaceful desk, or regularly on campus visited the equipment store for a camera. No longer.
And when the library has been open, should I make that long, lonely, dangerous trip? What am I risking? Collect it today? No, tomorrow. Sure. But tomorrow never comes.
Not having everything, not doing what I need to do. Stuck at my desk again. I’ve even been worrying about worrying. If it wasn’t for procrastination, I wouldn’t get anything done.
I spoke to two fellow undergraduates to ask if it was just me.
Alex Garvey, 23, and final year Psychology student as the University of Bristol told me: “It’s been weird studying at home. My mum also works from home which limits my use of the workspace to times when she’s not working. Luckily, I don’t have many taught hours per week. As my dissertation deadline gets closer this becomes more of a problem. However, I’ve been able to manage my deadlines pretty well and I haven’t really had any problems with that”.
I then talked to Isaac Serunkuma, 21, again a final year student, taking Games and Digital Media at the University of Greenwich. He told me, “In the year since Covid, life has been both eventful and uneventful. Like most, I had to stay at home a large majority of the time and it’s impacted me as a student. I am no longer able to separate work and home life as easily as before. And overall, the “blended learning” approach which combines online and on campus, is not the way. I would like to have been just on campus, but we have just had to deal with it”.
“There are moments where being at home really does a take a toll on me, especially as I am missing out on using the gym and I don’t have the space to exercise at home. But on the whole, lockdown hasn’t been all bad. Some good has come out of it”.
Are they the same as me? I’m not sure they are telling me about everything, about the worries and lost drive. But, like me, they are just dealing with it and trying to get on.
What next, when study stops and the search for work begins? I’ll try to put that stress on hold. Now when’s that coursework due?
