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Life under Covid-19

Posted 20th November 2020
by Meg

‘The Covid Year’

Having finished face to face teaching mid-March due to the initial lockdown it’s safe to say I was telling myself things will be entirely normal by the time September comes around - how wrong I was!
Microsoft Teams- a lecture theatre in 2020…
Since the abrupt switch to online learning things have been far from plain sailing. The decision was made during late summer to push back the entire year and start at the end of October instead of the usual September. Although this wasn’t a problem, it did make the summer seem much longer than usual, especially given the majority of placements had been cancelled and there were very few part time jobs to occupy my time. My course has taken a blended approach to teaching- a mixture of online lectures and face to face teaching where appropriate. It is no surprise that the shift towards technology has come with many complications. Where face to face sessions have been possible the new ‘normal’ seems very alien and due to self-isolation and the understandable anxiety the turnout is not the same as pre-Covid.
Always look on the Brightside…
Cliché I know, but If this past year has taught us anything it should importance of appreciation. Even the negatives. Although the majority of my university hours are now online- it has its benefits. Lectures are being recorded and these can be watched in your own time, especially useful for revision purposes. If you miss something it is easier to catch up. Nightlife. Well its non-existent. Once the most important aspect of University life, now a thing of the distant past. We’ve had to learn to appreciate socialising with fellow students in new ways, not to mention the fact is a lot easier to make those 9am lectures now. A rather selfish one; exams are pushed back due to the delay in starting back at Uni, meaning for the first time in years I won’t have exams on my birthday. It can be easier to ask questions online rather than being faced with a live audience of up to 100 students. You spend less time transporting yourself to and from Uni, this time can be implemented into studying. Lectures can often be more engaging, and more group work is carried out.
Plan ahead, but not too far ahead, hurdles are inevitable…
Approaching the end of my time at University and I’m finding myself being asked being same questions on repeat ‘’but what about after you’re done with uni?’’, ‘’so you’ll have a degree and then what?’’, ‘’what job are you going to do?’’. I speak on behalf of myself and many other students, the answers to such questions are not always simple. And this is okay. From a young age it has been installed in us to have a so called ‘end goal’ and a rigorous ‘plan of action’ to have obtained it by the time our education finishes. But the truth is there is no finite ‘end goal’. Along the way we as students are constantly facing hurdles which reroute the ‘path’ to our self-defined ‘end goal’, Covid is just one of these. For me personally, the reduced laboratory hours as a direct consequence of Covid have proven to me just how much I enjoy lab work which is steering me towards a career in research. If you’d have asked me this before I moved to Uni, nearly three years ago, the thought of pursuing a career in research would be unthinkable. Saying that, if you’d have asked me on the first year of secondary school back in 2011 what I’d be doing today I would’ve been convinced that I’d be studying French- Bioveterinary wouldn’t have even crossed my mind. My point is, although it is important to give yourself something realistic to work towards, it is equally as important to not become disheartened or concerned if your path isn’t taking you quite where you had imagined. The immense pressure students face to know exactly where their education is taking them is quite frankly overwhelming. We live in ‘what next?’ society which can often deter us from exploring what is in right front of us and prevent us from living in the moment. This was certainly taken for granted pre-covid.
I have been guilty, on many occasions, of falling into the inevitable trap of setting unobtainable targets. Since the start of ‘The Covid Term’ I have vowed only to set objectives that will make a difference to the current day, to enable me to truly focus on my current studies rather than being transfixed on the dreaded life post uni. One of my aims to fulfil in the near future it to complete the ‘check your mate’ programme as part of the lacrosse committee. The alarming and deeply saddening suicide figures from students since the start of term has meant this is something, I feel compelled to do. Given the current climate and its associated increase in anxiety it is paramount to be there for one another- students and non-students alike. I have also become a personal mentor for first year biovets, I hold regular meetings, this is something I plan to continue as the year progresses. I feel it is important to make sure that first years are receiving enough support given a vital part of their University life has been taken away from them. They are unable to physically meet their course mates and have less face to face contact with lecturers, which could potentially lead to them feeling isolated and helpless- this is something I hope to reduce as much as possible as I know just how challenging it can be moving away from home for the first time.

I feel it is crucial to say how grateful I am to have received the bursary, without it I’m certain I would not have been able to return to Uni due to the term starting later and the student loan only being paid in once the term has begun. Without the bursary I would’ve had no finances to my flat deposit and rent as these were both due before the maintenance loan was paid in. Given I didn’t have the bursary I’d be under increased financial pressure and I cannot be sure how I would have coped with this alongside the pressures and anxiety created by Covid.

Thank you.

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