Amelia & Sophie - university students

When you first heard that NZ was moving to Alert Levels 3 & 4, what did you think? How did you feel?

Sophie: It was bizarre, like it wasn’t real. In my hall of residence at Otago University, there were already strict measures in place at mealtimes - staying two metres apart, extra sanitisation - so Jacinda’s announcement shouldn’t have been such a shock. Everyone was watching TV and talking about. It was odd being in a public space. I felt a weird sort of excitement, like something interesting – a big deal - was about to happen. I wondered if I needed to get home to Wellington. At first, we thought we would stay in Dunedin during lockdown, then not. Then there were no flights, then the deadline for flying home was extended. There was a lot of yes, no, yes, no.

Amelia: With the halls implementing stricter rules around gatherings of people, the university announcing that our courses would be moved online temporarily, and sports tournaments being cancelled, the announcement that we were moving to level 4 was the next logical step. Even though the announcement was expected, it still felt crazy. In mid-February or early March, when there were only a few isolated cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, I would never have predicted this.

How has your study and daily routine been affected?

Amelia: It’s weird to move home again after living away from our family and having a lot of freedom. It’s a real shift from being around people all our own age to living with family again. But it feels different from how it was before I started university. I’m grateful for Mum and Dad respecting that we’ve started a new and separate life.

Sophie: But we still have to do our share of the vacuuming!

What have been the best/hardest things about the lockdown?

Amelia: I’d obviously rather the pandemic had never happened but having time to connect with friends overseas has been a bonus. I was all set to compete in the 2020 World Junior Ultimate Championship in Sweden in July. It was cancelled on the same day as lockdown was announced so that was disappointing. I’d done a lot of training and pushed myself as an athlete but now my goals are not as clear. There are fewer ways I can keep fit at the moment so I’m not as motivated to train as I was before.

Sophie: The hardest thing about lockdown has been accepting that my expectations for the rest of this year are going to have to change. Before, almost everything about the year ahead was looking great: I was living in the halls at Otago, I had just received a scholarship to study my dream course at Cambridge University, I was going to get a job for a while and spend time with friends and family before moving to the UK, but now I don’t know how much of that will be possible. I hate all the uncertainty. But there have been nice moments and little things to look forward to every day - walks and games with family. One good thing is that there’s new funding available for scientific research to solve the problem of Covid-19 and lots of the research is being published on open source platform instead of information hiding behind pay walls.

What have you missed/not missed?

Amelia: I’m looking forward to seeing friends again and giving them a hug.

Have you been doing more or less of something? Have you learned any skills or formed any new habits during the lockdown?

Sophie: I have got involved with a friend’s project Quarantutoring, that offers free tutoring through Zoom for high school students, so I’ve been tutoring science and languages twice a week. It’s been a really positive thing to be involved in. I’ve been reading the news more – reading more about economics and opinion articles on the Spinoff for instance, but I resist reading other people’s predictions about the future as more often that not, they’re unrealistic or depressing.

Amelia: I’ve been less interested in watching the news but have been following the stats and graphs for Covid-19 produced by John Hopkins University in the US. Once a week I’ve been adjudicating online debates for secondary schools across New Zealand. It’s been a good way to giving something back. And I’m definitely been doing more baking than usual!

Can you liken this time to any other time/experience in your life?

Sophie: It feels a bit like study leave but without the chance to enjoy all the usual activities we would during our breaks, in such nice weather.

What have you appreciated/felt grateful for during the lockdown?

Sophie: I’m really glad to be in New Zealand and to have Jacinda as our leader – she’s incredible.

In a word (or more), how do you imagine describing this time when looking back on it in a year or so?

Amelia: Strange.
Sophie: It depends on what the new normal looks like. I’ll have to get back to you on that!