I’ve previously mentioned how I feel like I’ve been the victim of some grand cosmic joke about doing a year abroad in the year of the Hong Kong protests, and now Covid-19, but truth be told I feel oddly at ease under isolation in Nijmegen. Maybe it’s do with the fact that out of a flat of 12, it now just consists of me and two other international students who are holding out like the last defenders of some medieval fort. Or maybe it’s just I have the chance to catch up on some films an extra-curricular reading?
Radboud have proven to have done quite well in adapting to the potential minefield that is online teaching (Although I must question whether or not we still have to have lectures at 8:30AM?), with my lecturers managing to perform admirably well under the circumstances, beside their own family obligations. Despite my somewhat busted laptop, I’ve also managed to adjust quite well to “zooming”, as some of the kids today like to call it. But it still inevitably pales when compared to the immediate impact of in-person teaching, one of those things that I never quite realized I took for granted until now.
Really the only difficulties I have are a lack of social contact, and a worry about access to resources for take-home exams and essays, even despite the presence of online sources on the library websites. Then again maybe I just miss the thrill of a 2am all-nighter at Highfield, who knows? I do genuinely wish I had more to write, but like many others around the world, I simply haven’t been doing much outside of my work because of the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in. All I can really do is hope for the best, and just keep keeping on. Until next time…
