How the quarantine impacted my life (and other international students' lives)
- Đinh Linh
- Jun 21, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 16, 2020
While many students decided to go back to their countries or postpone their courses, I’m still staying in Canada to continue my studies. At first, my family and friends didn’t support my decision; however, after a few months of quarantine, they realized that I made a good choice.
What my parents thought: “Studying online means no interaction at all”
Since March, all of my classes were delivered online on a tool called Blackboard Collaborate; this was the case for most universities and colleges in Canada. This platform allows us to join a real-time video conference group chat where we can interact directly with the teacher by typing on the group chat or sharing our audio and video (webcam).
Bonus point: If for some reason, someone couldn’t join the class, what should he/she do? Don’t panic yet, the virtual class is recorded so that everyone can check the lecture later. In my opinion, it’s a better way of studying for international students who are not good at English. If the student didn’t understand some parts of the lecture, he/she could play back the recording later to listen to it again.
IRL: Studying online means more works to do.
I guess all of our teachers think that we have a lot of free time at home during the quarantine. Therefore, they want us to devote our time to something that they think is meaningful, which is studying. (I hope none of my teachers is reading my article now LOL). The workload of assignments and the amount of required reading documents increased every single week. However, looking at the bright side, while everyone was anxious because of the pandemic, my only anxiety was how to deal with a mountain of assignments one by one.
What my classmates thought: “No more group assignments or presentations!”
As we can’t be present in class, everyone thought that our professors would decide to change group assignments into individual ones and replace presentations with a different type of assignment. However, we still need to perform them, albeit with some slight differences due to the situation.
One of my friends told me that, in her class, they all had to present one by one in the online class, and it was such a strange feeling to give a speech while your laptop is who you are addressing.
IRL: Conference group chat is a new way of communication
It’s difficult to discuss with my teammates when everyone can’t sit together. However, Zoom helped us have an online meeting to discuss our group work; everyone can also share their screen, which makes it easier for us. Moreover, before the quarantine, it was difficult sometimes to choose a specific time to have a meeting, since everyone has a different schedule; now, thanks to Zoom, we can have a meeting anytime and anywhere.
What my parents thought: “Losing your job means no money!!!”
All of the non-essential businesses closing made me (and many others) become unemployed. Luckily, different from some countries, the Canadian government has some good financial support for everyone, including:
CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit): If you are eligible, you can receive $2,000 for a 4-week period (the same as $500 a week)
EI (Employment Insurance): For most people, the basic rate for calculating EI benefits is 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, up to a maximum amount. This means that you can receive a maximum amount of $573 per week.
Besides that, universities and colleges also built a fund to help students during the pandemic. My college has 2 different types of funding to support students, which are the Emergency Financial Relief Fund and the COVID-19 SOS Fund.
IRL: Working from home is a new trend
Yes! You heard me right! My family was worried that I can’t find a job during this crisis, but thanks to the pandemic, I saw many job opportunities and the best part is we can work FROM HOME.
Some benefits of working from home that made the work-life way better than before:
According to a study by Global Workplace Analytics, remote workers can save from $2,000 to $7,000 every year on commuting, clothing, and food.
In a study done by Owl Labs, 86% of respondents in the survey believe that working remotely reduces stress levels and improves health.
Buffer found that 40% of remote workers reported that a flexible work schedule helped them to have a better family/work-life balance.
What my friends thought: “Quarantine means boredom and loneliness.”
During the quarantine, I can’t meet or hang out with my friends. However, since the pandemic happens around the world, I know I’m not alone during this crisis. Everyone feels the same; moreover, I have more time to connect online with my family and friends that I haven’t talked for a long time.
IRL: More time to do things that I couldn’t do in the past.
I bet that everyone (not only me) has a movie/book list that we want to watch/read for a long time, but haven’t had a chance. During the quarantine, I watched some series on Netflix such as Kingdom, Money Heist, and Sex Education.
For my friend William, quarantine is a chance to practice a new skill: baking. He baked different types of bread and even made his own Youtube channel, which featured videos of him teaching people cooking and baking. I mean…how cool is that?
What everyone thought: “Businesses closing means all goods and services are unavailable.”
According to Global News, since March 24, the Ontario government called all non-essential businesses to close. However, consumers like me still can purchase goods or register services through a delivery platform or an online application.
IRL: Online food ordering and delivery platforms excel.
According to IBISWorld, despite quarantine measures implemented because of COVID-19, these industries are expected to benefit during this time.
Not being able to go to a restaurant doesn’t mean you’re unable to enjoy the food with the restaurant’s quality. There are many food delivery apps that people can choose from Uber Eats, DoorDash, and SkipTheDishes. I sometimes used Uber Eats to order food when I felt too lazy to cook.
Besides that, during the pandemic, I discovered an awesome application named Instacart, which helped me shop for groceries online and get them delivered directly to my house in not more than 45 minutes.
If you have read all my article until here, “Congratulation! You made my day!”I know some people might have difficult times during the pandemic, but I believe everything will be fine at the end.
So now it’s your turn, feel free to share with me your experience during the quarantine so far. I’d love to hear from you all (smiley face).
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