I think it’s safe to say that for this year’s university graduates, things didn’t exactly go as planned. A spectrum of fun is what most of us had in mind for marking the end of our academias, but guess what? Lockdown happened. The importance of lockdown is a given. However, with everything considered, I think us 2020 graduates are allowed to express our frustrations and that’s exactly what this is.
The final year of university is usually associated with being more on the stressful side, and there is no doubt that lockdown didn’t make matters any easier. With the library and other crucial amenities closed, in addition to the cancellation of lectures (with my experience of online lectures also being nonexistent), it was recipe for an extra stressful final year. Don’t get me wrong; not having to be up, ready and out the door by 8AM was sheer bliss.
For years, I had envisioned my final day of submission to be filled with celebration and relief. This year’s reality proved to be quite the contrast. After hitting the submit button on my dissertation, I slept for 14 hours straight… hmm, thinking about it now, maybe I did celebrate after all. Who needs a final hoo-ha with friends, anyway? I’ll tell myself I don’t in order to avoid heartbreak, but I must admit that I’m doing an awful job convincing myself.
One of the most toughest realities for any final year student is having to make peace with the fact that after being away from home for so long, you’ll be returning full-time. Suddenly, after being independent for so long, you’re now expected to kiss freedom goodbye and ask your parents for permission to do just about anything. With lockdown having been in effect since mid-March, it has meant that tragically, university life has come to an end months too early.
Student fees – don’t even get me started. Like previously mentioned, I haven’t been subject to any form of teaching since mid-March, meaning that I have, in essence, been robbed. Despite not having had a proper education for months, I am still expected to be in-debted thousands… for nothing. Ouch.
Since my graduation has been postponed until May 2020 – an entire year after the original date – it means that I won’t be an official graduate for another 10 months. Until then, I’m in a state of limbo. Ugh, now what am I supposed to fill in the education section of Hinge?
And there we have it; my little rant on being a quarantined graduate. I’m more than aware that it hasn’t been the end of the world – this was simply my experience on finishing university amidst the current pandemic.
