Glimpse of AUW student’s life amidst coronavirus outbreak

By Nuzaba, Alma & Faria

Completing a semester via Zoom and the aftermath            

Is it not surprising how a small particle of around 0.1 micron turned the lives of millions of inhabitants of planet earth upside down? The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), a contagion that has killed thousands of people in the world while affecting millions of them, is a disease that we are all now familiar with. To prevent further mass contamination, World Health Organization (WHO) declared to quarantine in almost every nation of the world. Consequently, the Asian University for Women’s authority took the initiative to send almost every student to their home country and continue online classes via Zoom Video Conference. However, the drastic measures taken by the university, like many others around the world, has lead to another major problem: frustration. With the pressure of regular online classes, students are facing an additional frustration of staying at home or the campus dormitory, isolated from everyone. We asked a number of students, on and off campus, about their experience in the quarantine to get a glimpse of their life during this pandemic. Sita Kumari, a rising UG1 student (summer semester, 2020) stated, "I am currently passing my quarantine days in my home in India by reading books, watching movies, and helping my mum in the kitchen. However, I feel a bit frustrated at times as I am unable to socialize with people like before and miss my friends back on the campus. Despite that, I am really grateful to the AUW community and our professors for their continuous support."

On the other hand, the case of the students who are still residing in the dormitory is not the same. A Syrian student, who wants to remain anonymous, is constantly suffering from anxiety and depression due to staying away from her family during this critical situation. The pressure of online classes added more weight to her mental health condition. Despite that, most of the students praised AUW's initiative for their quick actions. Urmi Akter Sneha, a student from Pathways Program said, "I just completed my summer semester of Pathways Program. The online classes seemed a bit difficult because of the poor internet connection and are less interactive than practical classes. But I am really thankful to AUW for their decision to conduct online classes. Otherwise, we would have probably lost a few semesters or more." Above and beyond, in spite of all the frustration and boredom along with the situation around the world, the AUW students are grateful to be safe, alive and healthy.

How the pandemic affected the life of Final year students?

This pandemic has been pretty harsh on final year students. Life is unpredictable, but who knows that it would be so predictable for the final year students that they would miss out on all the last few days of their university life. They were waiting to enjoy their final year to the fullest, but the reality is far more uncertain as they are now stuck at home in their respective countries being frustrated and fearing possible online graduation and uncertain future. Mohima Gomes, a final year student quotes, “I think the biggest impact of this pandemic has been on our education. Studying online is not helping me to learn the best, and makes me feel unprepared. So overall, my plans have been ruined and as a senior year student, this has deeply impacted our academic learning. In addition to that, I could not go for my internship this summer. Also, it's unpredictable if there will be any internship offers next year as well.” Many final year students are in a dilemma about their senior thesis since they can't go outside in this pandemic to collect data and have to rely on secondary data only. Some of them have negative feelings about their career prospects as they have lost internships and thesis due to Covid 19-crisis. Kricha, another final year student quotes, “The experience with the pandemic has been heartbreaking along with one filled with gratitude. I am very thankful for the food on my plate and the wellbeing of myself and my family. Though I am hit by anxiety time and again, I still grabbed an internship. On the other hand, I lost my senior thesis. I know the importance of thesis for my application to graduate school but for the sake of myself, I quit it. Not everything I want will happen in my life and sometimes that’s for the sake of my betterment.” This pandemic has taken a toll on everyone’s mental health. Everyone is hoping that the spring will come soon and smiles will blossom in everyone’s faces after the outbreak.

Startups during lockdown

Ismat Ara, the founder of Ramenicious, from a very young age had the zeal and tremendous dedication to be an entrepreneur and work for the welfare of the people. But she was confused about what aspect or product she should work on. In all the obstacles that Covid-19 bought, Ismat found her way to outstand with flying colors leaving all those obstacles behind. She successfully established her own home-based cooking business called “Ramenicious”. Ismat mentioned that her main attraction was towards ramen and she provides unique foods of different cuisine. According to her, customers and food quality always come first. After she started promoting her unique varieties of food in social media, people started to give it a taste and appreciated her food quality and services. With such love and positive reviews from her customers, family, and friends, soon she became the Ramen lady. In this lockdown where many of us are bored being at home and binging Netflix movies, Ismat is busy making her unique foods and using this quarantine time effectively. Ismat believes that everyone has some potential in them and all they need to have is self-confidence and immense dedication towards it. Ismat has a strong sense of responsibility and she advises the young potentials who want to start their business in the cooking sector saying, “You must be organized and have to ensure the best quality of food for the customers” Ismat also mentioned that after 5 years she dreams to uplift her “Ramenicious” and set up her restaurant. It is also worth mentioning that she does not only do this business for herself but also provides 10% of her profit to the unprivileged people to improve their condition. Amidst all the negativity due to coronavirus, these types of small startups by young talents are worth appreciating. We believe such stories of young entrepreneurs like Ismat can inspire others to unlock their potentials in this lockdown.

This article is copy edited by Nafisa Islam.