It was certainly a strange quartile. With education being fully online, not having access to university study spaces, writing exams while you feel like you are being watched and scanning your room before an exam (which you cleaned up 5 minutes before the start of the exam), none of this is normal and it was hard…

How did you enjoy online education?

The first few weeks, I was on the roll with online education, quite surprised by how I was handling it relatively well. I definitely prefer live online lectures over pre-recorded ones since the live lectures forced me to add them into my schedule and stay on track. Over time however, the newness of online education faded away and staring at the screen for a whole day felt quite repetitive and rather tiring for my eyes. Needless to say how my back ached after sitting for an unhealthy amount of time.

What was your favorite part of online education?

I was definitely more confident asking my doubts in a Microsoft (MS) Teams chat when compared to being in a lecture hall. This was also witnessed by many of my fellow classmates who often bombarded the professor with questions, forcing us to push our break to be a little later. Some may have not been fond of the delay in the break, but it definitely helped in gaining a better understanding of many topics. Best of all, you realize that many doubts that you have are not as stupid as you think and are shared by your fellow students too. We are all on the same boat here.

What was your least favorite part of online education?

Definitely the physical contact. I miss seeing my friends in person and grabbing coffee together in our short lecture breaks. As much as we try to keep up with studying together virtually, it just isn’t the same. What I like about live university lectures is that you are constantly moving- be it from one lecture hall to the other or from the library to Spar. This movement obviously doesn’t happen when you switch from one MS meeting to another.

What are you truly grateful for?

A lot.. If I were to pick out one- I am grateful to all my professors for their support and enthusiasm in these times. Not having any classmates at a close reach, I shamelessly spammed them with all my doubts regarding the course material. I used to be reluctant to do this earlier since I believed that my questions were silly and too embarrassing to ask them. This quartile has proved my notion wrong and shown me how open and helpful my professors are. All of this goes for the tutors as well by the way. Out of all times, this quartile’s teaching staff deserve tremendous appreciation (at least the ones who were responsible for my courses)!

Given the circumstances, do you think you performed at your best?

Giving myself a pat on the back, I proudly say yes! Naturally it is hard to find motivation and stay disciplined in such times and I was affected by it too. What I think many fail to understand is that this is not normal, none of this is what we were prepared for, so it is understandable that one may fall behind and struggle. We got to stop victimizing ourselves and start appreciating our body, mind and soul for the fact that we pushed it through and survived. Regardless of how many courses you passed or failed this quartile, you still tried and there was (and still is) a lot going on! So give yourself a pat on the back and enjoy the summer! Take care everyone.

P.S.This is not an interview I did with anyone but myself as a form of self reflection. Encourage you to do the same (with similar or different questions). Cheers!