written by LUCIA BARKER. October 10th, 2020
On March 9th I was preparing to leave my dorm and head back to LA for spring break when suddenly all Barnard and Columbia classes were cancelled for the week. This was great news for us– spring break was starting a week earlier! Being one of the nicest days of the semester, the entire student body seemed to congregate on the lawns in celebration, and nearly every local store sold out of cases of Corona. Within the week however, things would be drastically different.
I had a flight booked for Friday along with my five roommates who were coming to stay with me in LA for our week-long vacation. By Tuesday morning there was one student on campus who had been in contact with a Covid-19 case and was quarantining. In a panic and complete lack of uncertainty I, along with many other out-of-state students got on the next flight back to LA to avoid getting “stuck” in my three-bedroom, shafted, mouse-ridden dorm. I figured I would rather spend three weeks (how long we thought quarantine was going to last) at home with my parents than in the cold apartment. What I didn’t know however, was that would be my last time in New York City for at least a year.
Honestly, March through June feels a bit like a fever dream filled with hikes, home projects, zoom classes, high school friends, and lots of baking– almost like a moment suspended in time that didn’t really happen. What I thought would be seven days at home quickly turned into 5 months. I went through the typical grieving of “normal life” that I think most of us experienced; missing out on the rest of spring semester, summer internship dreams being cancelled, trips postponed, and professional and personal goals put on hold. I know a lot of people did alright for themselves in quarantine– they finally had time and energy to do the things they’ve always wanted to do. For me it was quite the opposite as I found I’m someone who is quite socially motivated (I’d much rather work in a crowded cafe than a quiet library, go to the gym with friends than do a home workout, and work on group projects rather than on my own). My mental health suffered because of this, and I found it quite difficult to focus on anything other than cooking and TikToks.
That’s when I decided I couldn’t return to college as long as things were going to be online. For me, it was not worth paying tens of thousands of dollars for sub-par zoom classes I couldn’t seem to pay attention to and none of the social benefits I so desperately depended on. It was worth delaying graduation if it meant I could enjoy myself and take care of my mental health. Truthfully, I think I had fallen victim to the pressures of the “four-year plan” that is so ingrained in my community. I was supposed to work a summer internship, go abroad junior spring, get another internship, finish college, then work (for the rest of my life). I had felt like I wanted to take time off but felt like I couldn’t delay or make any changes to this four-year plan, so in a weird, twisted way, the pandemic did provide me with that opportunity.
The next step was to decide what I would do with my time off. Luckily, I am an Australian citizen and the majority of my extended family live in Sydney so I started considering moving there for the semester. In June I finally committed and booked a flight to Sydney for the beginning of August. Around then I also got my acceptance into The University of Sydney, where I would be able to take classes and transfer credits towards my Barnard degree. With intense covid restrictions during the beginning of the pandemic and the general public believing in the virus (helpful), Australia had maintained a very low level of cases (we’re talking one or two a day in the whole country). They also developed a hotel quarantine program like many other countries where upon arrival you must stay in a hotel room for two weeks and undergo testing to ensure you aren’t infectious.
So on August 6th I began my two-week hotel quarantine in Sydney where I had plenty of alone time to think about this drastic life change I had just made in the middle of a global pandemic. While I partially grew up in Sydney and visited often, I had grown apart from the city as I formed my friendships in Los Angeles and New York, so it was isolating (literally, and emotionally) to return home somewhere that felt so distant.
Since my release into fresh air and a covid-free world I have started classes at Sydney Uni, secured a nannying job, and been able to spend time with my grandma, cousins, uncles and aunts, and my sister– people who I usually only get to see for two weeks out of the whole year. It really feels like I’ve stepped into a world where covid ceases to exist. We still wear masks when on public transport or anywhere crowded, but gatherings of 20 people are allowed and restaurants and bars are busy again. I’ve been able to enjoy meals with old friends and some new friends, and visit family often. My uni classes are held over zoom, but I can still walk to campus and do work in the cafes or libraries to feel like a real student again.
I am incredibly grateful and so lucky to be able to have this experience, as many international students studying in the US were not even allowed to return home at all. I acknowledge there is a lot of privilege that comes with “escaping” and being able to live abroad right now. For me, I am spending roughly a quarter of what I would be spending had I chosen to do online classes from an off-campus apartment, and getting far more benefits. With constant stress and pressure to be getting the most out of my college education purely because of how much it costs, I decided that ultimately taking time off and to “wait it out” was going to be the best option for me.
It was not an easy decision to essentially put my life on hold and delay my graduation and career progression, but with everything being so in limbo anyways, I decided now was as good a time as any to do the thing I’ve always wanted to do. There is so much pressure on college students to be having “the best four years of your life” and I think it’s important to recognize it doesn’t have to be– college can be lonely, isolating, and confusing regardless of a global pandemic and taking time off is more than ok! I know many of my classmates and even students graduating college had to make this call– and it was not an easy one to make– but so far it has definitely been the right decision for me.
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