The other everyday life
Hardly any social contact, digital working groups and cancelled stays abroad: A lot has also changed for Oldenburg students in the past year. How did they experience this time?
The word "student life" probably evokes different associations for everyone: Some think of raucous parties, others of heated discussions in the student council room, and many probably have learning together on campus in mind. Contact restrictions and online lectures were not part of this until recently. Since March 2020, the pandemic has deprived students of many freedoms - including in Oldenburg. They have had to forego meetings with fellow students, pub evenings and sometimes even trips abroad.
The students have found very different ways to deal with the current situation. Lisa Kersten, for example, has not let corona stop her from continuing her semester abroad. She is studying Spanish and Politics/Economics and was in Guadalajara, Mexico, when the pandemic arrived there in February 2020. Nevertheless, she stayed on and even extended her stay by another semester - to wait and see whether the situation would calm down again and an authentic semester abroad would still be possible. But things turned out differently.
Video conferencing to combat loneliness
While Kersten still had a lively social life at the beginning of her stay in Mexico, her local friends increasingly withdrew to protect their families. Her flatmates also left the shared flat to be with their loved ones. Loneliness spread and Kersten phoned her friends and family in Germany a lot. To be less alone, she moved into a flat share with more than twenty people in June last year. Exactly the right decision, as it turned out. "It was nice to have people I could talk to there," she says.
The feeling of loneliness doesn't just affect students abroad, but also those who are in Germany. A nationwide online survey conducted by the University of Hildesheim came to a clear conclusion: 85 per cent of the approximately 2,300 respondents said that they missed contact with other students. 79 per cent also miss campus life. Oldenburg student teacher Hannah Depenbrock felt the same way. She currently keeps in contact with friends mainly via video conferencing systems or the good old telephone. That helps her - especially in the darker and colder months. "Don't give up on university friendships in particular, which are sometimes a little fresher," is her advice. For her, these contacts are important if, for example, the rest of her environment can't understand the problems with the other student's everyday life.
Fixed routines help
Depenbrock is also careful not to compare herself with the supposedly perfect lives of many people on social media. "You shouldn't underestimate the fact that many people are not doing well with the current situation. And that you're not alone," she says. The psychological counselling service of the university and the student union can also help with problems. Students can find support here if they are having problems organising their studies due to the pandemic - another widespread problem alongside loneliness. This is because digital formats structure everyday life less than events on campus.
It helped Depenbrock to get together with fellow students - even if only in digital form. "I work with friends in a BigBlueButton group to create a bit of a library atmosphere. That way, others can keep an eye on whether I'm actually working," she says. A study carried out as part of the forschen@studium teaching profile also shows that such structures are beneficial. Last summer, a student research team interviewed around 200 students about their procrastination behaviour. The result: the students who put off their tasks the least were those who integrated fixed routines into their everyday lives.
Without a job due to corona
In addition to loneliness and a lack of everyday structures, many students also have financial worries - such as Haider Riaz. Born in Pakistan, he came to Oldenburg in 2017 for his Bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics. At the beginning of the pandemic, he was in Australia for a semester abroad, which he had to cut short prematurely. On his return, he faced unforeseen problems: "When I came back to Germany, I needed a job, but it was difficult to find one. And other financial support was also hard to come by," he says. He is not alone in this: according to forschen@studium, more than half of the 55 international students surveyed in the past few months stated that they had financial worries. Unlike their German fellow students, they are generally not entitled to housing benefit, BAföG or social welfare. The university's International Office offers them help on its website.
For Haider Riaz, however, the online semester also offers unexpected advantages: As all courses take place digitally, he is currently staying with his family in Pakistan. He does miss his friends in Oldenburg. But: "The last time I was at home with my family was a year ago. It's very relaxing for me to be here now. It gives me new energy," he says. For him, his family members are now his primary contacts. Like him, many students are spending an unusually large amount of time with their families at the moment. This was the result of another nationwide survey conducted by a team of students in Oldenburg over the past few months. It analysed how social contacts have shifted in recent months. Over 1,200 students nationwide took part in the survey. The result: students currently spend most of their time with their family. Only in second place are friends.
As much as things have changed in recent months, there are also positive experiences. "I am very grateful for my time in Mexico," says Lisa Kersten. "I met great people and learnt a lot about the culture. Despite the pandemic, it was one of the best years of my life." And Hannah Depenbrock appreciates things more that she used to take for granted: "When I can meet up with friends, it's something really special."