“Yeah! 2020! Alright! It was great, not really,” said a WISS student on an October afternoon. So far, 2020 has not been a great year for most of us. Countless events have struck this year, but the most notable was the outbreak of the virus, COVID-19. This led to social-distancing, quarantining, lockdowns, unemployment, online learning, and other undesirable outcomes all over the world. Now that school has resumed for several weeks, we thought we should take a look back at a summer that none of us have ever experienced before. We asked students: How was your COVID-19 Summer?
Due to travel restrictions, travelling out of China was and still is quite difficult. Very few students, who would have ordinarily travelled abroad for their summer vacation, actually left the country. The situation for a majority of the students, if not all, fittingly outlined by one student’s answer: “Summer was fine, it was just normal. Because we live in China, it was more under control so we didn’t have as many limitations but we couldn't leave, obviously.”
One student had to spend a part of their summer in quarantine. “I went into quarantine. I liked quarantine, quarantine is nice, because the WIFI in the hotels were really good, and the hotel was really good.” Despite being a dreaded experience, this student appeared to have a ball of a time.
Another particular student did not have such a happy response. “Terrible. I didn’t do anything fun. I did my Extended Essay the whole summer, then I cried. Yeah, that’s it.” A truly sad fate and an ominous harbinger for all DP students.
A certain student had quite a bit to say about their summer. “Actually, it was pretty okay, because the situation in Shanghai has gotten better compared to the rest of the world , and it was okay for us to socialize outside with other people without our masks…It wasn’t as bad as some people. Before, when I went out, I would have to wear sunglasses, and masks, and gloves, because there was new articles about how they could be transmitted through saliva so it was like we were wearing armour [laughs]. But then during summer, it was really hot and then people were like it’s okay, so thank god, because I would’ve died.” We were pretty lucky that social-distancing and wearing masks were no longer a necessity by the time summer rolled around. She then concluded with: “I would usually go to Korea every summer, and this time we just decided not to because it’d be better to stay or else we would be trapped in Korea. That would be bad.” Indeed, it would be.
Another student replied: “Usually, I would go back to my home country for the summer and visit my family. However, because of COVID-19 we had to stay in China, which was actually fine. It was a bit dull sometimes but I got to spend time with my friends and make fun memories. Also, I studied a lot so I’d be prepared for the next school year.”
Yet another had a fittingly anticlimactic answer: “Well, I was busy then. I studied, and went out with friends. But I mainly stayed at home and studied. If I didn’t study, I either drew or slept. Actually, I wasn’t that busy, I was just nervous most of the time.”
One student simply said, with a tone of pure dejection, “I did a lot of studying.”
Another replied with, “Fun, I did absolutely nothing.”
Lastly, one student summed up their summer in a single word: “Mediocre.”
This summer, most students spent time with their friends, a few students studied, and some just did nothing. We hope that your summer, despite COVID-19, was a good one. If it wasn’t, then hopefully the next will be better.