The life of international students in the crown pandemic – MedienLabor MeLab

The corona pandemic was and still is a great challenge for everyone: the fear of the virus, the travel ban and above all the lockdown. In this article, foreign students talk about their prospects.

by Nika Agabayan

It has never been this busy here at Christmas. A large dormitory in the middle of Charlottenburg, which hosts many international students – there is always something going on here. Lively chatter in the shared kitchens, someone playing the latest TikTok songs so loud the entire centennial building shakes, happy laughter in the hallways. And then, as if by magic. It is the break of the winter semester, when something is celebrated in almost every country. Many students visit their families or travel with their friends. The building remains almost empty.

It was like this every Christmas in the dormitory on Danckelmannstrasse. It was like that, until suddenly everyone’s life changed. The crown pandemic has kept many of us at home for months, but each has experienced it differently: with their family, in a shared flat or in a single flat, in another country without the possibility of hugging the mother .

The Travel-Ban and the New Year’s Eve party with friends

Our group of friends was very diverse: people from many different countries like Vietnam or Georgia, and just one person from Germany. We were all students, we all shared the embarrassment of online lessons and stayed at home. But Christmas and then New Year arrived and only our German friend could go home. Of course, not everyone wanted, but as N. from Turkey said, “if there is no flight, even if you don’t really want to see your family, it’s a strange feeling that you can’t.” N. has been living in Germany for six years and would like to see his family more often. “That was the thing. Suddenly you are in the right mood and the flights are fine, you want to go and you can’t ”.

At the end of 2020, 175 countries – almost all existing – were considered “high risk areas”. This meant a ten-day post-entry quarantine and a testing requirement. You must have had a good reason to go back to Germany. A German citizenship was obviously good enough as a reason; others had to prove their right to come to Germany.

Many other countries have also implemented travel bans or severe travel restrictions in the face of the pandemic. Haoyan from China studied in Germany for a semester in 2019 and returned to China when the virus broke out. She returned to Germany last March and now lives in our dormitory. “China has this ‘zero positive’ policy. This means that the Chinese government doesn’t want positive cases in China at all, so it’s really hard for us to go back to China. Airfare is very expensive and we would have to stay in isolation if we wanted to go back to China. It was about a month (14 days plus 14 days). He’s a little more relaxed now, but we still have to stay seven days in the hotel plus three days in solitary confinement at home. ”That’s why she made absolutely no sense for Haoyan to fly to China for a week or two.

Lonely set table in one of the dormitory kitchens. Before the pandemic, there was always a lot of hustle and bustle here. | Photo: Nika Agabayan

In China, the New Year is celebrated much later: between January 21 and February 21, depending on the lunar calendar. It is one of the most important festivals in China and is a must to spend with the family. “I think it’s like Christmas in Western countries,” Haoyan says. You spent the last Chinese New Year in Germany. “It’s a real shame when you can’t spend it with your family. I celebrated here with some fellow Chinese students. We cooked something and ate together ”.

“It was really depressing”

The corona pandemic has brought many challenges, including psychological ones. According to RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND), around half of Germans felt alone in the first few months. The youngest (born after 1994, practically the age group of a dormitory) have the highest number with 62 percent. “A big drawback was obviously the limited social contacts,” says Mohamed from Egypt, who has lived in Germany for four years. “It was really depressing not being able to go to the cafeteria anymore, not being able to meet friends. When I met my friends then, I felt like I was doing something illegal. Also, I couldn’t make new friends, meet new people. Even my group. at university we only knew each other through Microsoft. And I think so far, the closest friends I have are still the ones I met from the first, second semester before Corona. “

Mohamed, like all the other interviewees, confirmed that he felt lonely and even depressed. “Back then I was trying to balance that a bit, in the sense that I did more sports, I was finding more hobbies than I had ever done before. You couldn’t meet anyone. Many at the time were afraid, and of course it is understandable, a situation like this in which you have to be careful “. Mohamed says he was less in touch with his family during the pandemic, which is a shame. “There wasn’t much to talk about or discuss at the time. Normally I called my father, I told him what my daily life was like, what I did today, what is new. And during Corona there were fewer things that can be defined as new ”.

The other side of the pandemic

Although the virus does not discriminate against anyone, everyone has experienced the pandemic and the lockdown in a different way, depending on the age group, life situation, health status, financial situation. Mohamed also sees an advantage in the corona pandemic: “The only good thing was that the lectures were not taken. A lecture is just a professor, a doctor reading a topic and there is not much room to ask questions, unlike of a seminary. And before Corona it was just nonsense to have to drive around the city for an hour to hear someone talking. “

Bring homemade disinfectant. When the pandemic hit, quick fixes had to be found. | Photo: Nika Agabayan

Julieta from Peru had the opposite experience. She was able to enjoy campus life right from the start, because for her almost everything was done in person. She has also been able to make many new friends. When the pandemic broke out, she was still in her home country: “I was actually very lucky because I was always with my family and with my dogs and my sisters I was never alone. I think my family has been very, very lucky, financially and things like that, compared to a lot of places in Peru, so it wasn’t that difficult. “

Haoyan, when asked about his loneliness, says the pandemic wasn’t the only reason. “As foreign students we have language problems, for example. And even without family and friends who are in China, we have to meet new people. Due to the pandemic, the situation is even more difficult because last year we had isolation and less contact in Germany. It was even worse because we live alone in the room ”.

Everyone I interviewed talked about the importance of socialization and the loneliness that dominates us when we are forced to remain isolated. Especially if you want to start your life in another country, it is very important to make friends without losing contact with your family. Unsurprisingly, young people felt more alone: ​​the university is an important place to identify as an active part of society. It is especially important for those who are new to this society, whether you are from Turkey, China, Egypt or Peru.

Nika Agabayan studies journalism and communication sciences and general and comparative literature in the 4th semester. At the start of the pandemic, his return flight was canceled. As a result, she hasn’t seen her family for nearly a year and a half.