CC0001: Transitioning into university life from high school is never easy, especially for international students. The COVID-19 pandemic: Inquiry and Communication in an Interdisciplinary World Essay, NTU, Singapore

Transitioning into university life from high school is never easy, especially for international students. The COVID-19 pandemic, a global health crisis that turned lives upside down, only complicated matters. There was a lack of clarity regarding the re-opening of universities, and moving to campus seemed a distant event.

Travel was riskier and in-person meet-ups were unimaginable. When asked about their concerns, a group of international students who had arrived in Singapore in 2020, responded that they had anticipations about mingling with a multicultural crowd, moving into hall life, and exploring new clubs of their interest. In this scenario of uncertainty and lack of physical interactions, how was it possible to meet and make friends?

“It was time to break the perception: strangers online are dangerous.” An international student explained, on sharing how she was adapting to the pandemic-driven student life. Social media was the only platform for meeting her first college buddies. However, students reported that it was no easy task to build relationships on social media due to difficulties in understanding one another. Even after arriving on campus, they had to hang out in groups of eight due to government restrictions for maintaining social distancing. In the months that followed, filled with apprehension and hope, it became clear that the new normal was here to stay.

The routes for meeting new individuals had become limited. Organized bonding meets and recreational activities, which are often considered to be the best way to meet new people in university, were virtual or canceled.

Did all groups of students in general feel like they were moving apart? “Not really. Smaller groups also mean we can reinforce existing bonds,” they say. With more time available to spend with each person, understanding between the students improved. It also helped students to work on and strengthen their existing relationships. The common feeling of apprehension itself had established a link amongst students, wiping away differences. Whether one studied a different course or came from a different city did not matter. All the students were experiencing the uncertainty looming over their student lives together and that itself brought them closer to each other.

Students continue to manage vibrant conversations and an optimistic attitude that things will get better. However, their responses highlight that online interactions were no substitute for the in-person experience. With people often masking their true identity behind their gadget screens, it was much more difficult to judge people on social media. Thus, students are to make the best of what they have.

Fewer opportunities to meet new people means that they are forced to move with diverse people and not be choosy about their interactions. In many ways, such experiences will make interactions more enriching. Large gatherings are no longer taken for granted and people who have been a part of them have become more important. Thus, the in-person meet-ups of the current scenario are different from those of the pre-pandemic world. They have become much more complex and have two dimensions to them. This raises the question: how has the pandemic impacted social relationships among students?