Page 24 - Luce 2020

C ovid R eflections

the Dining Hall, and the library. It put While most other Australians had to
us in a unique situation in relation to socially-distance when they left their
the lockdown laws. On one hand, houses, we had to keep a 1.5m distance
we were too large to be classed as a while watching television, and brushing
singular family unit, which would allow our teeth, and eating dinner. The only
us to disregard social-distancing rules time we could let our guard down was
altogether. On the other hand, complete when we were alone in our rooms,
social distancing was impossible, staring down at the near-empty trams
because we shared bathrooms, public rattling along Royal Parade.
spaces, and ate together.
Then, somehow slowly and all at once,
From an outside perspective, the answer we got used to it. I can’t pinpoint
seemed to be simple; send students the exact moment when a sense of
home. In reality, it was much more normality settled over the hand-sanitiser
complicated than that. We have a high bottles, and standing in 1.5m increments
proportion of international and interstate to get food became mundane. I just
COVID on Campus students, who already couldn’t return remember eating dinner with my friends
home by the time Victorian lockdown
one night and exclaiming how we
laws were implemented. Some students couldn’t believe there used to be eight
May Dunn Scholar Marina didn’t have safe homes to return to, chairs at a table, instead of four. How
Bishop offered her thoughts on while others had lived at College for did we fit so many?
years and held secure jobs or research
residential colleges in the midst positions. There were times when I wanted
of a pandemic. nothing more than to read a book at
For those of us left at College, life a café, and my vision became blurred
In February 2020, I flew down to changed quickly. Bottles of hand from hours of online study. But we also
Melbourne from my regional hometown sanitiser popped up around every developed our own COVID routines. In
in Queensland, trading beaches and corner, stickers were places at intervals pre-COVID times, my friend and I used
sugarcane fields for rattling trams and in the Dining Hall so people would to take boxing classes at the gym. During
the winding Yarra. social-distance while lining up for food, lockdown, we bopped along to dance-
and half the chairs were removed from boxing videos on YouTube instead,
It was my second year in a residential tables. All gatherings were forbidden, much to the amusement of everyone
college, and I was excited to see my and we were no longer allowed to have with rooms facing the courtyard.
friends after the long summer break. visitors in College, or have more than
The year began in a blur of bar-hopping, one other person in our rooms. When my assessments finished in
sipping hot coffee on the way to lectures Semester 1, things were starting to look
and sprawling in Royal Park on pastel- We followed the regulations as best we up. Case numbers across Australia
coloured Sunday evenings, watching could, mostly because we wanted to had been extremely low for months,
magpies swoop between gum trees and do our bit for public health. We were everything was opening back up, and
cyclists. Of course, we had seen images also concerned around publicity and Parkville wasn’t a hotspot at the time.
of Wuhan and were watching the death reputation. If any sort of compromising I packed my bags and flew back to
toll rise in Italy. But COVID-19 seemed video leaked, we knew that we would Queensland, planning to return to
so far away, like the distant conflicts be framed as privileged, entitled college Melbourne after the break. At Brisbane
we’d become accustomed to seeing on students partying away while ICU wards airport, I was greeted by the usual wave
our Facebook feeds, amidst photos of swelled. Of course, we are privileged to of thick, Queensland air, and the not-
our cousin’s birthday and targeted ads attend university and stay at a residential so-usual presence of police and military
for teeth whitener. college. We never feared that we would personnel conducting ID checks.
lose our accommodation or run out of
Then the figures in Australia started food, which is a testament to the College Then, in the weeks after I returned
climbing, and like many nations before staff, and put us in a very lucky position to Queensland, COVID-19 cases
us, we realised with horror that we were compared to many others around the in Melbourne skyrocketed, the
not immune. My worried parents called, world. But on the other hand, our JCH borders closed, and the lockdown
complaining about the lack of toilet community is more diverse than most was reinstated. I felt helpless, as my
paper, and accusing their neighbour residential facilities. Two-thirds of our friends faced even tougher restrictions
of stockpiling said toilet paper. Not students are supported by significant both within and outside College. As
long after that, lockdown laws were financial aid. Many students stay in the weeks dragged on, it became
implemented across Australia. What College in part because it is more increasingly clear that I would not be
this meant for college life was initially affordable than renting an apartment, able to return to Melbourne before the
unclear. due to these generous scholarships. end of the year. I missed my friends.
They had become a second family to
At JCH, students have their own room Nevertheless, we were all acutely aware me, a family I was suddenly isolated
but share bathrooms, which are placed of college student stereotypes. Our lives from, just as I had been isolated from my
along the corridors. Students also share became increasingly restricted, and the family in Queensland for months. But
all public spaces, like the kitchenettes, atmosphere became increasingly tense. I am one of the lucky ones. My friends

24 LUCE Number 19 2020