First year Far from the ideal year that anyone expected, the shift to online learning has been just one of the many obstacles that COVID-19 has thrown at the world. For Ashley Sullivan, her first-year of university has panned out very differently to her expectations.
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ET'S JUST SAY THAT an abrupt transition into online school wasn't exactly how I envisioned my first year of university to begin.
I had anticipated 2020 as the year to be. It was going to be my year. I had just graduated from high school, the trauma of HSC slowly becoming a distant memory, and I had been accepted into my dream course — Journalism and Law. I was turning 18, and I was looking forward to long-anticipated plans to celebrate the milestone with friends and family. Drinks and dancing were in the distant future, and I was deliriously happy for the days ahead.
Everything seemed to be falling into place. Until COVID-19 struck and the world became unrecognisable. As with many others, the pandemic stripped away a sense of control. There was a loss of stability. I felt that I no longer held agency over my life. That I was helpless in the direction it was taking. And I was forced to face the reality that my expectations of university would need to undergo some serious revisions. An overwhelming sense of exhaustion smothered my first semester. A type of tiredness that wasn't due to lack of sleep, but a weary heaviness that dulled everything out. There was a persistent battle between the desire to disappear into sleep and the nagging pressure of uni work. During online schooling, my productivity was at its lowest point. There were so many wasted hours that I can hardly recollect. The days dragged on, and even with all the new 'free time', I didn't have the energy to spend it. Ironically, I would waste my time by being disappointed in myself for wasting my time. It seemed that everyone around me was learning a new language, a new craft, a new skill; constantly evolving to be more well-rounded individuals. How could I possibly keep up when I barely had the energy to drag myself out of bed?
