THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19

The impacts of Covid-19 on mental health on international students

TEKSTI: JOSEPH FALZON

Since the tender age of 17 years old, my dream was always to study abroad. To me studying abroad is a proxy to becoming a more independent person and get to explore different cultures and meet people around the globe.

Having been born and raised in Malta, I always knew that I had great potential to leave the island and study at a state-of-the-art University. Being blessed with Malta’s free education and high standard pertaining to my field of studies (Finance), I sought a Nordic country to continue benefitting from a concoction of free but high-quality education.

Never had I ever thought that post the euphoria of being able to get accepted in a university with possibly the most beautiful campus in Finland, I would find myself in a situation with barriers to my education inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moving to Finland and adapting to the culture shock, whilst hearing worldwide news that Covid-19 infections are continuously spiking, I became unease and unsure of how much exposure I was going to get to the University of Vaasa. The lack of certainty pertaining to how the Master’s was going to operate, whether strictly online, partially online, hybrid or physical, led to me evidently noticing a roller coaster of emotions happening inside of me. I literally went from: high to low, from happy to lonely, from hopeful to hopeless, without any sort of consistency.

The uncertainty sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, created big confusions in the educational system with most lectures moving online. Admittedly, I truly disliked the online mode and it was not the first time that I was in my apartment thinking, “Should I even have travelled here?”

Mental health to me is a serious topic. It can manifest itself into truly different symptoms. It is not just about a one-off temporary episode of feeling sadness, but it is an ongoing everyday emotional disturbance that may even lead to one being unable to function. Mental health manifestations may include physical symptoms such as having a panic attack, hyperventilation episode, gastrointestinal disturbances (such as irritable bowel syndrome ) as well as changes in weight and skin.

From a personal point of view, I was blessed enough to have an infallible determination to overcome feelings of sadness and loneliness. I must disclose that, the drive to succeed overrode the “fake world in my mind”. It is however not a secret that the loneliness factor, sparked by the everyday unpredictable changes imposed by the pandemic, created extra pressure to me over and above my demanding studies. As a general advise, to you the potential reader, the key is to speak up. Keeping going is not easy, but I believe that irrespective of how you feel, you should get up, dress up, show up and most importantly never give up!