Coronavirus- the pesky little virus that drastically changed my year abroad

Picture this, after your first year at university, you jet off for a year abroad in China. Shanghai, one of the largest cities in the world, is your new home for the next 10 months. You’ve had a greatly hectic and extremely stressful first few weeks of finding a flat, setting up bank accounts, a medical test alongside adjusting to the huge difference in culture, but things are looking up! Once you’ve moved into a prime location and decent little flat with your friends, got to grips with being at a new university where they only speak to you in Chinese and adjusted to being in a new country, you are finally finding your feet. The next five months in Shanghai are a bit of a rollercoaster, with the largest highs but as with everything else also some lows. You’ve experienced unthinkable things, visited some of China’s most historical and famous sites, climbed breathtaking mountains and met many interesting characters. The fun however also came with bad China days, where the language barrier and general chaos of Shanghai all seemed to be against your favour. This is when the homesickness and missing home comforts kicked in. You survive and smash the first term at university and are so excited for a six-week holiday for Chinese New Year. You have a jam-packed plan of travelling and hope to return to Shanghai at the end feeling refreshed and ready for more. You arrive in your first destination of Japan, to a warm welcome of the news of the new coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Although there is a definite increase in the number of people wearing masks, there is still minimal panic regarding the coronavirus. You carry on travelling, nevertheless day by day more news unfolds, the media goes crazy and all the world seems to be talking about is the new novel coronavirus- Covid19.

For me, this has all been reality. I currently find myself sat writing this in my bed back at home in Blackburn, UK, 4 months earlier than expected. My year abroad has taken a massively unexpected change in direction and all because of a virus with the same symptoms as the flu. Halfway through my travels, I received the dreaded news that my university wanted all students still in China to leave and for everyone else travelling to also return to the UK when possible. I was extremely lucky to be travelling at the time, as I am sure being in and having to leave China would have been very stressful, and at least I was finding out the sad news under the comfort blanket of the warm Vietnamese sun. For me the most difficult part of this was the uncertainty of what was going to happen next: would I have to return home immediately or could I continue my travels? Did it mean I wouldn’t be able to return to China at all? When would I next be able to see my lovely Chinese flatmate and the kind family I tutored for?

After the most amazing five weeks of travelling, I unfortunately returned to the UK instead of Shanghai. I have now been back for just over 3 weeks, which have been filled with adjusting to my new online classes, constant calls to insurance and organising for my belongings left in China (my laptop and all other belongings minus a small suitcase of summer clothes that I went travelling with) to be shipped home. The past couple of months have been a hectic accumulation of change. Adapting to a reverse culture change has possibly been harder to accustom to than the shock of initially arriving in China last September. The everyday things that are so normal in day to day life, seemed very unfamiliar for a while. Being able to drink water straight from the tap, being able to use apps like Instagram, that are blocked in China, with ease, not being able to use WeChat to pay for everything, not having close access to very cheap public transport and not being able to speak Chinese (more often chinglish) with the people closest to me.

Luckily, I have had the pleasure of reuniting with my family and friends, and at most this has made my transition back into home life a lot easier. Being greeted by my parents at the airport, being home in perfect time for one of my closest friends 21st birthday and spending time catching up with the loveliest people in Leeds have been the biggest highlights of being home. However, this has also come with some sad realities. Coming home has made me realise who the important people in my life are and who really cares. On a few occasions of meeting friends, there has been little attempt to ask anything about the past six months and if anything, it was a question about the coronavirus. Now I know that not everyone wants to hear about my time in China and people are probably sick of seeing all my photos on Instagram, but I would expect those I class as close friends to show some interest, as I am also so interested in what they have been up to while I have been away. Sadly, for a while I allowed these occasions to get to me and give me a strange feeling of social anxiety that I have never experienced before. For a week, I focused only on my online classes, left the house only to go to the shops and kept myself quite isolated. When it came to the weekend, some of my friends invited me out. Usually this would be a straight yes from me, however it took a lot of thinking about and convincing myself before I decided getting out of the house and seeing my friends was what I needed. Coming home has been a weird shock to the system and being thrown into life as it was before China as if nothing has changed is bizarre. China was such a learning curve for me, I was thrown into being completely independent and in a country so different to home and as cringe as it may sound I do think I developed confidence in myself that I did not have before.

Now I am not in any way comparing my experiences moving home because of the virus to the experiences of others, as I am fortunate to be healthy and safe at home, I just wanted to share my personal experiences. Originally, I was going to write about my thoughts of the virus in general, however regardless of how much research I have done into it, this doesn’t qualify me to give my opinion, plus my opinion doesn’t change the sad fact that people are dying, and families are losing their loved ones. What I will say, is that personally I think the scarier thing about this whole situation is the hysteria surrounding it. I am shocked to see people stockpiling toilet roll, pasta, tinned tomatoes and even chickpeas in my local supermarket. This not only may make it harder for the elderly and more vulnerable people to buy essentials, but it could also lead to an uncontrollable cycle of people seeing empty shelves in shops causing them to also panic buy and ‘stock up’. I am scared by how many undercover doctors and nurses we have supposedly had in hiding this whole time, who are just coming out of the woodworks to give their say on the coronavirus. The world health organisation website has a myth buster section where they tackle questions such as, ‘can eating garlic help prevent infection’, ‘can spraying alcohol or chlorine all over your body kill the new coronavirus’ and ‘does taking a hot bath prevent the virus’. It scares me to think that somewhere in the world people could possibly think that these things might work?! It scares me to see racist jokes online and posts about racist attacks that have happened supposedly because of the coronavirus. It scares me how much people are talking about the coronavirus and the media frenzy around it. I don’t think I have ever seen or heard about one consistent thing on the news for so long. It saddens me to think of the many other devastating things that happen in the world, to which people often show very little attention, however as soon as people hear about something that could directly affect their lives, they are all ears.

The last few things I want to say, are to give some advice to anyone beginning to partake in online classes, work from home or self-isolate. I am now over two weeks into online classes, and although being taught from China via a video call has taken some getting used to, it's not all bad. For some reason I feel more pressured and anxious to get questions correct online, even though no one in the class can see me. Although this may sound stressful, it has given me a well needed push to put in some extra work and to benefit from these classes. Doing work from home comes with the temptations of staying in bed to do it, and as cosy as this sounds, all it does is keep you in a sleepy mindset and makes you feel more tired than if you had got up and given your full concentration. Even though I do my classes in the comfort of my dressing gown, I make sure to get up early enough to set up my desk with plenty of space, get a big glass of water and maybe a cup of green tea and then have a quick read through of my textbooks before the lesson starts. I have got into a routine of making myself a healthy lunch after my lesson finishes and having an hour or so to watch some tv and relax. In the afternoon I do any homework or preview for my next class. Additionally, I have found peace in cooking. I have always greatly enjoyed cooking, but since being home I have made a conscious effort to try new recipes and to me there is nothing more satisfying than seeing something I have cooked turning out well and tasting delicious. Find a skill or hobby that you want to develop, whether that be art, writing, music or whatever else. Make a set time to exercise. Going to the gym has provided such stress relief for me, however if it does come to a point where gyms close, make friends with the trusty exercise DVDs. A few years ago, you would never have seen me in a gym or running in public. I was a great fan of DVDs such as Davina’s 5 Week Fit and the 30-Day Shred and couldn’t recommend them more. If you find yourself with time to spare, they are easy to find online so give them a try. Be sure to mix them up though, because after a few go’s I’m sure you will know all the words and jokes inside out, which is enough to send anyone crazy.

Take this time to do something for yourself. It has taken me being sent back from China and having lots of extra time on my hands to start this blog that I have been wanting to make for ages. This will not last forever, the coronavirus will pass. Plan something amazing that you want to do when this is all over, however big or small don’t put a date on it just save it for when life is somewhat less crazy. Personally, I hope to save in order to be able to organise to make a trip back to China either towards the end of 2020 or in 2021, so that I can have a proper farewell to my year in China.

Try not to get too caught up in the news, pay attention to what is important and the advice of health officials and the government. Practice good hygiene, something we should all already be familiar with, not just for the sake of yourself but also to help protect those more at risk. Wash your hands for 20 seconds each time and enjoy singing the recommended songs as you do it, I can confirm I have tried and tested Lose Yourself by Eminem and it’s a hit. Stay safe and try to keep calm while this mad blip passes. Lots of love, Layla xoxo