As I’m writing this I’m sitting on my couch watching my flatmate play Call of Duty: Warzone for about the 765th time this lockdown, wondering if we’re going to enter level 2 on Monday, anticipating the good news when they announce it on Sunday. I don’t even know what week of lockdown it is anymore, it must be nearing the 7th at least. Not even being dramatic or anything, it’s just that my routine has gone in the bin because I don’t have to go into Uni or the Nexus office every morning. The same routine I’ve had for the past two and a bit years of where I go to Uni in the morning, come home around 3, do as much work as I can before I get absolutely lazered with my mates every Friday or Saturday, and knock out whatever work I have left on the days that remain in the week. 

It’s the longest period I’ve ever gone without seeing my mates apart from the ones who I live with, I’ve learned a fair bit about myself during these times. Flatmate just got clocked by a sniper, gg. It’s a time where I’ve found myself frequently video chatting with friends, where beforehand this would have been almost unheard of for me. Video chat beer pong games, Snapchat drinking nominations, the drunken late night zoom calls, we’ve all dabbled in at least one of these to keep our social lives interesting, and to that I take my hat off to you. These unprecedented times have forced us to adapt in everything we do whether it be Uni, socializing, exercising, or working. As I said before, my work ethic and routine has gone down the gurgler until further notice, now it’s a rare sight if I wake up before 11am because I stay up till 4 or 5am watching YouTube or reading stuff on Reddit and let my sleep schedule become an absolute mess because I trick myself into thinking I don’t reeeeaally have anything to be awake early for. In reality I might not, because I do Uni and Nexus from home now so I can do it whenever I want, but it is detrimental to how quickly I get onto work and how fast I do it. All self inflicted though, because at the end of the day I’m the only one stopping me from getting shit done.

At the same time though, we’ve seen announcements from The University of Auckland regarding scaled grades for everyone this semester due to the whole work from home situation, which I think is a very generous but also fair move. People have been disadvantaged in different ways and it’s difficult to provide equality in terms of their learning environment. I haven’t been disadvantaged too much, I know I can work from home and still do well, I’m just lazy. But I know people who learn hands-on in stuff like labs and tutorials and just don’t get that same level of learning at home, which leaves them at a serious disadvantage due to no fault of their own. But at the same time, we’ve had the luxury of open book tests and leniency around due dates, which is compassionate in itself. Should other Universities follow suit? I don’t know, I don’t feel like making a call on it. There are many things to consider though, and it will be interesting to see if it happens in the coming weeks as exams start.