My biological clock comes with an alarm––every day at around 6:00, I would jolt myself awake and scramble for my phone, thinking that I had overslept, missed the bus, and would miss all the exams of that day. Nowadays, the frenzied scramble has been delayed by an hour, and for entirely different reasons: could I get away with staying in pyjamas for the Teams meeting at 9:00? Could I get my French classwork done before the neighbour’s kid decides to violently run up and down the stairs again? What are the chances of the family across the road seeing me wheezing and doing sumo squats in my bedroom for a P.E grade?

Different students are approaching distance learning with a tempo unique to themselves. Pudong Press interviewed students of different grades to hear what they thought about the perks and downsides of their lives in quarantine. 

For John Chen (’21) and Daphne Tsai (’20), quarantine was, at least initially, no excuse to break from the usual work schedule. “My schedule when distance learning started was kind of the normal school day schedule with a little more flexibility for if I finished classwork too quickly or slowly,” says Tsai. It also made sense to stick with the same schedule that was more or less efficient on campus when working from home for Chen. As the weeks wore on, however, both said that their schedules relaxed. Consuming factors included mass amounts of reviewing for the upcoming AP tests, the sheer lack of motivation on some days, as well as the overflow of work from previous days into the rest of the week. 

“The slower pace of life didn’t help much either,” adds Chen, alluding to the lack of a constantly moving student body to keep the day’s energy up. 

Other challenges included staying active and pursuing other hobbies when not doing schoolwork. As managing her time for school assignments got better for Christine Wu (’23), distance learning has given her a lot more free time than if she were attending school on campus. “I take that time and do things that I don’t normally have time for, like practicing the cello more or learning new dances.” 

For Tsai, staying active was also a new commitment driven by the shut-down of school campuses. “When school was still open, I was constantly running around the campus to get stuff done,” she says. “I didn’t realise how much of my physical activity was comprised of that until I was at home all day.” She mentions taking walks around the compound as a substitute, an activity which she had “never made time for before.”

Quarantine has also benefitted many students emotionally. “Mental health-wise, I’m definitely doing well,” says Tsai. “By now it’s probably the opposite of my usual pre-coronavirus state, because I’m able to take more breaks.” Without demanding wake-up hours to catch buses, students are also able to sleep for longer, a major benefit for one’s focus and happiness throughout the day. 

While the virus continues to rage throughout the world, small victories like having better mental health and the time to revive old hobbies remind many students to find the small elements of gratitude during this unusual time.