Saints at Home – Caleb Fong; the day that everything changed
Caleb Fong – a third-year MMath Mathematics student and Junior Honours Class Rep – was looking forward to a holiday in Portugal during spring break with his girlfriend Ser. Then everything changed. He describes why they decided to stay in St Andrews and what life has been like here during lockdown.
The Sunday before Easter break, my girlfriend Ser and I were staying in Edinburgh. We had just been to Cambridge to visit her siblings, and we were (supposed to be) taking a flight the next day to Lisbon, to spend the first few days of the spring holidays enjoying good food, and basking in the warm Portuguese sun.
Just as we were getting ready to go for our celebratory ‘six-monthaversary’ dinner, we both received an email from the Principal; this was the email telling us that all teaching would be suspended after the break and urging everyone to go home. It goes without saying that this email drastically changed the mood of the evening. We walked out of the hostel we were staying at, sat on a bench by the side of the street, under the shadow of Edinburgh castle, and we cried. We were overwhelmed by how quickly the situation had changed. Ser was upset about how her last semester had been upturned by the suspension of teaching and student activities, and we were both uncertain about when we would see each other next if we both went home (Ser to Malaysia and me to Austin).
Because Ser had an elderly relative living at home, and since I was worried about flying into the crowds at the US ‘funnel airports’, we both decided to spend the rest of the semester in St Andrews. Instead of flying off to Lisbon the next day, we took the bus back to Fife.
The next two weeks were a blur of emails, farewells, compulsive hand-washing, and getting very good at gauging two-metre distances by eye. Towards the end of the spring holiday, we received word that we would be moving out of our halls of residence, and into Agnes Blackadder Hall, where we would be housed until the end of the semester.
Apart from the daily hour blocks of exercise that we’ve taken every so often, and the furtive trips to Tesco for beer and snacks, we’ve been here ever since. To some extent, it’s become the new normal, and to be honest, it hasn’t been that bad. Those of us still staying in halls here in St Andrews are very fortunate as the University has been continuing our catering contracts and providing us with three meals a day. The biggest challenge has probably been adjusting to the social distancing aspect of the lockdown. Although I am not generally the biggest social butterfly, I do miss meeting with friends for coffee at Rector’s, and walking with my best maths friend to classes every morning. My walks into town tend to take me past the Mathematical Institute and the Student’s Union, and looking at these empty buildings makes me feel sad for what the semester could have been.
The start of online teaching in Week 8 was helpful in establishing a daily routine. Having classes to wake up for and having assignments to complete meant that I had something to work towards, instead of waking up at noon every day and binge-watching season after season of some Netflix series. I start my mornings now with a large mug of coffee and I log onto Microsoft Teams, to attend my 9am Group Theory lecture, or my 10am Topology lecture. When all my contact hours are done for the day, I usually work on my tutorials, or put some time towards my online part-time job. The latter of these has had an increasing level of importance in these past few weeks, as my plans for summer work have gone down the drain due to the pandemic.
As I sit down at my desk to write this essay (story? Forgive me, I’m a maths student – I don’t write in long paragraphs very often), the sun is starting to set on what is the Friday of Week 11 – the last week of teaching. Just yesterday, I read on the BBC that the first human trials for a Covid-19 vaccine were being conducted in Oxford. Perhaps the sun is also setting on this nightmare of a global situation. I don’t know if things will go back to normal anytime soon and I don’t think anyone else really does; I try not to be overly optimistic.
To all my friends that are now spread out all over the world, I wish you good luck as you give yourself that haircut, try that new recipe, and maybe prepare for your exams. May you and your families stay safe, healthy, and happy. I can’t wait to see all of you (and my barber) when things go back to normal.