DU’s foreign students share their pandemic experiences

Within a few weeks of Delhi University opening admissions for foreign students, the seats have been reportedly filled up, even before the last date. Youngsters hailing from different homelands are ready to bite into the campus life, at a time when the world is engulfed by a pandemic. Exuding extreme mental strength and resilience, the foreign nationals who are presently studying in various colleges, share what makes the DU experience worthwhile, even though the pandemic has curtailed their campus life!

Easy to make friends @DU

Kokoro Okamoto, who hails from Japan and is a student of Psychology (Hons) at Lady Shri Ram College For Women, says: “My experience of the pandemic can be summed up in one word ‘Online classes’, which has been bittersweet. Bitter in the sense that I’m yet to visit my college campus where I’m missing out on the college fun with my friends or eating at the cafe and canteen, meeting new people and definitely the physical essence of the societies that I have joined during the past months. In terms of sweet, being an ambivert, sometimes I love to stay at home and enjoy these online classes where I can attend them at my own comfort zone. Despite having a pandemic year, which was plagued with uncertainty and loneliness, I would recommend DU as a place to be! India is great, wherever you visit, the culture, food and the people you meet are different. This is something that is unique to India and I really want students from other countries to experience these wonderful moments. Moreover, the education here, I believe is great when one compares it in terms of the cost to study in India with countries, because it is relatively affordable. Apart from education, one can learn something valuable like connecting to animals which is rare in other countries and being around with stray dogs and cats really teaches us the importance of their presence. Lastly, this is something I have noticed in my pandemic year that making friends with Indians is very easy and they are willing to become friends with you and help you whenever you struggle, miss your family or are just having a bad day, which made me love this country more.”

Stuck in homeland, eager to visit India

Arefa Mohibe, from Afghanistan, who is pursuing Economics (Hons) at Daulat Ram College, says: “My pandemic experience has been challenging. I prefer physical classes rather than online ones because as foreign students we have many kinds of challenges such as economical issues, internet connectivity, electricity shortage and lack of course materials. These impact our studies as sometimes we miss out some of our classes. Sometimes we need to buy books online, but for many of us it’s difficult to buy them through the internet. I’m in my first year and second semester, so unfortunately I haven’t been able to even come to India yet, and haven’t experienced the physical campus. Those like me who are on a scholarship, have signed an undertaking that unless we are not in India we would not be paid the scholarship stipend, so that’s another challenge. And as a foreign student, I’m really interested to study offline and meet my classmates and teachers and have discussions on our lessons. Hopefully that time will come soon.”

#FOMO Complete campus experience

Youtso Rakdo, a Tibetan national pursuing MA in English at Jesus and Mary College, says: “This is my first year at DU, and sadly, I never got to experience the real campus life. I wish things would go back to normal soon. I never got a chance to apply for a hostel since the lockdown started before my admission, but the admission process was quite a breeze. The authorities at Foreign Students’ Registry, DU, were helpful in addressing all my concerns. Most of my professors have been extremely dedicated and try to not let the pandemic jeopardize our education... Online classes for me have been very convenient, I feel like this is where my privilege comes into play. I’ve been lucky to have internet access and electronic devices at my disposal. But nothing can beat the real life experience of a physical class. Especially the environment of my college. I had so many plans for my campus debut. I miss every detail of my college – the food, class, library – all of it looked so interesting on the brochure!”

Author tweets @FizzyBuddha

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