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I am now back home in Serbia. I decided to return after the Serbian president declared a state of emergency here.

I am graduating in a couple of months. The sudden turn of events caused by the pandemic has created uncertainty about what will become of my career plans. 

As the spectre of Covid-19 casts a shadow over my career path, I am choosing to focus on the benefits it could bring. 

Reframing 

The cohort of students who, like me, are adjusting to the impact of Covid-19 are, willingly or otherwise, pedagogical pioneers. We are the first to have had to adjust, as a cohort, to digitally dominant learning styles.

One week before going back home

They’re being so overdramatic. My friends and I were supposed to go to a concert tonight, but it was cancelled at the last minute over health concerns. The first cases of the coronavirus are being detected in France, but I don’t get the big deal. My priority? To have fun while I can. Sure, the situation is rapidly evolving all across the world, but there’s no way that something that serious could also happen here, right?

11 hours before

We live in changing and uncertain times, and I believe that the role of the student is evolving along with the fierce competitiveness of an interconnected global job market. Growing rates of global inequality, persistent levels of poverty and the climate change conundrum are among the seismic challenges that our world faces, as well as the current coronavirus outbreak. 

I am of the opinion that, whether at undergraduate or postgraduate level, students can make a difference.

I wasn’t entirely sure I’d be glad to be back in South Korea this spring, my third, which has – as always – brought with it fleeting weeks of candyfloss clouds in both the sky and the cherry tree branches. The pale pinkish-white flowers blossoming all over my campus at KAIST in Daejeon lend a romantic air to the university for a brief season every year.

Although usually an idyllic period, this time the tranquility is exceptional; the absence of the visitors who normally crowd the picnic and photo spots has left an odd stillness. 

Last November, the semester at universities in Hong Kong was cut short after protests spilled on to campuses.

At that time, students could barely contemplate the possibility of switching to online mode. Some professors were flooded with emails from students struggling to present in groups in an online class or being able to complete assignments without library access. How things have changed.

I’ve now been away from the classroom for a few weeks. In isolation, I have very little motivation to work on my end of semester assignments with remote direction, refreshing my university inbox for updates on upcoming exams, and searching job boards for a miraculous influx of new opportunities.