‘Connecting with fellow students won’t be that easy’
Are the students who will start their bachelor’s study during the corona pandemic part of a ‘lost generation’? This week, we speak ten of those students about their hopes and fears. Today: Annabel Couzijn (18) who is going to study Psychobiology.
How did you envision the start of your time as a student?
‘Last december I participated in the Student-For-A-Day program, which gave me an idea of what it would be like to go to university in normal circumstances. For example, I would bump into my peers on a regular basis. Now, connecting with fellow students won’t be that easy. I do not know when education on campus will start.’
What do you think of online lectures and studying at home?
‘It is quite comfortable. I will live with my parents, which I would have done either way, because I live in Amsterdam. It is difficult to find student accommodation here and I do not feel the need to move out. On the other hand, I would rather have been in a different situation. It is hard to get to know people in online classrooms.’
Do you know how you are going to make friends?
‘I found a fellow student on Twitter and during a days for knew students I met someone who bumped into me again at the selection test. I think the connection will still be there when we meet in person, but I am afraid I will have to ask her name again.’
What do you think of the tuition fees?
‘As a first-year I only pay half of the money and my parents pay it for me. My dad is a teacher at the UvA and I would not argue that teaching has become easier since the corona crisis, and that tuition fees should be reduces. Although this situation for students is not pleasant either, of course.’
Do you think you will suffer from corona measures thoughout your entire ‘career’ as a student?
‘I think that the start can be more difficult because of the pandemic. But next year, I do not think that studying is going to differ much from how other generations of students experienced it.’
What do you expect from next year?
‘I have been at Science Park a couple of times and I think I am going to have a good time there. The teachers and students seemed nice and I got an impression of the student association. I feel no need to join a student association to party.’
