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Cecily Chen

March 22nd, 2021

Studying Remotely as an International Student During COVID-19

0 comments | 2 shares

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Cecily Chen

March 22nd, 2021

Studying Remotely as an International Student During COVID-19

0 comments | 2 shares

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, London’s been in lockdown and teaching at LSE has moved online for a while now. I am one of many international students who have chosen to return to their native countries to complete their degrees remotely during this academic year. In this blogpost, I shall document some of my daily activities and offer some insight to other students sharing this unique experience.

I am currently living in sunny Singapore, where the time difference with London is 8 hours. Most of my classes are scheduled between 6 P.M. and 12 A.M. in the evening here, so I sleep a little bit later and wake around 10 A.M.-12 P.M. everyday. This has been unexpectedly conducive for my learning because I don’t arrive groggy to any of my lectures and tend to be more focused in the evenings. I also find ample time in the afternoon to go over lecture and seminar materials, so I come prepared to each Zoom meeting. I feel like LSE has ensured an engaged learning experience despite circumstances, with office hours, extracurricular language lessons and all teaching materials made accessible to the students online.

In my free time I read novels, paint and have lunch with friends. I keep in contact with friends and course mates in London via video chats, which are always lovely – my only complaint being it’s always hard to schedule because everyone is staying in different time-zones. Ironically, it almost feels as though COVID has made us all closer to each other by keeping us apart. Despite our distance, the course chat is livelier than ever and virtual team activities are abundant.

However, not being on campus physically and around peers working towards the same goal also means I struggle with motivation these days. My unusual sleeping schedule has produced a different structured lifestyle and I’ve been dealing with extant health issues which have exacerbated. Recently, I’ve taken up a part time job and started home exercises earlier in the day to keep me energized and maintain my drive and focus.

If there is a silver lining to COVID, it would definitely be the skills I have gained in coping with the current situation. Remote learning has given me more autonomy over my time, and prompted me to step back, self-reflect and develop better time management skills. Thus, I am really enjoying the academic and the unintended personal development made through online learning at the LSE.

You can find out more about LSE’s response to coronavirus here.

About the author

Cecily Chen

Cecily is a 21 year old Global Msc student at the LSE. In her free time, she enjoys painting and reading science fiction novels.

Posted In: #stillPartofLSE

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