As I put down my pen after my final Fluid Mechanics exam last Friday, I was in a state of numbness and fatigue. The adrenaline required for an exam, and the coffee I had before, was still coursing throughout my body as I double and triple checked the exam submission. Amid this numbness, however, was the foreign and strange feeling that I am finally done. There were no more deadlines to push on to, no more barrages of assignments, projects, and exams. If I pass all my exams for this undergraduate degree, then that’s it.
It’s bizarre to notice how two months have passed since the last post. In the business of trying to be efficient in studying, my hands constantly tried to seize the elusive flow of time, trying to grab any second I could in studying, but also in rest. Currently, I have transitioned into the state of a ‘vegetating’ numbness, a state of kissing the dust as it were, which from experience I have felt has always happened after a long semester and exam period. As I look forward to what my next steps will be, will require picking myself up from this dusty road.
As of now, however, I am content in recovering from this state of numbness slowly.
Despite restrictions easing a few weeks ago, in my experience, a student’s life barely changes due to the modality of learning remaining online. For me, it was only the end of exams that marked the end of restrictions.
As restrictions ease yet again, and hopefully for the last time, it is a joy to see that colour and vitality is coming back to the city of Melbourne. Lockdown brought a blur to one’s existence, and it is a relief to rebuild connections with one another again. However, much work is yet to be done in terms of healing the deep scars that consecutive lockdowns have brought to Melbourne. Around the same time last year, Melbourne continued to slowly open up after a brutal duration of restrictions. Hopefully, a year after, this would be the last time that this would occur – but with how the past two years have gone, it is difficult to say with certainty.
I feel optimistic for the future. However, it is a tentative optimism in light of how the virus has ravaged the world for the past two years. It is non-negotiable that we pick ourselves up from the dust for us to move on with life. Yet, it is very much on our side of the court with regards to when this will occur.
Leave a Reply