First-years – How are you doing?

Fear of failure, loneliness and the irony of growing up in times when personal development as a student in Würzburg is almost completely restricted. How do you manage that? I spoke with two students in their first semester and  

asked what it's like, essentially alone in a supposedly unfamiliar environment, with the original expectation that now the best time of your life is beginning.  

From my conversations with Felix and Juli, I was able to learn a lot for myself personally. Both handle the situation incredibly well and adapt to the circumstances. Would I have pulled through the same way? Uncertain.  

Juli is 20 years old, studies special education for secondary school teaching and moved into a shared flat here in Würzburg during the light lockdown. Before her move, she already knew two friends from her home town who study in Würzburg and therefore already had contacts that made arriving easier. "Fortunately", says Juli. "I think it would have been much harder if I hadn't known absolutely anyone except my flat mates. Through my two friends I at least had indirect contact with their flats and their friends. So I felt not alone very quickly." 

Standing on her own two feet for the first time and finally being able to do what she wants doesn't quite add up for Juli. "Sure, I'm learning a lot and living somewhere else now. But studying itself really goes so much further beyond just learning! That's absolutely not the case at the moment and that's quite a shame." Just like everyone else who moves out for the first time and starts something new, Juli also had the hope of finally being able to start her life. To a certain extent she is doing that, just not the way she expected. Still, she feels comfortable here, her flat has a very high value for her and if she ever feels lonely, she calls her friends from home or watches a film. "You find your ways of dealing with it. And it's not really that dramatic! I've only been here for two months, so there's definitely a lot of exciting things coming my way." Giving up is therefore not an option. "What else can you do but study anyway?", says Juli. Sitting at home and waiting for it all to be over seems even more boring to her. "I'm doing well, I feel comfortable here and I'm just curious what else will happen.", says Juli. "I still hope that I don't have to spend my evenings watching films for the next semesters too. I'm 20 years old, I want to experience things!".  

Felix completed his A-levels in Würzburg this summer, so he is already used to the city and the circumstances in educational institutions due to Corona. He lives with his parents, which also gives him connection to the people in his environment and of course also friendships in Würzburg – not always the case for first-semester students.  

Still, he imagined the start of student life differently: "The location is missing. You want to be on campus, meet new people and experience things. It feels more like distance learning". The social contacts and interactions that make student life so exciting are missing. For that reason, says Felix, he learns more. The educational standard seems higher and you are forced to organise yourself as quickly as possible and develop a structure if you don't want to fall behind. Of course that comes with stress. "There are days when I can deal with it well. Then I also find ways to distract myself, either I read or write texts for 

my music. But the a lot of reading at university often robs me of the motivation to continue reading my own books. So sometimes I just do nothing.", explains Felix. But he doesn't see that negatively. "Everyone has to deal with stress. I think that's a kind of life task. I'm lucky to learn from it now and can completely embrace new things. Then I just don't make music for a few months, I'll find something new that I enjoy. That's kind of exciting too!". So for Felix, the restriction of social perspectives is by no means a restriction of his personal process. He uses the time a lot for reflection on what is happening right now and of course also on loneliness. You can't escape that either. "The irony is really that we're all lonely, but we can't find a real way to escape it". In Felix's degree programme, several study groups have already formed in which they can help each other with specific study questions, but a real sense of solidarity or friendship hasn't developed yet. "That takes time. We all need to get used to the situation first.", he says.  

Making the best of the situation. Carrying on. These are things that every student, whether in their first, third or eighth semester, can learn from the two of them.  

Corona is slowing us down and the life around us. Why not use this time? We don't really have much to do. That means we can throw ourselves into our studies, catch up on our exams, finally take the course we never had time for! Or we realise that we're actually interested in completely different things, abandon our studies and find out what we really want.  

We invent new hobbies, start doing sport and stop again. We spend more time with our flat mates, move or move back home to our parents. We have dance parties alone or in pairs, we watch Tiger King and try our hand at new dishes. We have homesickness, wanderlust or just "It's winter and I think it's rubbish"-sickness. We learn that it's okay not to always be in a good mood. We find out who we are, what we can do and where our limits lie. We fail, we're frustrated and really we all just want to go out and party again.  

But despite everything, we don't give up. We carry on and try to make the best of the situation.