{"id":115886,"date":"2020-08-13T11:13:21","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T09:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=115886"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:00","slug":"going-back-home-in-rotterdam-i-was-lonely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/08\/13\/going-back-home-in-rotterdam-i-was-lonely\/","title":{"rendered":"Going back home: ‘In Rotterdam I was lonely’"},"content":{"rendered":"

From one day to the next, the campus was empty. After lockdown, a deathly silence descended on the place where once hundreds of students used to attend lectures. Many international students chose to return home. How have they experienced EUR\u2019s corona-proof<\/em> education?<\/p>\n

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Riti Agarwal has just completed her first year of the Management of International Social Challenges (MISoC) bachelor. She is 18 years old and has been back with her family in Qatar since the start of lockdown.<\/p>\n

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Riti in the Polak Building, before her departure to Qatar<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Why did you decide to leave Rotterdam?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPartly because I felt safer: when lockdown was introduced in the Netherlands, the situation in Qatar was better. But the main reason for leaving was loneliness. My housemate in Rotterdam had already left and after spending a day alone in the house, I knew I couldn\u2019t do it. I called my parents and returned to Qatar as soon I could. I thought: maybe a lockdown will be introduced there too, but at least I\u2019ll have people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the situation like now in Qatar?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent a long time in a total lockdown but since 1 July, parks have reopened for example. You still don\u2019t see many people on the street though: the temperature is over fifty degrees at the moment, so everyone prefers to stay home in their air conditioning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Here my mother cooks and it\u2019s much better. Oh, and cycling through a storm? I don\u2019t miss that either\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Is there anything you miss about Rotterdam?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, the weather. Because it\u2019s so hot here in Qatar, I don\u2019t go outside for fresh air. In Rotterdam I could do that and I\u2019d also suddenly be surrounded by green plants. I also miss the friends I made in the few months I was in Rotterdam. We often got together before an exam or we went to get a pizza. Now we can\u2019t do any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there anything that you really don\u2019t miss?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe food I cooked for myself! Here my mother cooks and it\u2019s much better. Oh, and cycling through a storm? I don\u2019t miss that either.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you find the online education?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt the content was good, but the communication between the university and the students could have been better. Some days I\u2019d receive five e-mails from the university, which caused some chaos. I think more attention could be devoted to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you plan to return to Rotterdam?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot in the near future. I\u2019ll stay here till Christmas anyway because all my lectures and tutorials are online until then. It then depends whether we are allowed back on campus for classes. If lectures are given on campus as well as online, I\u2019ll stay in Qatar. But as soon as we can attend tutorials offline, I\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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How is the lockdown going in Singapore?<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t