Self-report from a Foreign Student-Adesanya Idowu

I recall when the epidemic (Corona virus) started to spread from Wuhan, to other parts of China, being scared was an understatement, to simply ‘put it I was more than scared. Especially when it hit Nanjing the capital city of Jiangsu province. I really thought this was all a dream, a joke or just a stunt that some whistle blower was trying to pull, till it dawned on me that this was real.

A lot of safety measures were put in place in order to curb the virus. We had to stay away from crowded place, not entertaining visitors, checking our temperature whenever we go to places, protecting ourselves by using nose masks, goggles, and also reporting our health status every day before a certain time period. If I do say so myself, these requirements were a lot for me to take in, but in order to guarantee my safety and that of others, I had to abide by these requirements. There were times that I would feel so uncomfortable because I was not used to wearing the nose masks or even forgot to report my health status, gradually I got used to it and ensured that I followed all the rules to guarantee my safety.

Once the epidemic entered Zhenjiang, the security protocols tightened up, and the school went on a strict lockdown, to reduce the mobility flow in and out of the school, in this way providing the students with a source of safety.

Staying indoors, during this epidemic was a big challenge for me. I became easily bored and achieved nothing at the end of the day. One day I saw a post on the OEC page, it provided suggestions on how to make the time during the epidemic worthwhile. I started thinking of the things that I wanted to do, but never had the time for, then I drafted a timetable and got to work. It has not been easy keeping indoors, especially with the rumors of deaths and fears, but one thing I know is that China never gives up on achieving their goal, I believe that this is just a phase and that it will all pass, that the sun will shine again and we will all talk about this in the future, remembering the hard work that we all put in to defeat this terrible epidemic.

(School of Food and Biological Engineering)