Back to Uni: How to nail a COVID-Safe Semester 2
By Jossie Warnant
After an extended winter break, we are finally heading back for another semester of uni. Semester two will be different in a few ways, with a shorter semester, blended learning and plenty of social distancing measures. But there will still be ways you can connect with your mates, study on campus and stay in touch with university life. Here’s what you need to know to nail your next semester.
What’s open on campus?
There will be a couple more on-campus outlets opening up this semester, so if you’re after a slice of pizza from Courtyard or a coffee from Fisher Coffee Cart, you’re in luck!
While some of the University of Sydney Union (USU) outlets operated during stage three restrictions as students return to campus more options are available. These include Courtyard Restaurant and Bar, Footbridge Station for takeaway, Manning Milkbar, Laneway, Abercrombie Terrace and Coffee @ Fisher.
If you are keen to hit the books again, the library is back to pre-COVID opening hours with both Fisher Library and the Law Library will be open 24/7.
If your blended learning timetable includes online classes that you want to complete on campus, study spaces are available for this purpose. These include Abercrombie, Brennan MacCallum, Carslaw, PNR and Cumberland learning hubs.
COVID-Safe Measures on Campus
In addition to maintaining good hand hygiene, keeping a 1.5 metre distance from others and staying home and getting tested when you're sick, there are a couple other measures the University has put in place as part of their COVID-19 response. These include wiping down your desk before you use it and bringing your student card to get into buildings.
Online Learning
Last semester we all had to adjust to online learning quickly and without much warning, but this time around we have time to plan and think about how we can make online learning work for us. Here are a couple of things you can do to make the semester run a bit smoother:
1. Set working hours for yourself. When working from home it’s easy to feel like you have to work long into the evening, but this can leave you feeling burnt out. To create a distinction between your home life and uni life, it’s important to make sure that you set clear working hours to leave time to spend relaxing and with family and friends.
2. Get your study space set up. If you haven’t done so already it’s important to make sure you have a proper area to study in your home. This will help you maintain focus and separate your work time from relaxation. It doesn’t have to be an office but just a quiet place where you can Zoom in peace.
3. Figure out when you’re most productive. Most of us have a time in the day when we work most efficiently. Whether you work best in the morning, afternoon or evening it’s important to learn what works for you and design your schedule around this.