Hi, this is Yasemin, an international student at NSCC in the Industrial Engineering Technology program and I wanted to share the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to me as a student and a worker in Canada. In the beginning when the spread was at its peak, I was concerned. While I was both an international student and an essential worker, I also had a family who didn’t want me to work at the time. 

In terms of the social aspects, the idea of not being able to go out has made me quite upset at first. Although I always thought that working from home would be nice, my opinions have changed once I actually started doing it. It seemed that the home-office thing was not something favourable after all 🙂 It became clear that being productive and concentrating on things would be much easier and fun when we have some people around. Nevertheless, I still believe that these events have made us realize that we should be thankful for what we have and appreciate certain things.

Let’s talk about the work conditions too. It was kind of a difficult period for me as I was working as a cashier at a grocery store. However, the idea of sitting at home and doing nothing didn’t seem favourable either. Even though my family had been pressuring me not to work at that time, I felt great by working. In fact, I was also delivering food on top of my work at the grocery store. So, working has become an excuse for me to go out. Even the little things like making eye contact with people and smiling at them have motivated me.

In short, I was one of the few people who didn’t let these events to affect their life significantly. I took my exams online and worked on projects over web-meetings. But still, I’ve always taken the necessary measures against the pandemic though, which has kept me safe so far.

I believe that everyone should find whatever is good for them and try to do those things as long as the situation allows. It’s been some unusual times for sure, but I learnt so many things about life as well. Therefore, it’s never a bad idea to turn any crisis into an opportunity.

Bests,

Yasemin Arslan

Industrial Engineering Technology Student

Ivany Campus

Turkey