Living in a ghost town

The story of two DCU students living on-campus during the lockdown

By Vish Gain (@VishGain), Student Intern

Empty classrooms, silent hallways, pages of the student newspaper blown around the ground by wind, and the eerie stillness of a ghost town. This is what Dublin City University’s Glasnevin campus looks like on lockdown.

The only site to break the silence, campus residences, is where the last few international students are holding fort and self-isolating in response to the deadly Covid-19 outbreak that has taken the lives of tens of thousands across the world.

Among those students are Romina Dashghachian (22) and Anastasia Saenko (21), from Germany and Russia respectively, who decided to stay back in Ireland during this crisis.

“I’d love to be with my family back in Munich right now” said Romina. “But I know it’s not safe to travel. I know I wouldn’t be too affected by Covid-19 if I got it, but my brother has asthma, and I didn’t want to risk infecting either him or my parents.”

The Covid-19 outbreak has taken much of the world by storm as more and more countries go into lockdown to curb the spread of the deadly virus. As of March 27, more than 500,000 people have been infected worldwide, with more than 23,000 deaths.

“I never really wanted to go back to Russia. We’d be routed through Moscow and then possibly quarantined for 14 days in a hotel… it’s essentially a matter of time and money”

Anastasia Saenko

In Ireland, there have been 1819 cases and 19 deaths – a death rate of around 1 per cent. In comparison, Italy has a death rate of almost 10 per cent.

“It doesn’t really make a difference if I self-isolate here, or in Germany” she added. “I’m quite close to my roommates here, so it’s almost like having a second family.”

Anastasia, who is doing her masters in translation studies and hails from St Petersburg, said she never had any intention of going back.

“I never really wanted to go back to Russia. We’d be routed through Moscow and then possibly quarantined for 14 days at a hotel before being allowed to go to St Petersburg, and I didn’t want to go through all that – it’s essentially a matter of time and money.”

“I know for a fact that I’m happier here than I would have been at home” she said. “It helps to be surrounded by my flatmates and just generally enjoying my life here.”

“Self-isolation is going great. I’ve been doing a lot of voluntary translation (she’s doing an MA in Translation Studies), finishing assignments, catching up on movies, reading, and chatting with my housemates.”

Romina added: “Living with other people definitely makes a difference. I would have definitely gone back if I knew I’d have no one to interact with. Having a human connection is very important.”

“Online classes are preparing me for work in a typical PR environment which involves a lot of online meetings and extensive use of technology for communication”

Romina Dashghachian

Both Romina and Anastasia have been attending lectures over video calls after Irish universities closed down physical classrooms and shifted most courses online. Romina, who studies MSc in Public Relations, says her experience has been largely positive.

“Some of our professors were already digitally competent since we had online classes in the previous semester. Others have found it a little difficult, but they’re adjusting quite quickly and making an effort to keep the classes as effective as possible” she said.

“All our classes are now conducted on Zoom conference calls” added Anastasia.

Since the taoiseach announced that all schools and higher education institutions were to close, many teachers have taken to delivering classes online. In DCU, the university’s official Virtual Learning Environment or VLE has been the primary platform for online teaching.

“It’s definitely harder to pay attention when you have your laptop and phone in front of you, and you don’t have that accountability of someone looking at you”

Romina Dashghachian

“Online classes are preparing me for work in a typical PR environment which involves a lot of online meetings and extensive use of technology for communication” said Romina.

Video-conferencing applications such as Zoom, Skype, and Google Hangouts are being used by teachers across the country to conduct classes online wherever possible. The applications allow for enhanced interaction through chat boxes, file sharing, breakout rooms, and screen sharing.

“It’s definitely harder to pay attention when you have your laptop and phone in front of you, and you don’t have that accountability of someone looking at you” said Romina. “I wouldn’t say this arrangement is ideal in the long term, but for now – it’s the best we can do” she added.

Living on campus while most students are either home in Ireland or abroad can be challenging. With nowhere to go and more free time than usual, the students on campus are finding innovative ways to keep themselves occupied.

“Just the other day, we celebrated a Persian festival (Romina is of Persian heritage) preparing for the new year by lighting up candles in our apartment and jumping over them – an ancient Persian ritual for good health. It was a special moment for me” said Romina.

“I’m definitely going to sing happy birthday twice every time I wash my hands from now on.”

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