▲ Beach in Hongkong (From: Ms. Scarlett)

Q: How has the year 2023, the first post-pandemic year, been for you?

Ms Scarlett郭妍彬: Few years back when I went through my first lockdown, I felt extremely uncomfortable. To release kind of pressure facing by the lockdown, I start to read tons of books. One book that time I found particularly fascinating was written by a French writer whose name is Xavier de Maistre. The book was called A Tour Around My Room.

It introduced me to an ideology of the concept of appreciating every singular objects that you can see every day with a different and new perspective.

So I began that with touring around, basically short touring around my hometown to small villages and into the mountains. And of course, at that time wherever I went, nobody was there. I then became a complete adherent of such an ideology that I traveled, in fact, I traveled a lot during the pandemic.

This year was the first year that the pandemic was over, I suppose. Whenever there is a vacation or short vacation, what you would expect to see is loads of people crowding in every tourist sites. We often see this going on in the news.

To avoid the congestion, I choose to stay at home, so I didn't really travel to anywhere this year, apart from Hong Kong, that one was a very long, distant trip. This is something like I couldn't do during the pandemic.

▲ Victoria Harbour (From: Scarlett)

Interview with Lucy Wang 王璐璐: 

Firstly, I think of traveling. I might worry about how to spend weekends in the past, or where to go in short holidays. Because of the problem of the ‘itinerary code’, we cannot come to school or to participate in some important activities. But now that the code has been completely abolished, then we don't need to worry about that any more.

The second is because of the abolition of this itinerary code, with fewer restrictions, our life has become a lot more convenient. You don't have to take out a mobile phone to show the guards your green code everywhere, including entering the mall without scanning the code, and you won't be called up by the

neighborhood committee in the morning to have a nucleic acid test.

Face masks are also worn less now, but recently because of the flu, people are wearing them again. Over the past few years, people's awareness of this seasonal flu has improved a lot.

For between families, between friends and between male and female friends or between husband and wife, meeting is indispensable, but because of the epidemic before, we may not be able to fulfill the promises for health considerations, work or other arrangements. These will dilute some feelings, but now there is no need to worry about these, that is, there will be no obstacles between people.

▲ Hotpot party! (From: Lucy)

Kevin Wu 吴沁何：First of all, I participated in more social activities. Since it was during the epidemic, I could not go to many places, and some places were closed. Social activities were more restricted. Then after the pandemic lifted, I could participate in various social activities more freely, and for example, go out to play, and attend some parties.

Second, it is more convenient for me to take classes and study now, because after pandemic ended in 2023, I had more opportunities to learn new knowledge and skills, although I have been having some online courses before. I also participated in some offline activities this year, such as self-study or seminars. For example, I went to an academic conference, and this should be very helpful for my university application.

Then I will also go to some, for example, the self-study area of the institution. Studying in this way will become more efficient.

And the third is that, I went on traveling more often because it is difficult to travel during the pandemic, and many flights was cancelled.

Then after the lift, I would like to say that I went out to play a few times during the summer vacation, and this provided me with much relaxation. Finally, I did more physical exercises, such as playing basketball and badminton so that I can make up for my fitness. During the epidemic, I went through a relatively slack life, and doing exercises can increase my body abilities.

▲ The venue of Educational Forum (From: Kevin)

Q: OK, so you mentioned about some changes in your study and daily life, and then I would like to add another question, how about the emotional connection with your family? Has there been any changes as a result of the pandemic being lifted?

That's true, because of the epidemic, we were shut at home, so my family didn't go out much. In fact, I communicated with my family more back at that time. But after the lift, to be honest, our connection become less. I have more activities outside home, so there are less chances that I stayed at home.

▲ The outfield of Educational Forum (From: Kevin)

Laiba Asif: Since the pandemic opened up this year, I feel my life has become freer. This is because that I can go out whenever I want. The difference between this year and last year is that my friends and I will study together, and we study more than before, because this year is a lot of pressure for me.

Then there will always be some tests and exams, and I will pay attention to these exams. Because if I want to do well in the End of Year exam, I also need to do well in these common tests. Maybe in this way I am different from others since some other students don't care much about their GPA. They already have received some offers, but I think I won't think so even if I get offers. That's probably what separates me from everyone else.

▲ Study moment (From: Laiba Asif)

Another biggest difference is that I learned to preview in advance, and then find extra questions to do myself without the teacher reminding me about that. And then I will make up my own lessons outside the school. Last year may be easier, so I didn't need so much preparation that time.

Since the pandemic lifted, I feel that my relationship with my family has become better because we don't need to be together in the same space all the time.  We were easy to get into conflicts, because people could get tired of staying in one place all the time. After the pandemic ended, we can do things by ourselves, and we don't have to be together all the time, which will give us less mental pressure.

In this way, when we find that our time together is not that long anymore, my family will cherish more of the time hanging out together every week. Now I am in A2, I need a lot of time to study. There is very little time to go out to play. So, if I can go out to the park with my parents occasionally, I will feel that it is a good afternoon or a beautiful day.

From last year till now, my social activities have decreased a lot, and I also quit the clubs I joined because I want to spend more time at home to do my own things. My parents are very supportive of me. Our relationship is arguably stronger.

▲ Economics reviewing... (From: Laiba Asif)