Remote College
Last week, I wrote about the academic component of remote college. This week I am writing more generally about what remote college has been like.
Social Life:
As an introverted person who has plenty of access to safe outdoor space, I am probably better off than most. However, the social aspect of college is still what I miss the most. On a regular day, the only non-digital faces I see are my parents and dogs. During a school day, I also see my professors and some classmates over Zoom. On Mondays during lunch, I continue to attend the French Table. While it’s now over Zoom, it still provides a nice bit of continuity from my on-campus college experience. Language tables are an informal time to practice speaking in and listening to your target language. As someone at an intermediate level of French, I appreciate getting the chance to communicate with Smithies at an advanced level along with students who are actually from France. I also like that I have been able to meet French professors that I may have in future semesters. Language tables are offered in a variety of languages and prior to going virtual, they took place in the side rooms of Chuckett (Chase-Duckett dining hall).
I have kept in contact with college friends via text, phone, and FaceTime, but it's really not the same. At Smith, I really enjoyed being an active member of Hubbard. I loved being involved with house council, attending weekly house teas, and eating dinners with my housemates. A few weeks ago, we actually had a house tea over Zoom which was a lot of fun. My ukulele club no longer meets, but we have an online chat on Discord where we can post song recommendations. The song I am currently listening to on repeat is the Dixie Chicks’ new song Gaslighter. They have an album of the same name coming out next month which I am really looking forward to. Another upside is that my extended family has been able to connect over Zoom.
Campus:
I didn’t expect to miss the physical campus as much as I have. I live in a beautiful place and have gone on nice walks here in Vermont, but there is just something I miss about being on campus. Partly it’s just the independence of being a college student paired with the support of not yet being thrown in the “real-world”. It wasn’t until now that I have fully appreciated simply walking around campus between classes. I also miss just looking out my window at Ford Hall.
Smith Community:
While I have been really missing campus and seeing friends on a daily basis, I have been reminded of how amazing the Smith community is by a wonderful virtual exchange of encouragement between Smithies. Some students started an email chain of sorts. The structure is difficult to explain (and I don’t think everyone understood how it was supposed to work), but I will try to outline it here. The email itself was just an explanation of the initiative and contained a list of two names. The second name was the person who sent you the email and the first name was the person who had sent it to them. The actual words of encouragement were the words that recipients of the email shared with the person in the first position of the list. I chose to share Carole King’s “You've Got a Friend”. After sending the words of encouragement you were instructed to make a copy of the email, update the list of names, and send it to some friends. I have since received some wonderful poems from other Smithies (including people I’ve never met).
