Voices of the Future: Making the most of a very different Christmas

With most activities cancelled in 2020, Christmas was given an exception and finally everyone had something to look forward to. It might seem like a great idea to finally have a family reunion but is it all great news for students who are returning home from bustling campuses?

For many, Christmas holidays are not only a festive period to spend with family, but they are also a time for reunions with friends.

With school friends being miles away across the country, Christmas helps to revive past connections. This, however, will be more challenging this year.

Of course, a long-awaited family reunion will probably be the highlight of 2020, but having no big celebrations with friends, especially those who you grew up with, will be disappointing.

I do not think many would be surprised if many illegal indoor gatherings take place over the Christmas period.

After all, it is Christmas, and people are tired of Coronavirus restrictions that brought their lives to a halt.

Besides that, the cold weather outside would be a vast difference to the hot summer weather where many enjoyed socially distanced picnics outdoors.

The combination of the tiredness and cold weather will therefore create a perfect environment for Covid to spread.

This will be done by many people, not only students, but it is likely they will get the blame.

The situation might be the worst for those students who do not get along with their parents.

It will be a tormenting experience for them as some might have abusive parents and would otherwise avoid home as much as possible.

This will leave many students feeling trapped inside and alone.

If they choose to stay in their university accommodation, they will also feel isolated, as the majority of students will have gone home.

This creates a dilemma for some: should they feel isolated at home or in university halls?

It is also a complex situation for international students who study in the UK.

If a student comes from a country with low rates of infection and less restrictions, they might be tempted to stay there for the Lent term.

Why should they risk getting ill if they can be safe at home instead?

Regardless, most learning activities will be online, so it is reasonable to assume that many would reconsider coming back to the UK.

This will be an interesting and unique Christmas that most of us will remember.

There will be Christmas trees, relatives, the magic feeling, but it will still not be the same.

As much as it is sad to realise this, we should make the most out of the temporary freedom given to us.

It is not long until this freedom is permanent again, it is just a matter of time.