Three UVic students share glimpses into a ghost town
Photo by Sage Blackwell.
At the end of the fall semester, UVic encourages all students living in residence to head home for the winter break. Most students do, but it’s not an option for everyone. Some apply to stay on campus over the break — which comes with perks and struggles in equal measure.
The greatest worries for those remaining on campus are food and social life. Almost all campus services close after the last day of the exam period, meaning that students on a meal plan cannot get food on campus. Instead, many cook their meals in the kitchen in the basement of the Robert Wallace residence — a five-minute walk from most other residence buildings.
Isabel Chant, a second-year medical chemistry student, returned to campus before the end of winter break last year to practice with UVic’s track team, and found the kitchen situation inaccessible.
“It was so far away from me that I don’t think I used it,” she said. “[I ate] basically whatever microwave food I could scrounge up, or just whatever I could not cook to eat.”
This cooking situation isn’t ideal for anyone, but particularly for Chant as a training athlete. She said her meals were mainly oatmeal, peanut butter and jam sandwiches, and ramen, “which isn’t ideal for training … because I had big workouts right when I came back.”
When Chant first arrived on campus, she also had difficulty getting groceries to cook for herself, because the school closure meant that the buses weren’t running as often. “You don’t really realize it’s a food desert,” she said, “because there’s so much food around, until suddenly everything is closed and you can’t go anywhere.”
Along with the inconvenient distance, Ali Hussain, a third-year international engineering student from India, said that a snowstorm delayed food prep. He said, “[the snowstorm] made a lot of people not get access to a kitchen.”
Even with the delay, Hussain enjoyed being in the kitchen last year, as he found it a way to build community with the other students staying on campus. He said the kitchen “was the main highlight of [his] winter break last year” because of the connections he built while cooking food with others. “We actually ended up making plans and going to cafés and stuff. We also watched a movie together, just before Christmas. That was fun to do.”
Missing holidays, however, is disappointing for many students who stay on campus over the break.
“It is harder to find people on campus during this time,” said Hussain. “Compared to back home where you have a family, I think nothing beats that.”
Natalie Hutchinson, a second-year French and psychology major living in the Cluster neighbourhood, is staying on campus over winter break for the first time this year, and is looking forward to making connections. “There will be a lot less people, so I’ll probably run into a lot of the same people and maybe get to meet new friends,” she said.
Hutchinson is also looking forward to spending her holidays on campus. “It can kind of be on my own terms,” she said. “I’ll miss parts of my family too … but I think a little bit of distance is always good.”
Hussain, Hutchinson, and Chant all mentioned that they are looking forward to catching up on sleep during the break.
When she came back last year, Chant said she remembers spending the majority of her days sleeping and “spending a lot of time in [her] room because there was really not much else to do.”
Hutchinson mentioned looking forward to “taking time to relax after this crazy term.” And Hussain agreed, saying that he will likely “catch up on sleep.”
Other than resting, Hussain has planned to deal with the upcoming isolation by trying new hobbies over the break. “I wanted to start writing … I have a group of friends who do that. I’m kind of inspired by them,” he said. “I will also continue fencing … [and] I also wanted to try rock climbing.”
Hutchinson is also eager to engage in holiday activities. “I want to go winter camping, which is crazy but I’ve never tried it,” she said. “[I’ll] try to do seasonal stuff in the cluster because we try to make it a space for people. Like Christmas cookies and crafts, all the stuff I’ve been wanting to do and just haven’t had the time.”
Despite this excitement, Hutchinson expresses her worries about the first time she’ll live on a closed campus.
“It’ll be a weird experience, how empty [campus] is going to be,” she said. “And it is my birthday over Christmas break, which is really lame.”
