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Quarantined abroad: Stories from Australia 

14 Jun 2020

By Mahika Panditha I hope you are all keeping safe during this beautiful summer. This week, we are featuring the last of our quarantine stories from the land Down Under. The chances of you knowing someone there – whether it be a friend or family – is quite high I’m sure. As you might know, several Sri Lankans migrate to Australia for higher studies. They go to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and it just so happens that we are featuring a few of them today.  At the moment this story was written, Australia had over 7,000 cases of Covid-19 with over 6,000 recoveries and 102 deaths.  From your friends’ socials, it may seem like things are relatively chill over there, but of course, everyone is adhering to the social distancing rules which is great to see. Here is what a few students had to say about their quarantine experience.   SHARAN VELAUTHAN – CURRENTLY IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA   
  1. What is the situation like in your town at the moment?
  Melbourne is removing restrictions in a phased approach, which is good. They are slowly lifting everything whilst looking at everything going on.  
  1.                 What is a day in the life for you these days?
  I’m getting through university as best as I can. I told myself that less productivity is better than no productivity, because I had to manage my mental health first. Luckily, my university was also understanding and gave us extra time for submissions, so that helped me get through most of university.  
  1.                 What is your idea of the ‘new normal’?
  I think this was a shock for a lot of us. Personally, it really affected me a lot to a point where I was really confused about self-identity. The new normal for me is taking a break after all of this and just being to myself a little bit. I think the new normal is also where we need to be empathetic towards one another because every single person has been affected in some way through this period.   HESHAN GODAGE – CURRENTLY IN FOREST HILL, AUSTRALIA  
  1. What is the situation like in your town at the moment?
  At the moment, things are starting to go back to normal. The Australian Government started a three-step process to slowly open up the country by the end of July. However, there’s still new cases being found, but people are advised to practise social distancing when possible. You can actually see people out and about doing their daily activities and traffic is starting to build up more each day. Things seem to be slowly getting back to the way they were, but we’re still not quite there yet.  
  1.                 What is a day in the life for you these days?
  Life is very simple since I have been in quarantine. My sleep patterns are really messed up and some days I don’t even see the sun come up. As soon as I wake up, I scroll through my phone for about an hour before taking a shower. Then, I play Call of Duty for about four to five hours with the boys. After that, I do whatever university work I have for the day since I don’t necessarily have to attend online classes but can access all the material later to finish my work. After that’s done, I take it slow and spend some time with the family or sometimes try to relax with some music or watch a movie/tv series before going to bed. Pretty boring stuff, but I enjoy this routine.  
  1.                 What is your idea of the 'new normal'?
  I think this is a good time for people to take it slow and reflect on how they want to continue with their lives. I think it’s going to take a couple of months or even years, depending on when we will find the cure for corona, for things to really get back to normal. Until then, the new normal that we have is really not so bad because we get to spend more time with our families and loved ones and do the things we’d like to do when we’re home. People tend to see the new normal as a negative thing, but I think we have to look past that and look at the bright side of things and focus our energy on that.   JETHAN SUTHAR – CURRENTLY IN HILLSIDE, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA  
  1. What is the situation like in your town at the moment?
  I live about an hour away from the city in the suburbs; luckily for me, there isn’t a lot of activity going on around us unless we go to the shopping centre, which I try to limit due to the crowd that usually goes there. Since they started relaxing the restrictions, there are a lot more meetups happening amongst families and friends, especially around my area. In the immediate vicinity, there isn’t a lot of activity going on outside the house and barely any interaction between neighbours. Ever since the rate of cases dropped and the restrictions were relaxed, people just started going about their lives like Covid-19 never happened. Despite us being told to maintain social distancing when going out, people seem to forget/ignore that and go about their lives in public without worrying about the pandemic.  
  1.                 What is a day in the life for you these days?
  Right now, I am loaded with projects as I near the end of my semester, and compulsory attendance for my classes means I am fairly occupied. As I near the end of my semester and the start of my holidays, I have started picking up small hobbies like cooking and exercising, which I do now a lot more frequently. But with the start of Winter, outdoor exercise becomes a lot harder because of how cold it gets, and so I have resorted to exercising at home doing some home workouts and Jai’s online fitness workouts that he hosts over Zoom calls (@jaisfitnesslab on IG).  
  1.                 What is your idea of the 'new normal'?
  Face-to-face classes had been cancelled since late February for me, so I have been home for quite a while now; going to the shopping centre once a week to pick up enough supplies for about a week. Sometimes, I’d have to travel into the city to pick up materials for my projects, during which I take precautions. Other than that, I’ve been doing a lot of feasting, streaming, and downloading. Every now and then I’d call my best friends to check up on them or a long talk that renders sleepless nights for me because of the time difference. Staying at home has also really helped my mental health, as it gives me a lot more time to self-reflect and evaluate where I am in life; time that you usually don’t get during a busy day-to-day life of working and going out.   SACHIN WIJESOORIYA – CURRENTLY IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA  
  1. What is the situation like in your town at the moment?
  Things are actually going back to normal at the moment, which is a great thing because a lot of students including myself lost a lot of shifts from work during the peak of the pandemic. However, since there have been no new coronavirus cases, people have been getting back to their normal life and a lot of jobs are starting up.  
  1.                 What is a day in the life for you these days?
  It’s pretty hectic to be honest, but I cannot complain since I was lucky enough to have a job at such a crucial period in time. I work for a logistics company here and at the same time I’m doing my Master’s in Business Analytics. So I pretty much wake up every day for work and make sure I’m back home by 5 p.m. so I can attend my online lectures. I kind of like it because it keeps me disciplined in terms of time management and prioritising things in life.    
  1.                 What is your idea of the 'new normal'?
  Every single day we live is the new normal, regardless of what we go through. It’s honestly a tragedy that our era went through a global pandemic, but I’m all for adapting to new things and at the same time ensuring that I make the best of life.   PHOTOS SHARAN, SHEHAN, AND SACHIN 


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