Tjay, A Good-time Charlie Who Was Satisfied With His Experience

My first interviewee Tjay, a sophomore at UC Davis, shared a relatively optimistic opinion on the impact of remote learning during the pandemic, which was pretty surprising to me.

He admitted that the time difference was an issue and he made great efforts to overcome it. But at the same time, he also took advantage of this “Zoom University”.

In spite of feeling isolated, he “[learnt] a lot more than what I would have during in-person times.” I could not believe his attitude at first because I could say that among all the interviewees’ responses, his course schedule during the pandemic was the most stressful, as he tried to take all the synchronous sessions during that time and had 2-3 sessions per day on average. Yet he managed it pretty well. He even appreciated it because it made him be able to take more classes and try different areas of study. As a student from UC Davis, he was even able to take a course held in UC San Diego! “Actually it was really a unique experience.” He laughed.

Moments recorded by Tjay during the pandemic. UCD's website birthday greeting, remote meditation class and lab, and remote office hour with his professor.

As I have known Tjay since middle school, I guess his personality has something to do with his optimism — he has always been a good-time Charlie and loved his life. The remote learning during the pandemic does not seem to have impacted him greatly — neither mentally nor physically. I think that might be a result of frequent exercises — Tjay went to gyms, played tennis, went cycling, and jogged often during that time. Thus, he maintained relatively good health.