Spending time with people, partying, travelling, attending different events…etc., maybe that would have been a normal thing for most of us. But what can we do if not the whole stuff that used to be normal for us?

It’s been around a year since we are living with a virus spread around the world. We have been advised to have as little contact with people as we can, or even not at all. To spend time, work, study... at home, just not a normal life, which has affected everyone’s health, mostly the mental one. There are different difficulties for each age group, but since I’m in the ‘Student’ one, I wanted to share more about our situation currently: ‘SEMESTER-BREAK’!

I would have suggested seeing all this time as an opportunity to invest in ourselves. Everyone has something that they want to improve in his/her life or even him-/herself. I’ll take an example from my personal life: Since lockdown (around one whole year now, with breaks now and then) we couldn’t do enough physical activities, moreover we used to eat more without noticing it. And for the record, all the gyms or other activity environments have been closed. Wouldn’t it be a great time for us to think about a healthier lifestyle? So, I thought about it and started doing some research on how to cook and eat healthier, and in the meantime I found it interesting to learn new facts about different food, like: “Half of an average-sized avocado has 4.6 grams of fiber — the most of any fruit!”, which is really important for our health; or even combine and create my own recipes. Not to forget- also spending some minutes to do workout at home and go for a walk in the fresh air every day. I think it really worked in increasing my productivity and boosted self-confidence.

Another good way to spend the free time and meanwhile invest in our finances is to find ourselves a small job, like a student job. I have been working in a restaurant since October 2020, but due to the fact that COVID cases got worse, there wasn’t much to do and Semester-break was coming. So I found another student job, a really interesting and creative one: at the International Office by DIT.

In addition, a great idea is practicing on hobbies, like: reading new books (a library is one of the great things that DIT offers and everyone can use it), writing, painting, or even DIY, cooking and backing, movies, photography…etc. Hobbies are a field where I feel comfortable and I really love some of them, so why not spend a good time practising them. Main thing is to not overdo it, turn into obsession and procrastinate other important things. And for that, I design a yearly bullet journal for myself so I can write down every task, things I wanna do, goals or even random things that come to my mind. This way, I not only spend my time doing something I like, but I also keep track of time and organize my day to day life.

And if sometimes I want something more social, then I know that even having a good phone call with someone who understands me and gives me positive vibes can help a lot. Or recently I have found it interesting to reach out to some of my old friends and play online group games with them, like: LUDO KING. It may sound boring but it’s really funny when you try it with your school friends you used to meet every day and now are all in different places around the world. It even offers the possibility to play and talk/hear each other.

The ability to organize your time and to set priorities for yourself (even in difficult times such as the pandemic) is a key to succeeding. Stay strong and keep your positive spirit always with you!

Lusiana Berberi is a bachelor student of Applied Computer Science. She comes from Albania and is a part of ESN Deggendorf. People describe her as an exceptionally optimistic and energetic person. As she states: she enjoys challenges and life is the most interesting one. ,,Be positive and spread happiness“. Just like her motto, she tries her best to keep a positive attitude and be grateful.