After the coronavirus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) outbroke at Wuhan, China, the life pattern of various folks has changed drastically. Every individual is affected by the COVID-19 from multiple perspectives. Being a foreigner here in South Korea, I have observed many changes in my life since the start of COVID-19. This article will summarize the complications involved due to the COVID-19.
The COVID-19 affects life in different aspects. To go back to the start of the COVID-19, I was in my home country, Pakistan, in February 2020. At that time, the spread of the COVID-19 was not started in Pakistan; meanwhile, the COVID-19 cases were growing because of the “Daegu Church” incident. I had to come to Korea at the end of February, but psychosocially, I was scared to be infected during the flight. Religious activities were banned during this situation, which were badly missed. And it was difficult to meet friends and close ones; consequently, most of the people were isolated at the start of the COVID-19. Seoul is one of the famous tourist destinations for foreign tourists, and pre-COVID, there would always be the hustle and bustle in the streets. However, during the last two years, most tourist places have been empty. Myeong-dong Street is one of the lively examples. Besides, the Korean government applied some new policies and rules for travelers and foreigners living in Korea, such as isolation for a specific period (14 days for the first one was applied during half years, then ten days, and now it is seven days), and re-entry permit. Personally, it was tough for me to travel freely abroad and meet my family and friends who live outside Korea. For the reasons similar to mine, most foreigners usually postponed their traveling plans.
The educational landscape for millions of university students worldwide has been affected badly. The educational system suddenly changed from class lectures to online learning. Based on my experience, online classes are not as practical as face-to-face lectures. Students always get motivation from the lecture room for their studies during offline courses. However, those kinds of attributes cannot be found in online lessons.Consequently, the social life of students is dramatically affected, and there is no interaction among them—the students are deprived of various social activities such as social welfare, university clubs, and social gatherings. Entering a university is usually the dream of every student; the freshman at university would not be able to enjoy the real life of the university, and I always feel sorry for them. However, the situation is getting better and better; the government is trying to revise the COVID-19 standing operating prosedures day by day; hopefully, life is expected to be normal soon.