Woah, that all happened quite fast!

South Australia goes into lockdown at 6.00pm tonight (20/7/21) for a week. 

Stage 5 restrictions.

Not quite the welcome we were hoping for, for students returning for Semester 2, or those starting their university experience mid-year (orientation). 

But remember, we’ve been in this situation before and we came through. We’ll do it again.

All the lecturers and tutors and service providers at Flinders go into this lockdown much better prepared than previous, so even though the university may have closures, classes will happen, services will be provided, students will learn stuff, the university will keep ticking over nicely ⚙

What you need to focus on is getting yourself in the right headset 🧠   

Lockdown creates some awkward incentives for students. 

At one level, you have permission to not be on campus and attending lectures. Ahh the freedom!!! 

But that freedom comes at the cost of mostly being stuck at home with your motivation and energy levels taking a hit as a result. 

First up, don’t panic! – try to access your inner stoic (👵< ‘hello’) and see the coming week as a puzzle to be solved, not a source for panic. 

Second – work out what you might need in terms of supplies and plan to pick those up over the coming week (you will still be able to shop). No need to get them all straight away. You are allowed out during the week to shop. There is no reason to be starting a fight in the toilet aisle quite yet (i’ll let you know when that is required). 

Third – if you are worried about finances – book an appointment at Student Assist – https://fusa.edu.au/studentassist/ – Also don’t be afraid to ask friends or family for assistance in making it through the week with cash or food donations.  

Fourth – work out when lectures and tutorials are being run. I know you can access many of them as recordings later, but if you can schedule your day around a few live attendances, that will provide important anchor points to keep you motivated. Develop an ‘online lecture’ ritual – cup of coffee, biscuit, pyjamas, laptop. Fire up a live lecture and make sure to ask at least one curly question of the lecturer in the chat. 

Fifth – remember that you’re in charge of your timetable during a lockdown and you might need to plan your days a bit more than if you were on campus. Build in rest times, meditation times, staring blankly at wall times, taking a walk times, eating a bag of potato chips times. Oh yeah, and some study times. Start reading those textbooks. Try to get off to as good a start as possible in terms of work. Think of it like starting a sprint at the fastest pace possible, so even if you slow down during semester, you’ll have got off a flying start. 🏎

Finally – hit up your SMS, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Morse Code Machine – whatever you use to stay in touch with peeps and get some conversations going. Trust me, people will be glad to be hearing from others and it will help stop any of us just fading into the background. 

Stick close to emails and this site for ongoing updates from the University about COVID.

Remember that counselling and disability service appointments are still available, just via telehealth instead 😊

Welcome to Flinders, newbies!!

Welcome back to Flinders those commencing Semester 2!!

Yeah – it’s not quite how we imagined it, but we got this. 

Flinders adapt!!