Just a week ago, in mid-December, the outlook in London was clearer. A group of young international students, who gathered in Waterloo, discussed where their Christmas holidays would be, shared their WhatsApp contacts and compared train ticket prices for a walk in the UK after a first quarter marked by fear caused by the pandemic. .
Three days later, his plans were thrown overboard. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a lockdown in the capital and with it a travel ban outside London.
The discovery of a new strain of the coronavirus keeps thousands of international students in suspense, most of whom spend their first Christmas away from home in college residences, where restrictions have also been imposed.
Every year the UK receives an average of 700,000 international students, according to a report published in 2018 by the UK Migration Advisory Committee. Because this group arrived last fall, they had to do a mandatory 15-day quarantine.
Weeks later, the government introduced more restrictions that ended in a one-month national incarceration ending on December 2, a date that for many marked the end of the measures, the beginning of the Christmas period and with it the gatherings, dinners and events. characteristic tours of the season.
Before Alejandra Alonso Angulo heard the news, she hoped to at least spend Christmas at a colleague’s house. London was already in Tier 3, but Johnson had reported weeks earlier that there would be a gap between December 23 and 27 to share with family and friends over the holidays.
“Ale,” as she likes to be called, came from Cuba on a humanitarian flight. Airports were closed due to the pandemic. When he left his country, he could not cuddle his parents or grandparents for fear of infecting them. Neither are friends. Now I would love to be with them, especially with their grandmother who always prepares her famous torre coat at Christmas.
Initially, Boris Johnson reported that they were able to meet at least a few people during the five days of the canyon. However, restrictions now force people to stay indoors and avoid indoor mixing.
Ale hoped to drink rum at Christmas, play dominoes, and listen to Cuban music while dining with friends. The reality is she will be spending it in her “little room”, as she describes, in London’s Westminster Residence Hall.
“I will duly celebrate Christmas and other important events when all this madness is over,” says the 24-year-old who is studying for a master’s degree in Multimedia Journalism.
As a Christmas wish, Ale asks to see his grandparents again. Since he left Cuba, he hasn’t communicated with them because they don’t have internet at home.
Until December 18, the day before the London lockdown was announced, most London universities conducted free tests to detect the coronavirus and allow international students to travel to their favorite destinations at Christmas.
Now more than 40 countries have banned air connections to the UK for fear of the expansion of the new species that, according to Boris Johnson, can spread 70 percent faster than Sars CoV2.
Your plans have already changed
Selene Mazon is also studying for a Masters in Journalism at the same university as Alejandra. He arrived in London in September and his plans were to spend it with other Mexican countrymen at a Christmas dinner, where he would share with other students as well.
Dinner would consist of four menus. It would be done in one of the students’ home and each of the guests had to contribute to make the traditional dishes of Mexico.
“I was very excited to meet those people I only know through messages. I didn’t want to spend it alone at Christmas, I wanted to spend it in a family environment, in the familiar sense of Mexico, ”explains the young journalist.
Selene, who lives with other young foreigners, says that while her family in Mexico City didn’t prepare a big dinner or decorate a giant Christmas tree, they always spent it together watching TV and drinking the punch her mother prepares.
“I miss my sisters, my father’s laughter and I miss my mother’s hugs. I’m going to miss their punch, which I think I like best this season, which is a hot drink with guavas, sugar cane and tejocote, ”he says.
Since he heard the measures on Saturday 19 December, he has received them with resignation. So far she doesn’t have many plans other than reading and running around her neighborhood regularly.
“The day before the lockdown was announced, I was a little bit hesitant about how many people we would be at that dinner, because in Mexico it was also declared red and in all parts of the world this virus is not ending,” said Selene.
Antonio Romero Rubio, who is pursuing a master’s degree in health, planning and finance from the London School of Economics (LSE), is also Mexican. Before arriving in the UK, his initial plans were to do a “Euro tour” to Christmas markets in Brussels, Italy and France.
Then restrictions in the UK and other countries cut their plans. Faced with this scenario, he chose to plan trips to England and Scotland, but none were possible.
“Also within the plans was that we Mexicans meet to make dinner. We were going to bring three ‘households’ (people from different houses) together, but since they can’t mix ‘households’ they already told us it wouldn’t be possible to do that. Now everyone passes by, ”the young man adds.
Toño, as he is known among his friends, says this Christmas will be complicated and that although they would have dinner with the students at the beginning of the student residence where he lives, it was also suspended due to the restrictions over the weekend.
“For people who live alone, I think it’s more complicated because they can go through depression, they can’t return home because of the quarantine problem. Hopefully we will have a good time despite everything, ”he says.
Before arrival
Before moving more than 10,500 kilometers from her home in Malaysia, Joan Santani was already thinking about how she would celebrate Christmas and New Year in London. It is not the first time that the Birkbeck student, University of London, has been in the English capital, but she has lived in the United Kingdom.
“I was here before, in 2016, during the holidays and it was so great. But at the moment I am very frustrated with the restrictions in London. The government should have started with stricter rules two months ago so that we could now have a Christmas gathering with friends from different backgrounds, ”explains Santani, who is doing a master’s degree in Journalism.
Unlike other students, Santani, 34, will not spend her Christmas so alone, living with three other roommates whom she would introduce to other people over a multicultural Christmas dinner in her apartment.
Had he known about the measures taken today, he would have traveled back to Malaysia to spend it with his family and friends.
Despite everything, she is grateful to be able to at least celebrate Christmas and while she can’t go to church in the morning and has a great gathering in the evening, she plans to have dance sessions in her apartment to help herself after dinner. to entertain. with your roommates.
Wanted to share
Dalia Elasi is a Muslim and for her Christmas is not a traditional holiday. In Egypt, it is common for people to go out at the end of the year to celebrate and especially to shop in malls.
Nevertheless, the young woman, who studies public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, wanted to share something with international students during these December holidays.
His original plan was to meet up in a house with friends living in London. But the measures only allow you to go to a park, have a picnic, and meet another person to proceed with the measures and avoid contamination of the new strain of the coronavirus.
“The challenge we have is that the trains and buses are not operating on December 25, so our option is to walk or go by bike,” says Elasi.
Another plan is to invite an Egyptian friend with whom she shares the same university residence to cook dinner and then watch a movie together.
“My only consolation at this point is that the restrictions allow us to go outside for fresh air and walk with someone else,” he says.
In Egypt, Christmas is officially celebrated on January 7, and it is an official holiday.
The “Tier 4” measures started last Sunday, December 20 in London and mean that only essential companies such as supermarkets, banks and pharmacies will provide services; restaurants and bars can operate under the concept of “takeout” or delivery.
Travel outside of London is prohibited unless it is an emergency, as is visiting friends or staying overnight.
In the event that the police become aware of the violation of any of these rules, they can pay fines of between £ 200 and £ 10,000 depending on the violation.
As of “Boxing Day”, December 26, an average of 24 million people in England will be more incarcerated. The cities added by the Government were Essex, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.