The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on university life. For students at university, so far this year it's been less Freshers' Week and hungover lectures, and more nights in with flatmates and socially-distanced societies.
Despite restrictions, many students are finding interesting, unique and pretty inspiring ways to make their university experience fun (and of course, COVID-safe).
One student who has made the most out of his time in lockdown is third year medical student, Bilal. The 20-year-old from Chelmsford started making TikTok videos as something to do in between revision sessions. Initially just a bit of fun, things changed when Bilal made a viral TikTok all about... bananas.
The video shows Bilal engaged in a banana 'fact' battle with himself, exchanging interesting and often unbelievable titbits like "Bananas are like 75% water so eating one is like drinking a glass of water" and "50% of your DNA is the same as a banana so you are half banana".
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When Bilal made the video, he had less than 200 followers, but after a few more videos his following shot up to 60,000 people.
A lot of Bilal's course is now online and, although he does miss some aspects of face-to-face lectures and seminars, he said: "there are definitely quite a few plusses [to online teaching]. For example, you can watch lectures in your own time, you can pause and play them as much as you want and watch them at a faster speed, because they're all pre-recorded.
"When normal lectures are going on, they're not usually recorded. And so, having recordings is quite a blessing."
Bilal has also found he's able to socialise with his friends, while sticking to the restrictions. He said: "Apart from there not being any nightlife, it's definitely not too difficult to still be social. We can't invite people over to our rooms but that's sort of encouraged me to [do different things like] meet up to go skateboarding or for a jog"; outdoor activities which he will be able to keep on doing with one other person with the new national restrictions in place.
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At Durham University, a group of students used their time in quarantine to raise money for a worthy cause, after two of their flatmates tested positive for coronavirus.
The thirteen first-year students decided to run a marathon down the corridor of their student flat to raise money for professional musicians. Run as a relay, the marathon took around six and a half hours, totalling 2,813 laps or 213 each.
One of the students, 18-year-old Constance from London, said: "It was a huge operation, we had people working on all aspects of it, we had a social media team, a publicity team and we had to run the JustGiving page as well. It was amazing and the response has been incredible.
"I think lockdown in general has bonded people, and I think that at university this year, because we've spent so much time with the people that we live with, you bond even more - especially as you can't go out and see other friends."
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Since completing the marathon, the group has raised more than £2,500 for Help Musicians UK.
Constance is studying music and, before the most recent restrictions, was involved in planning socially-distanced shows with the theatre society at the university - both in person and live streamed.
She said: "It's amazing, because our uni has been one of the leading unis in being able to get socially distanced societies up and running so I've been going to socially distanced orchestra rehearsals and theatre rehearsals and it's incredible how we're making it work - it's very exciting."
Lewis, a second year Law student who is also at Durham University, used his time in lockdown to help others. The 22-year old from Blackburn is a mental health advocate, who does lots of public speaking and works with companies, universities and schools on issues surrounding mental health.
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Lewis' desire to support others with mental health issues comes from his own experience of living with depression.
When the lockdown was announced in March, Lewis set up chit-chat, an anonymous phone line available to anyone who fancies a chat.
At this point, Lewis was back at home in rural Lancashire, having taken a break from university in order to be a full-time carer for his mum.
He said: "I had to stay indoors and also had a lot of time on my hands, so I called my friend and said 'we have to do something', so about 72 hours after that, we came up with this concept, chit-chat, which is just a place for people of all backgrounds, for everyone just to go and have a conversation."
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Callers can discuss any worries they have, but are also encouraged to connect over positive things like hobbies. One regular called is Peter who is in his late 80s and when he first called hadn't spoken to anyone for four weeks. When chit-chat's volunteers found out that Peter couldn't attend his regular book club, each week they encouraged him to chat about the book he was reading. In total, they've now taken over 1,000 calls from callers from all walks of life.
Now with new restrictions across the country, there are opportunities for students to get involved in volunteering if they have more spare time or to call if they need support. chit-chat is still currently taking calls daily and, in the future, Lewis intends to extend their offering to provide other ways to engage such as through an app or through a chat box.
Lewis says that while he appreciates that some students have had a difficult first term, for him, returning to university was a positive experience.
He said: "University starting again in early October provided me with an opportunity to get away from home, where I'd lived for many years and where I'd cared for my mum and have a sort of fresh start. For me that was quite a positive thing. And I know a lot of people can resonate with that and understand that home sometimes isn't a safe place. Home sometimes isn't a place that you love and have special memories.
"There are young people, like me and my flatmates, who have relished the opportunity to get away and get back to our university city.
"Yes, it's not going to be the experience like uni would have been like a couple of years ago, but you can make the most out of it. Societies and student unions are all doing their best to keep the students connected and doing their best in these current times."
During the current restrictions, despite there being no in-person meetings for societies, universities are still looking into ways they can engage students, such as household sports and virtual workshops.
It's been a challenging year for everyone but, as these students have shown, it's still possible to have a fulfilling university life, create strong friendships, start inspiring projects and achieve great things - all while keeping safe.
For more information on end of term plans for students, you can visit: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/student-guide-to-coronavirus/end-of-term-2020/
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