Feeling Isolated as a First-Year? You’re Not Alone

Safe spaces for college students during a pandemic—yeah, just kidding. There are none, unless you’re quarantining in an off-campus hotel room. The safety of dorm rooms and buildings varies, and students are forced to let their roommates, suite mates and others on their floor determine their security and comfort, making it difficult for students to meet new people.

Elon’s class of 2024 has certainly experienced a variety of losses since the beginning of the pandemic in March. They lost the spring semester of their senior year of high school, which was supposed to be full of senior sports nights, skip days, proms and graduations. Still, many held out hope that they would get a fresh start at Elon.

They envisioned a large organization fair on Young Commons, sinking into the famous bean bags in Moseley, cramming way too many friends into booths in the dining hall, going out with friends, partying and relishing in the typical “Elon experience.” However, that opportunity soon turned into, again, a new hope for the future.

For the first-year students following safety guidelines, the days tend to blend together: waking up, attending online or socially-distanced classes, picking up food from the dining hall, hanging out in the dorm halls, repeating. For some, this new reality can be very isolating.

Alone-time has become the new normal, and first-years are feeling the isolation. Photo from pexels.com.

The Edge spoke with first-years Erin Rohde and Kelly Thomas, who both voiced feelings of isolation. Moving to college is already a big transition for most, but moving to college during a pandemic is on another level of change and uncertainty. Erin and others have difficulty creating friendships and knowing “how to make space for joy when [she] fears everything being taken away” if we get sent home. Although there are not currently many cases at Elon, it’s hard for students to be optimistic.

Kelly also says she feels isolated and has tried to overcome those feelings by making friends with hall mates.

“A lot of people talk about how freshmen year the people you meet on your floor are going to be your closest friends,” she says. “And in this case, it truly is because that’s all that I have.”

Making friends with those living in your hall is great because it helps make you feel more comfortable in your living space. Still, it’s also beneficial to meet people outside of your comfort zone.

Erin says she has only made friends with her roommate and her orientation group. She explains that even in her few in-person classes, she has felt lonely. Kelly also shares similar experiences in the classroom. The fear brought on by physical distancing has also led to fear in making friendships.

After spending five months secluded from people, suddenly being thrown onto a college campus with 6,000 people can be exhausting. One point Erin made is that our generation has never experienced stillness. We all grew up always being busy and accessing information at our fingertips, which was a blessing. Having unlimited access to information while not having a schedule is draining. For months, we all had to process the world around us while physically being alone but connected through social media.

“To come back [to campus] and interact is weird,” says Erin. These feelings of isolation were already present but moving away from home and being hurled into an environment with many other people is daunting, she says.

While RAs and Elon are trying their best to encourage community-building and help us find a “new normal,” first-year students can’t help but grieve this loss of a typical “college experience.” Several students have found a sense of community by joining organizations. Although most organizations are solely meeting online for the time being, hopefully relationships can be created through them and in person in the future.

No one has ever been in our position before, and we have the opportunity to find new ways to create a sense of community. Whether you find community in your hall, through social media or in an organization, remember that most first-year students feel isolated. If feelings of loneliness become consuming and you’d like to have someone to talk to, you can reach out to Elon’s counseling services for free at (336) 278-7280.