ASU Student Diaries: Part V

The global COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed the lives of seven billion people in the world. As a result, college students are just one of the many groups learning to adapt to this new normal. How did a virus begin with one person in Wuhan, China, affect the very own lives of ourselves and our loved ones?

In the “ASU Student Diaries” series, we will change our lenses and view the surroundings of ASU students all over the world; whether it’s a student living on campus, at home, out of state, or even outside of the U.S., all to catch a glimpse of how they are acclimating while getting their education during this pandemic.

Catch up on Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.

Part V

Meng-Wei Chen is a senior majoring in Industrial Design, living in Taichung City, Taiwan. During his first three years at Arizona State, he lived in the Tempe campus with his friends.

Chen was looking forward to graduating from Arizona State on campus, but because of the pandemic, he had to make the decision to move back home in early March.

“I lived in Arizona for seven years, so moving back home so suddenly was a big adjustment. To be honest, I do miss Arizona at times. For me, the weather wasn’t too bad, and I just like the living styles. However, I knew in March that it would be the best choice to move back home to my family.”

Chen reminisced on the stressful few days he experienced before and after going back to Taiwan.

“Before I went back home, I was walking to a nearby Walmart and someone called me ‘COVID-19.’ It startled me a bit because I had never experienced anything like that” he said. “I went back home on March 2 and had to stay in quarantine for two weeks. It was definitely hard at first to get adapted to the time zones and settle in at home, but I do live with my family so it’s been okay.”

Since Taiwan is 15 hours ahead of Phoenix, Chen spoke on managing his schoolwork while also modifying his day-to-day life to fit in all his commitments.

“I’m taking five classes right now, but I only attend one zoom class in real-time. For the other classes, I’m fortunate to have professors who understand my situation so they’ve been very helpful. To try and keep up with my classes, I check the Canvas page every day and look at announcements.”

Other than being a college student, he started working as a barista for a local coffee shop.

“Training took a month, and now I’ve been working for four months now. I typically work three to five days during the week” Chen says.

“For every customer who walks in, we have to take their temperatures along with their name and phone number to keep tracking. All of our customers are welcome to sit down as well.”

If one were to look at Taiwan’s case map, you would see that there aren’t any spikes at the moment nor many cases at all. To compare Taiwan to the United States, Taiwan has had 550 cases so far whereas the United States is number one in the world for Covid cases with just under 9 million total cases, according to The New York Times.

Because of this, Chen expressed how masks are not a requirement but rather a suggestion. Even before the pandemic, mask-wearing was a norm in Taiwan; a concept the majority of Asian countries practice.

To balance working as a student, his days differ when he goes to work, but his days typically consist of waking up at 9 a.m. or earlier for work, drinking a cup of coffee while reading a book, completing any school assignments, watching anime, and going hiking or fishing. He’s been aiming to sleep a little earlier; now he’s usually asleep by 11 p.m. or midnight.

“I used to go to the gym pretty frequently but I’ve stopped going for some time, so to substitute that, I go outside sometimes to take quick walks.”

Because Chen has spent the majority of his college life in America, he talks about the difficulties in maintaining relationships with students at Arizona State.

“It’s hard to keep in touch with all of my friends back in Arizona because we live such different lives now. And on top of that, the time zones have also played a huge factor. But I do sometimes call my friends, which is nice.”

It’s not easy taking online classes let alone taking them in different time zones and countries – however, Chen has some advice for students in his shoes and for all college students.

“This is the time to really focus on what you want to do in life, so make sure to use all the resources and opportunities the school provides,” Chen said. “However, understand that these four years don’t dictate what you’ll do forever. It’s only for the next few years or so. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself and keep yourself motivated. I’m in the planning stages of building my own food business and that’s my motivation there for me.”

Contact the reporter at yhan99@asu.edu.