Scurvy jokes and the occasional noise: What it's like to live nearly alone in a dormitory
Laika Dadoun chose her dorm room over going home to protect her family and save money
Laika Dadoun is one of a few students left living in a 200-person dormitory at Mount Allison University.
It's an unusual situation for the second year fine arts student, and it became homework, documenting the experience with 12 cellphone pictures as a final project for her photography class.
There are a few clues that Dadoun isn't the only student left in residence: noises like a door slamming, wet clothes occasionally found in the washing machine when she does her laundry.
But as of last Friday, she'd only spoken to one other person face to face in a week.
"I saw someone from housing for about 13 seconds when I was in the hallway to get water, and then beyond that basically nothing.
"So, not a lot of human interaction at all except for an occasional noise."
When other students started packing up early, leaving Sackville to weather the pandemic at home, Dadoun decided to stay put.
She would like to be at home in the greater Toronto area with her family, but there were two factors keeping her in New Brunswick.
Staying behind
One was money. Dadoun has a lease on a new apartment that she will start paying for on May 1, so she decided she couldn't do that and also buy a last-minute plane ticket.
"The cost of going back home and coming back was very overwhelming," she said.
"Then there was also the concern of my father being immunocompromised."
Dadoun didn't feel being with her family was worth the risk of bringing COVID-19 home with her.
"I'd be putting my parent in danger," said Dadoun.
Instead, she decided to remain on campus. Three weeks ago, there were about 50 students doing the same, now there are fewer than 15.
Normally, at this time of year all the students would be gone, but the university extended the deadline for moving out until the end of the month.
The last few weeks of classes were cancelled at universities across the country because of the pandemic.
Karen Stentaford, assistant professor in photography, decided to have students use their unusual situation as fodder for their final projects.
A visual diary
"Everybody in the second year photography class has a cell phone, so I thought that they could use that as a tool and kind of draw attention to the power of their phones," she said.
Stentaford's students usually use film, which requires a darkroom. When the school's facilities shut down, she decided to keep the final project simple.
"They were asked to document daily their experiences, their own personal experiences, of what was happening in their own life for the next two and a half weeks," said Stentaford.
Students then had to edit down their work to 12 photos.
Dadoun set to work capturing the quickly changing atmosphere on campus. In some of the photos there is a sense of isolation, in others signs of the practical changes, like an individual doughnut wrapped in plastic to protect the consumer from COVID-19.
Many of Dadoun's images focus on the campus meal hall, a place Dadoun said was a microcosm of the changes brought by the pandemic.
Quickly, fewer and fewer people were showing up to eat, some were respecting physical distancing while others were not.
Meal hall microcosm
And Dadoun experienced something many can relate to, carrying a plate full of food while scanning cafeteria tables for a familiar face.
"I say one of the more stressful things was like when you didn't know anyone."
But since then, meal hall has closed.
"In terms of isolation, obviously it amplifies it a little bit."
"At the very least I was getting some sort of social interaction with dining hall staff," said Dadoun.
A ramen a day ...
She's doing her best to eat well with only a fridge, kettle and microwave at her disposal. Dadoun makes a scurvy joke when she admits she's eaten four packages of ramen noodles this week.
"They're the lightest items and it was on sale," she said.
Dadoun is trying to limit her trips to the grocery store, but carrying a week's worth of groceries back to her room in residence on foot isn't an easy task.
Last trip to the store, Dadoun says "I accidentally got too many things."
She said the result was bruised and bloodied wrists from the plastic grocery bags.
"If it was a normal time I'd probably have bought a little dolly to go to the grocery store with, or have friends that you know I could bum ride with."
"Right now that's just not even an option," she said.
Dadoun stays connected with family and friends through social media and video chats.
Another coping mechanism she developed seems common among people her age.
"I'd say at first one of my biggest coping things was just being awake basically only at night, and that way it felt a little less odd.
A new home
She's looking forward to moving in to her new apartment May 1, even though she has little furniture and doesn't know how she will get it there.
"Going to my new place, I know that there's other people who live in the same complex,"she said.
"So that's something."
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