Students learn lessons during quarantine

Homemade games

Having been quarantined in their dormitory for more than a month, Cao Lingfeng, Yang Yuguo, Yao Keyu and Li Hongtao were so bored that they decided to make mahjong tiles out of the inner packaging of rapid antigen test kits.

The four graduate students at East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai are sent self-reporting quick antigen tests every day, so they collected their packages and those of other students on the same floor.

On the evening of April 26, they drew the patterns and wrote characters on the small boxes to make the mahjong tiles.

"It only took one night to make them, and we started playing mahjong the next day," Cao said.

As second-year graduate students in information technology, all their courses were completed during their first year, so being quarantined in their dormitory means they have little to do other than conduct research and write papers.

"We try to find something interesting to do to get away from the undesirable situation. Happily, we now have the mahjong tiles to pass some time," Cao said.

They left school and returned home on Sunday.

Taking pictures

Cheng Jie, an undergraduate at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said life under quarantine has allowed her to focus on photography, a hobby she intends to pursue as a career after graduation.

In September, she started working as a part-time portrait photographer, but she struggled to balance her studies and her photographic interests.

Cheng is majoring in Spanish, but she said she has never really liked the language. She was happy when the university started offering online-only courses early last month, as the change of pace allowed her to pay less attention to classes and devote more time to her side business.

"Taking beautiful photos of people and trying different techniques, locations and styles offer me a sense of achievement that learning Spanish does not," she said.

"I am finally doing something I am good at, and I feel I am not wasting my time."