Table 1.

Extracts from the English Division students’ essays discussing chosen issues.

Aspect	Examples of Extracts	Participant	Number of Similar Opinions
daptation to e-learning	“Another great thing is that I’ve been saving over an hour a day in travel time which I’ve been able to utilise to more productive tasks…”; “…I 110% prefer the style of teaching we have had during this pandemic as opposed to the layout of seminars prior to the pandemic. They have been so much more beneficial. I feel like the webinar classes are a lot more interactive and more productive…”	E1	16
	“…school became tough due to poor internet connection, and I was forced to borrow a computer…”	E2
	“…the internet is very poor here and I don’t have access to my laptop…”	E3
	“…Losing your last and final semester in Dentistry was definitely a loss in my eyes the practical work missed…”	E4
Closure of the boards	“…as soon as it was known that Poland was going into lockdown many international students that I know, rushed back to their home countries and told me to do the same but I was stubborn. What if it would prevent me from taking my diploma exams? I wasn’t willing to take the risk…”	E1	10
	“…but the main concern that really affected me mentally is the uncertainty of what is going to happen to you in regards to career your education that you have invested so much in. will it finish? How long are you stuck here?…”	E4
	“…I now also face the issue of what my future is going to look like. I wish to return to England and start my career there…”	E5
	“…The isolation itself isn’t too bad as I’ve lived in Poland for a long time…”, “…This is also affecting all of my UK internship possibilities–because obviously foreigners are not their main priority right now and with all the borders being closed…”	E3
	“…The initial thing that transpired to me was that I had to leave Poland, and being in a dilemma of choosing whether to stay or leave was nerve-wracking. All this time, my thoughts rotated on the possibility of schools reopening and me not being able to go back…”	E2
Social distancing	“…I hate running but I figured why not. It’s been 3 weeks and I have been running 5 km everyday…”; “…I started to bake cookies and cakes, I was experimenting more with my cooking…”; “…Human contact. I’d forgotten what that was. After that moment I knew that I needed to go outside daily for my own sanity.”	E1	8
	“…Unable to enjoy and do daily outdoor activities and be more interactive and the freedom of meeting people became dramatically restricted and that one is very deeply taking its huge negative effect on me personally…”	E6
	“…my cooking skills have improved immensely and I would never ever have had this time to be able to bake and cook and learn new things…”	E4
Risk of infection	“…Due to my eye operation, I was in the risk-zone, so I had to be extra careful…”	E2	16
	“…Its troublesome because people in the Tricity area are not treating this as a pandemic anymore. People are openly walking without masks, congregating and life is pretty much back to “…normal…”; “…my brother, his wife, daughter and my mother received positive COVID results in the UK and quarantined themselves for 2 weeks…”; “…My father was not with them at the time living somewhere else. They had relatively minor symptoms. My brother felt some flu like symptoms for 2 days and my mother developed a strong cough and some muscle aches. Otherwise everyone else was fine but there was some immense panic amongst family because this was near the start of the pandemic. They tested themselves at the hospital (my brother lives in a secluded neighborhood–so everyone got into the car). They arrived at a special spot where they took swab samples from everyone and PCR testing was conducted to detect COVID. Two weeks later after their quarantine ended my family received notification from their respective GP’s that they were in fact COVID positive…”; “…The COVID issue has also obviously had a financial impact on me and my family, as my father lost his job…”; “…In the meantime a large majority of my friends are working doctors in Sweden, Germany, USA, UK–and were detailing stories. Two of my friends were hospitalized with COVID; 26 year old and 30 respectively. Their symptoms were pretty severe-the 30 year old was actually intubated, the other was on high oxygen airflow–or a state E2right before intubation. Fortunately both of them got through it.…”	E3
	“…E4I first thought the media was overreacting. That was my perspective until my faE5mily and friends became the victims of it. Not being able to visit or check on them in hospitals was heartbreaking…”; “…Surprisingly, all those folks I knew who were believed to have strong immunity and rarely fell ill all succumbed to Corona. It was hard to endure and watch those who were at their peak ages of 20′s die and to worsen the situation; some died all alone with no support from family or friends. My buddy in Stockholm opened up to the sister on how painful it was to experience the disease. He was admitted for 2–3 weeks and had to be sedated all through. His fever which kept spiking had to be monitored. Due to the illness, he lost 17 kgs. Sadly, after undergoing that awful experience, he passed away after those two weeks. The dead could not be given a decent burial…”	E2
	“…I also was very worried especially during the peak for my sister because she was working front line as a pharmacist and I was worried because she would come home from work every day and my parents would be put at risk also so they decided to divide the house to be as safe as they can because stuck abroad and not being able to help your family or not knowing each day you could wake up to a call or a text message saying that your sister has COVID or your parents was by far definitely one of the biggest fears I had purely because I couldn’t do anything if that happened and the thought of being stuck here alone and not being able to go over in case something had happened would have haunted me for the rest of my life…”	E4
	“…the constant worry about my family’s health and the thought that, should something happen to them, I would be unable to go offer my support or be with them. I pray every day for the health of my family, as I cannot even imagine the worst happening with me being in another country, utterly unable to each them…”	E5