‘I was working as a courier to meet new people’

Ali Farokhi (24) is from Iran. He came to TU Delft in 2020 to start his masters in Construction Management Engineering. During the pandemic, he lived in a one-person apartment.

How was your start in Delft?

When I arrived I didn’t have any friends here. I had no introduction week so I also did not have the chance to meet new people. Besides that, I had no idea what the city was really like. So I started working as a courier. That was a good way to get out of the house and it really helped me. By biking through the city, I discovered the good parts of Delft and met some new people. Of course I felt a little bit lonely, so I tried to keep in touch with my family via video calls.”

Did you like living by yourself in a studio?

“Living in a studio during lockdown had its advantages and disadvantages for me. The disadvantage was that I didn’t make any friends in my building. The place that I am living in has no communal area so I could not easily meet up with my neighbours. On the other hand, it was nice that I really had my own place, where I was less scared of getting infected.”

‘For us, the golden time of forming new friendships and new groups has passed’

Do you feel like you missed out a lot?

“Well, you cannot say something is bad when you haven’t seen the other side. I didn’t have anything to compare it with. But of course, there were some things I knew I was missing out on. I remember when I was on Google Street View I saw some images from a couple of years ago. I saw cafes, terraces and people on the street. I saw how Delft could be, without Corona.”

How is it now?

“When TU Delft opened again, I made a group of friends with mostly international students. We started doing things together, like going to the Delftse Hout. I met a group of fellow Iranians with whom I still hang out a lot. In the international community, people of the same nationality hang out with each other. For example, you have the Greek, Indian and Chinese groups. The lockdown made everyone stay very much in their own group. Now the lockdown is over, it unfortunately stayed that way. For us, the golden time of forming new friendships and new groups has passed. Everyone is working on their thesis and just wants to hang out with the friends they have already made.”

What will you do differently in the future because of the pandemic?

“I noticed that the lockdown had some negative effects on my body. So I realised I want to do more physical exercise. I also want to go out more, like going to restaurants. Doing all the things you could not do for years and have always taken for granted. I realise now how lucky I am to do all the things we couldn’t do. It makes me enjoy doing fun things even more now.”

• You can find the other parts of this series here.

Doris Aafjes / Student-redacteur