Worldwide college students in Australia put together to spend the vacations away from household

Add a cut in skilled migration that would make it difficult for international students to obtain permanent residence in Australia, along with an increase in xenophobia due to the coronavirus, and it all adds up to what Mr. Sun calls a sense of mounting “hostility.” “Describes” to international students from some angles.

But he still claims that the majority of Australians are welcoming. While the Chinese government has advised prospective students to avoid Australia because of racism, Mr. Sun encourages his relatives to come here to study and points out local community leaders, certain politicians, and charities who have come together to support international students .

Kalyana Vania, a 21-year-old student at the University of Melbourne, spoke factually about how her mental health deteriorated during Melbourne’s strict lockdown to the rupture.

“At some point it really got on my mind,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Why am I here? Wouldn’t it be better if I just disappeared? At least my parents wouldn’t have to pay to support me. “But the silver lining, she said, was that the incident eventually pushed her to see a professional and address the underlying mental health problems.

For the students, a resilience resulting from years of navigating an unknown country with minimal assistance has turned into an unwavering willingness to reinforce one another when there is a lack of government support. When their colleagues couldn’t afford food, groups of international students procured and distributed free grocery packages. When they believed their voices were not being heard, they became student advocates and became involved in political parties.

The holiday season is no different.

21-year-old Archit Agrawal, who cannot fly back to India to spend time with his family, helps organize Christmas dinners for students in similar situations. Everyone brings a dish from their own culture and sings Christmas carols together.

“We became a second family this year,” he said. “We spent most of this year together. We all shared our problems. It feels right to spend Christmas together. “