Would a pandemic have prevented my freshers’ week walk of shame?

In his latest reflection on places and pathways, Will Gore sympathises with today’s university students but wonders what humiliations they might be spared

Being limited in the number of people you can socialise with is not the experience most students anticipated (AFP/Getty)

Poor old students eh? If new arrivals aren’t getting it in the neck for being snowflakes about possibly missing Christmas, they’re being scolded for spreading coronavirus by failing to keep to their rooms.

Whichever way you cut it, 2020 is a tough year to be heading off to university – especially for those starting courses, away from home for the first time.

Being limited in the number of people you can socialise with, and in some cases restricted to remote learning, is not the experience most students anticipated when they first imagined what it would be like to do a degree.