Summer silence in student life
The long summer break for students at Aarhus University can be spent on anything from budget-friendly travel and family time in your hometown to working hard to give your savings a much-needed boost. But for the students who remain, the empty communal kitchens can mean long and lonely days in Aarhus.
At the 4th May Dorm, which is located at Aarhus BSS on Fuglesangs Allé, is quiet in the corridors. The communal kitchen is even quieter.
On the refrigerator, the residents have indicated whether they are home this week. Only one in the communal kitchen is home.
Lise Vestergaard Hjortø lives on the 4th May dorm and has just completed her Bachelor's degree in international business communication in English.
For the first time since she moved to Aarhus, she has not had any big plans during the summer holidays.
While fellow students have gone back to their hometown with their families, are travelling or working, the students who stay in Aarhus are suddenly home alone.
Although students often long for summer vacation, for some, the long university summer vacation may feel a little too long and sometimes lonely.
For Lise Vestergaard Hjortø, the empty communal kitchen feels extra empty this summer.
"On weekdays, the dormitory is full of life. It's the first summer vacation for me, where I don't have anything planned. I've had a real Aarhus summer, which I had also been looking forward to, but I hadn't considered that everyone else was going to do something," she says.
“I’ve felt a sense of loneliness because it’s been so quiet at home. My friends from my studies haven't really been home this summer either," she says.
It’s especially the sense that this summer’s solitude is involuntary that has triggered feelings of loneliness for Lise Vestergaard Hjortø.
"I also just enjoy being myself alone, but not really when it's involuntary like now," she says.
Lise Vestergaard Hjortø spent a gap year as an au pair in London and has therefore experienced not having a larger network of friends and acquaintances close at hand.
"Back then, I was happy to learn how to do things myself, but I had also chosen to have that experience," she says.
“I didn’t choose to be alone in the dormitory,” she says.
The involuntary alone time has taken Lise Vestergaard Hjortø by surprise, as she didn’t expect that it would affect her not to have summer holiday plans.
“There’s plenty going on in Aarhus, but I’ve missed having someone to do it with. “It wasn’t until my boyfriend came home from vacation that I felt like going to the Aarhus Jazz Festival, even though it had actually been going on for several days,” she says.
But even though the communal kitchen is empty and her fellow students are out of town, Lise Vestergaard Hjortø tries to learn from her time in London.
"I try to remember that it’s temporary right now. I know that people will return from vacation and the kitchen gets going again," she says.
"It's okay to feel lonely right now, but I try to be in it and accept it," she says.
The University Park has gone on summer vacation
It’s not easy to find sources for a story about the quiet summer holiday at AU, when almost no one is home to be interviewed.
In addition to visiting the 4th May dorm, Omnibus has therefore taken matters into its own hands. This reporter showed up at residence hall 5 in the University Park on a random Wednesday in late July.
On the first floor of residence hall 5 in the University Park, only draughts and the sound of a lawn mower from the park are present in the communal kitchen.
It looks like someone has had the closing shift in the dormitory's kitchen, as all the chairs are set up on the long table.
Just like in the 4th May dorm, the residents of the corridor have taken the opportunity to write in a small book which weeks during the summer holidays they are at home.
This week, four out of 17 alumni are at home.
On the second floor, Omnibus meets sports science student Thea Ølsgaard Hassing, who has only stayed at the dormitory because she’s going to summer school. She’s the only one sitting in the kitchen.
"It's quiet. Even the work of the gardeners doesn’t wake us up in the morning," she says.
"You can feel that the University Park has gone on holiday. The buzz in the park has died down a bit,” Thea Ølsgaard Hassing says.
Despite an empty kitchen, Thea Ølsgaard Hassing doesn’t feel lonely.
"It's just boring," she says.
On the third floor, Magnus Dalgas is in the kitchen washing dishes – and the only one there too.
He agrees that it’s much quieter than usual.
The hallway’s alumni have planned a group trip to Romania in August, but for now, Magnus Dalgas isn’t quite sure how many people are actually around.
"The dormitory feels like a completely different place to be during the summer holidays," he says.
"Normally, there's a lot more going on in the kitchen. People come and go all the time and have their friends visiting," he says.
Magnus Dalgas usually has plenty of plans during the summer break, but he still finds himself wondering where the other alumni have gone.
"I don't feel lonely as such, but there are days when I think, damn, I'm alone now," he says.
“There are upsides to it as well. “We’re enjoying things in a different way and have a bit more time to sit and talk than we normally do when the kitchen is full,” Magnus Dalgas says.
So, the stillness of the summer break and the empty shared kitchens aren’t necessarily a bad thing. You’ve probably heard it a hundred times: A little boredom can be good for you.
Although not all communal kitchens are planning a joint trip, The University Park will soon come back to life. Before students have time to look around, the new semester is knocking at the door.