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Old Saybrook Grad Connects to College an Ocean Away

Students have had to head home from colleges all over the country and are engaging in classes via technology like Zoom. But for Olivia Gaidry, a member of Old Saybrook High School’s Class of 2019, the abrupt ending of her first year of college entailed flying home from abroad.

Her program in musical theater at the University of London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was nearly two-thirds through the academic year when students were notified that instruction would stop. It was just five days before the end of the second term.

“We only had a couple of assessments left...and we had pretty much done the work,” she said.

Instead of doing their scheduled presentations and live performances, tutors evaluated students based on their work throughout the term.

Grading wasn’t her only concern after courses were canceled.

“I self-isolated” when she arrived home, she explained. “They recommended 14 days completely self-isolating.”

During that time, she had mysterious symptoms.

“I lost my smell and taste,” she said. “A bunch of other people in my class had experienced those same symptoms. We talked about it in our group chat” online.

Gaidry is now feeling better and is on spring break—her third term doesn’t begin until Monday, April 20. For now, she is reading books and plays, as well as watching movie versions of musicals “that build my education when it comes to theater and the arts,” she explained.

“I’m trying to keep myself active” by participating in online fitness classes and online dance classes, she said, as well as getting out into nature and going on walks.

“As my official spring break starts to come to a close, I will definitely establish more of a routine,” she said. “I definitely need structure to function at my best.” Until then, “I’ve been trying to keep myself busy.”

The abrupt departure and red-eye flight home led to a feeling of apathy at first.

“I definitely went through a period of unmotivation and I wouldn’t really get up do anything,” she said. “I think once I started going on regular walks and getting out into nature and exercising more, that’s when I was able to get my spark back.

“It was a hard hit for all of us because it was unexpected,” she said.

Doing musical theater virtually will present challenges.

“It’s going to be different, for sure,” Gaidry said. “They haven’t gotten into specifics with us. I think our tutors are still in discussion and figuring out how to make this work as seamless as possible. But from what we know, they’re going to be doing classes on Zoom.”

They’ve already received some assignments, such as researching, journaling, and recording themselves, she explained—”Stuff that doesn’t require a live audience to be done,” she said.

“I think it will be a learning curve for all of my classmates and myself, not having each other in the room every day to fall back on,” she continued. “But we are determined to make it work and get the most out of training.”

London has been an exciting place to live and explore. Gaidry found a place to live in Camden, a neighborhood in north London that’s famous for its hip and quirky weekend market. Her flat is a 20-minute walk from school.

“On weekends when I’m not too tired, I have gotten to explore different parts the city,” she said.

She and her parents did a lot of sightseeing when she first arrived, but she finds she discovers hidden gems on a regular basis. When she accompanied a friend to a dance class in Covent Garden, for instance, she came upon some shops in an area called Neal’s Yard, an alley that opens into a courtyard.

While she’s looking forward to getting back, she’s unsure whether there’ll be in-person classes in the fall.

It depends on “what the government says. And not just the U.K. government, but all the international students’ governments, too.”

There is one other American in her program and quite a few other international students, she said.

“Hopefully, it will be this fall,” she said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

In the meantime, she has one-on-one online sessions with her tutor and group chats with her fellow students.

“It’s fortunate that we are living in the time we are because of technology,” she said. “We can connect to our friends so quickly.”

Her closest friend in the program is Scottish.

“We had a long conversation and I was able to see her face and that’s so lovely,” she said.