When I returned to university on 4 January, I didn’t think it would cost me £1624. I made the choice to come back for two reasons: I did not have space to study at home, and I thought that other people would be allowed to return soon.

Every year on the first of November, without fail, the season suddenly switches overnight from Halloween to Christmas. Shops change their window displays, Christmas lights start going up around each town, and Christmas adverts flood our TV screens.

As the end of term approaches, many Bristol students are planning their return home for the Christmas period and looking forward to the festivities and food, with the opportunity to partake in these annual celebrations providing some sense of normality to an anything but normal year.

Many activist organisations will have seen a drop in the number of people willing to volunteer for them this year. But you wouldn’t think that from your friends’ Instagram stories, would you?

It is safe to say that this year has not been plain sailing for students in halls of residence. Stories of students being penned up in flats for weeks on end, with limited outside contact have been circulating everywhere from Bristruths to national newspapers.

At the start of December, the University released its policy for mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on the January assessment period. In my opinion, the measures outlined are inadequate and fail to recognise the amount of disruption the pandemic has caused to students’ learning experience.