ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of students’ lives. It has led to university campus closures, a sudden switch to online learning, and a loss of physical contact with the school community. The negative consequences of this global pandemic have particularly impacted the wellbeing of international graduate students. Given wellbeing as a state of balance between the resources that one has and the challenges that one faces, this chapter explores three international graduate students’ wellbeing. This collaborative autoethnographic study analyzes the international doctoral students’ journals and identifies the challenges they faced during the pandemic, including disconnection from the academic community and feelings of anxiety, stress, and loneliness. The findings also illustrate the coping strategies that these students developed to maintain their wellbeing while continuing their engagement in their academic programs. These strategies included returning to nature, reimagining learning communities, increasing the utilization of family supports, and gaining an increased awareness of their own inner strength.
