It's oh so quiet: snow renders USP empty

It's hard to imagine it if you go outside now, but as a student living at Utrecht Science Park, I can tell you that reaching the campus early last week was quite difficult. On Sunday, 4 January, I arrived at Utrecht Central Station in the evening, expecting that the buses to my room at USP would be running, but little did I know that wasn't the case. It had been snowing all day, and the roads were covered with a thick layer of snow – enough to bring bus traffic to a standstill.

I had to get home somehow. I was torn between taking a cab, which would have cost me 30 euros, and walking, which would have taken 1.5 hours. After much deliberation, I finally chose to rent an OV-fiets, the public transport bicycle. It was a beautiful bike ride: Utrecht was stunning, covered in snow. So, it wasn't so bad after all. I just had to cycle slowly because there was already a thick layer of compacted snow on the roads, making them slippery. If you cycled faster, you'd quickly lose control of the bike. On Monday, like all other students, I received a message from the university that my lectures would not be held in person.

People living at Utrecht Science Park felt isolated most of the week, as no buses or trams were running, and many residents didn't dare to cycle into the city centre. Two fellow USP residents told me they felt “stuck” in their rooms. “The snow is a lot of fun, but it does have an isolating effect,” one of them told me. They were also unable to leave De Uithof to do their groceries. "I just ordered mine online," says the other. After a few days, the trams started running again, followed shortly afterwards by the buses. Then the cycle path was partially cleared, allowing students to emerge from their short "hibernation" and go into town.

It was a difficult week, as far as education is concerned. Some lecturers decided to give their classes online, including several Psychology lecturers. Student Isabelle Defoer was reminded of the pandemic when having an online lecture for the Self-Regulation course last week. "We had a study group via Teams, but it was very chaotic." To make matters worse, everyone had to give a presentation, which did not go smoothly either. "The lecturer sometimes had difficulty keeping things running smoothly," she tells me. I also had a presentation via Teams for the Economics and Social Justice course, but I do think that things went smoothly in my case. Giving a presentation via laptop is different from giving one in person, of course, but the lecturer was very satisfied with our job.

Practical
The only thing that continued to happen on campus was practicals for both researchers and students. The Kruyt Building was open all week, a receptionist told me on Thursday. No classes were taught, but research activities went on. "It's very quiet here; there are maybe ten people inside," she said. "I find it strange that the building is still open." Building maintenance employee Marc Lumei confirmed that the building was unusually quiet, but he had no problem with it being open. He could see why classes were cancelled. "The roads in Utrecht have been well gritted now, but the campus is impossible to reach for students who live far away."

Spar
Educational buildings weren't the only places affected by the snow at USP. The Spar supermarket also suffered. It was a chaotic week for the grocery store, with both advantages and disadvantages. "One of the advantages was that products that we normally have to throw away are now being sold," says Kris Pretorius, an employee at Spar. "People bought more soap and milk than usual." As for the disadvantages, Pretorius mentions that deliveries were late. "Cargo that was supposed to arrive in the morning didn't arrive before the afternoon." 

As one can expect, Spar also saw fewer customers than usual. "There was no 'rush hour' around lunchtime, but many USP residents came by in the evening." As a result, some products were suddenly sold out. Pretorius: "We had some issues with ordering because we didn't know how fast some things would sell." Nevertheless, the Spar employee had no problems with the snow, which he sees as "a nice change", although he had to clean the floor more often. 

The food trucks, on the other hand, had a harder time. They stayed closed all week. The canteen in the Educatorium building was also closed, forcing everyone at Science Park to go to Spar for food.

Olympos
The Olympus Sports Centre was open almost all week. All the fields were covered in snow, of course, so people could only practice indoor sports. One employee said that few people showed up, even though the group lessons were not officially cancelled. Reaching Olympos was difficult for instructors and athletes alike, especially at the beginning of the week. On Friday, Olympos decided to close its doors because there was too much snow on the roof. Nevertheless, it seemed like people got enough exercise, judging by the dozens of snowmen that appeared all over Science Park.