I received my acceptance letter for a PhD program in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Toronto in March 2020, right when universities began shifting to online learning. University of Toronto is more than 9,000 kilometers away from my hometown in Egypt, and the rapidly evolving pandemic made it difficult to envision when or how I would begin my studies. I thus made the decision to defer my program start date to January 2021. The virus grew monstrously and deferring again made no sense, so I began my PhD in January. I stayed in my home country, Egypt, while the program took place in Canada. I was six or seven hours away, depending on the season. My life as a graduate student studying from home at the other end of the world required an irregular eating schedule, an overflowing pantry, and a consistent baking and cooking routine with my mother....

You do not currently have access to this content.