Staying Home is Hard

This sucks. That is what comes to mind whenever someone asks me how I am doing with staying home. I live in Greensboro, North Carolina and we haven’t been hit that hard with cases yet and because of this, it all feels like a big dream almost. I also am fortunate enough to not directly know anyone who has tested positive for the Coronavirus, which really makes it not feel real. My dad has been the only one in my family to leave the house in two weeks really and he has been going to the grocery stores, drug store and on any other errands we need. We figured it is best if only one family goes out into public but honestly he is still coming home and touching everything else that we all use. So, at this point, if one of us has it, we all do. But luckily no one living in my house has any symptoms and we have been taking extra caution with what we touch and with sanitizing communal spaces.

I traveled to Barcelona, Spain for spring break and I can only now start to talk about the experience and laugh because of our abrupt and traumatic departure. It was about 2 AM in Barcelona when we heard the news about Trump enacting the travel ban and it was absolute mayhem trying to get home. Immediately people were packing up everything and going to the airport without even having a flight yet. Thankfully, all 8 of the people I was with on spring break got back home safely and we are all doing just fine now, none of us are showing symptoms and even two have been tested and the results were negative which are all good signs. However, the majority of us are about to end our “self- quarantine” on Friday the 27th, only to be put under the “stay in place” acts by our counties. But it’s okay because I would be staying inside doing all of my school work anyway.

I have adjusted pretty easily to classes being all online. I have my workspace in my room with a desk which makes it easier because I can shut the door and ignore my family. I am also very thankful that I do have access to a constant internet connection so it is pretty easy to stay connected with my professors and attend online lectures. I am somewhat worried about the microbiology lab portion, mainly because I did enjoy it and it helped me see how the techniques worked and learn as I did the experiments. Hopefully, the other resources they have provided for us will be sufficient in helping me understand the major concepts. The main thing that is going to be hard for me is not having social interaction with my friends. Like real face to face time and going to miss being able to go out to eat with my friends and other activities like sports. But we are all doing our part and staying away from each other that way this can get under control and we aren’t prolonging the time we have to be away from one another.