School from Home
During most school years, spring break felt like a chance to take a break in the middle of second semester chaos, often occurring right after midterm testing. This year, however, it just felt like we were holding our breath and hoping that rumors did not become reality. Taking classes at home has been a bit hectic for me since I have three other brothers who are also taking classes online and we only have one office room with two desks. Whenever two of us have class at the same time one of us has to find a couch or lounge chair to move to while trying to focus on schoolwork. This can be difficult since, with my entire family quarantined, there are seven of us constantly roaming the house, leaving few rooms undisturbed for that allocated hour and a half. Motivation to do work has decreased as well since coming home provides a plethora of distractions with all of my brothers. There are no libraries or other silent places to escape, which means a lot more dedication is needed to get work done.
School has offered a pass/fail option, which is something that I feel they needed to allow with everything going on. Despite my agreement, the new option allows most of us to have a reminder in the back of our heads that we have a 'get our of jail free card' if we happened to stop focusing on our work. Despite this, my family and I understand the importance of finishing the semester and not allowing the money we spent on tuition to go to waste, so I have been doing my best to remain diligent. Watching my teachers suffer through the same challenges we do also reminds me that I should not waste this opportunity, especially if my teachers are willing to put in the extra work.
My Family
Though my full house makes it difficult to focus on schoolwork, I realize how lucky I am to have loved ones close by during these isolated times. I constantly think about those who live alone and have to go through weeks of isolation, detached from the rest of society even further than most of us can recognize. My dad still works from home upstairs while my mom finds plenty to do around the house considering there are six guys home now. She is still getting accustomed to cooking for seven, and I have enjoyed helping her in the kitchen many times these past weeks. She does so much for us and being quarantined just puts a magnifying glass over all the simple things throughout the day she gets done that we take for granted. As for my brothers, this quarantine has allowed all five of us to catch up and chill together. My youngest brother attends a different college, my second youngest takes classes online, and my oldest just graduated college, which makes it hard to see them during the school year. I see Chris all of the time since we are roommates at college, but with all of my brothers together there is a different feeling that I missed and am grateful for.
With all of the craziness going on, my family has been talking to my grandparents a lot. They have a lot more to be scared of during these times and, at least for my grandparents, spend most of their day getting out of the house and keeping busy, which makes this quarantine even harder. My mother's parents are doing well and my mom visits them every now and then to drop off groceries or to check in. My grandfather thought he had the virus at one point and made my grandma stay away from him for two weeks, even sleeping on the pull out couch instead of his own bed. My family and I worried even though we believed he may have been overreacting to the symptoms of allergies, since we could not be absolutely sure. Eventually he went to get tested and confirmed he did not have it, which helped everyone relax a bit. As for my father's mother, she was stuck in Puerto Rico during the beginning of the pandemic and was in the hospital with a stomach issue. My aunt had to fly in and, eventually, were able to fly back to the states together. My family had a group zoom call shortly after this with my grandma and relatives, which made her feel much better. It is difficult to focus on the small things during times like these, but the truth is the small things are what will get us through this.
Keeping Busy
Being stuck at home would have had me ecstatic before going through this pandemic. Often times when I go home for long periods of time I am able to focus on things I enjoy doing or want to improve on, such as playing piano. This break is a whole different situation. Not only is it difficult to focus on my personal life with all the horror and negative energy the news throws into my house, but I also have my usual load of schoolwork that needs to get done and not even the option to escape reality for an hour or so. I realized that summer and winter breaks were only glorious because of the many options of activities I had, and the little responsibility that came with those two-week breaks. This quarantine has already lasted about a month and I still have all the responsibilities I had while at college with none of the little escapes like volleyball practice or hanging with friends.
I can't lie, staying diligent to a healthy lifestyle has been more than challenging during the past month, and I am certainly not one of those instagram 'beacons of hope' that is doing crossfit in my living room everyday. I have been working out every other day or so throughout the week, but often times my terrible sleep schedule and constant distractions from my brothers forced me to spend much of my day on schoolwork. Classes and schoolwork took up a large portion of my day back at college, but at college I was almost never in my room for more than twenty minutes. If I was not in class or the library doing homework, i was in the gym working out or hanging with friends. Socializing at meals and participating in volleyball was my time to escape from normal stress, and gave me the break I needed to finish my work later in the day with a clear head. Being home, it feels like I am never able to remove that blanket of stress that naturally comes with school. My healthy distractions have been replaced with ones that I would not normally be consumed with, such as videogames and social media. This has been one of the biggest challenges for me during quarantine, and is still a work in progress.
Personal Impact
I think when this quarantine is over with, all of us will walk out of it with a completely different perspective. I, for one, did not realize how much I took my friends for granted. I have my brothers, but playing videogames with my friends over Facetime is not even close to making memories with them in person, and this is the first time in my life I feel like I been deprived of that basic right. It reminds me again of all those people who are struggling through this truly alone, the ones who thrive socializing with coworkers and going out with friends. The more I think about quarantine for others, the more I realize how lucky I am. Think of all the parents of young children who had to take their children out of elementary school and explain to their kids that going outside is dangerous. No parent wants to tell their kids they can't see their friends because they may be sick, especially when knowing they just won't understand. I remember my parents telling us stories of when all five of us were young and my grandparents were over constantly to lend a hand. The simple idea of having grandparents visit their grandchildren is a scary thought in these times and it is truly heartbreaking to think about.
Despite the negative thoughts, it is vital to focus on the future and the positive. I hope that I remember this experience for a long time, because it has certainly changed me. Even in a full household, there is a certain isolation that I believe each of us are facing during these times. Whether it is because we are deprived of that one friend we share everything with or because we cannot return to a job that made us feel a certain purpose and stability, nobody is the same person they were before this happened. When this is all over, I am hoping I am kinder to those around me, even to complete strangers, because if it were not for those strangers staying in isolation like me, my loved ones could still be at risk.
Sharing videos and communicating has been one of the best ways my friends and family have been getting through quarantine. My dad shared this video with my family one night after dinner and we all got a good laugh from it, so I decided to share it on this page. Hope you enjoy!