Blog Post #9
Corona Virus... I can't seem to remember the time that we weren't all talking about this. When it first began, I was alarmed but never expected it to snowball into what it has. This all feels too surreal and unlike anything I have every experienced before. This has happened in movies that seemed so futuristic and impossible. Now all too soon, the whole world is being affected by COVID-19; cities are being put on lockdown, countries are being put on lockdown, and the death toll is steadily rising. I honestly was not taking this that seriously two weeks ago then all of a sudden news outlets began reporting US universities closing one-by-one and I was told it would only be a matter of time before Northeastern does the same. Now it feels like I've been chucked into a dystopian novel or film overnight. My feelings were incredibly mixed and still are. I was sad to be ending my freshman year of college so soon, sad to be saying goodbye to my friends so soon, stressed and anxious about online classes, scared for my family and my friends' families, but at the same time relieved to be going home to be with my family.
It has been four days in "quarantine" at home. All of my friends here are also quarantined in their homes and we are not allowed to see each other. We have gotten an app called "houseparty" which allows us to group video call and play games like heads up and charades virtually. I still don't know how to feel and it still doesn't feel entirely real. Truthfully I can feel myself becoming frustrated with everything that is going on and I know it isn't rational to say this, but I am frustrated that we've let it come this far and still haven't made a collective decision as a nation to start putting an end to this pandemic. It is difficult to see everything circulating on the news and on social media platforms 24/7, seeing empty grocery stores, being so close to the people I love but yet further than ever. I feel for the families dealing directly with corona, the seniors worldwide who have worked so hard to get to this point, and just every individual in general because this "new normal" isn't something that is easy to adjust to but at the same time we have to take the necessary steps to keep everyone healthy and lower the numbers.
Even with all of this negativity and fear in my mind that I won't deny, there is always a silver lining. The situation in China is slowly getting better, I've seen residents in Italy on their balconies singing along with each other and coming together as a community during difficult times, pollution in China has cleared up a bit, the water in Italy has cleared tremendously and the wildlife has reappeared. With all the devastation going on in the world right now and heavy feelings, seeing these improvements just makes you smile. I hope everyone is doing okay and that all of us plus the rest of the world come out of this together as soon as possible.
It has been four days in "quarantine" at home. All of my friends here are also quarantined in their homes and we are not allowed to see each other. We have gotten an app called "houseparty" which allows us to group video call and play games like heads up and charades virtually. I still don't know how to feel and it still doesn't feel entirely real. Truthfully I can feel myself becoming frustrated with everything that is going on and I know it isn't rational to say this, but I am frustrated that we've let it come this far and still haven't made a collective decision as a nation to start putting an end to this pandemic. It is difficult to see everything circulating on the news and on social media platforms 24/7, seeing empty grocery stores, being so close to the people I love but yet further than ever. I feel for the families dealing directly with corona, the seniors worldwide who have worked so hard to get to this point, and just every individual in general because this "new normal" isn't something that is easy to adjust to but at the same time we have to take the necessary steps to keep everyone healthy and lower the numbers.
Even with all of this negativity and fear in my mind that I won't deny, there is always a silver lining. The situation in China is slowly getting better, I've seen residents in Italy on their balconies singing along with each other and coming together as a community during difficult times, pollution in China has cleared up a bit, the water in Italy has cleared tremendously and the wildlife has reappeared. With all the devastation going on in the world right now and heavy feelings, seeing these improvements just makes you smile. I hope everyone is doing okay and that all of us plus the rest of the world come out of this together as soon as possible.
I really like how positive you are about all this. Honestly, I didn't even know that at least the pollution problem is getting a little better despite this pandemic. Probably because people are too scared to leave their homes, which means they aren't using their cars which then leads to less pollution (yay the environment). Also, it the idea of playing games over houseparty is absolutely adorable and I will totally be doing that with my friends now.
ReplyDelete