My Experience with the Pandemic

3 years ago, the world unexpectedly changed for the worst. It was something that anyone never thought would happen, but it did. It was almost felt like something you would see in a post-apocalyptic movie, but without all the violence and gore. I am talking about the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. For those of you that have experienced this, then things like “social distancing,” “Tik-Tok dances,” “stay-at-home order,” and “Tiger King” will be ingrained in your minds like it was yesterday. The pandemic was the biggest highlight of 2020 which turned out to be a dumpster fire of a year. Today, I will be sharing my experience during the pandemic, and you may have gone through something similar as well. Even though it felt traumatic and emotional, I am sharing this because it felt like a life-changing and historic experience for me. Plus, I am still feeling the negative impacts of it even though everything is seemingly back to normal. If anyone else feels the same, then know that you are not alone. After reading this post, please be sure to take care of yourself and have a drink of water.

To recap, the coronavirus, or COVID-19 was a virus that originated from China that started having a viral outbreak in January 2020. Originally the virus came from a bat, but recently there have been speculation that it was leaked from a lab? (I am not sure about this since they may or may not reveal this so don’t take my word for it. This is a personal blog, not a science website). I was still on winter break for college when it started, and it didn’t seem like a big deal considering how we have experienced other outbreaks like the swine flu, and Ebola. But boy was I wrong as the virus started to spread and China was the first country to be put under lockdown. That was also when “quarantine” was starting to trend. By the time I left to go back to college for my final semester, it was unusually less crowded at the TSA. The airport in my home state is one of the worst airports with the lines usually heading out the door. However, due to the travel restrictions being put in place for China, I could see why that was the case. I should have known from seeing this that things were going to get worse as the virus had already spread to other countries including the US.

When the semester started, the university did inform us about the COVID-19 virus and told us to be cautious in order to prevent it from spreading. At that time, the only impact this had was when there was one student who was supposed to study abroad in China for the entire year, but had to come back this semester due to the virus outbreak. For the first couple of months, things were normal but the number of cases continued to multiply. Then one month after that, the first case was confirmed in the state of my university; luckily no students from my school did not test positive for the virus at the time. The same time, my home state confirmed its first case after being stuck on a cruise ship that had a high number of cases of COVID-19. The school continued to remind everyone to take precaution by washing hands and not come to class if we get sick. I was constantly washing my hands and wiping down surfaces in every classroom. Eventually, other colleges announced they were switching to online classes in light of virus rapidly spreading. Even my brother’s school announced they were doing distance learning for the rest of the semester. I was starting to worry a little bit because I didn’t want to contract the virus, and I was hoping my university didn’t have to completely shut down. However, all professors were instructed to adjust their lesson plans in case we had to go online.

On the second week of March, everything was going smoothly until I got hit with more bad news about the virus. On the Tuesday of that week, I picked up my cap and gown since I was graduating this semester, and acted like nothing bad was going to happen. Then Wednesday was when it started to become like Avengers: Infinity War. The COVID-19 outbreak was officially declared a pandemic, and the school told all students to take home their books and study materials in case we had to switch to online learning. The next day was filled with constant worry and anxiety as we were all waiting to hear about what the school had planned in regards to classes. One girl came into class and showed us a photo of a someone dressed in a hazmat suit in front of a dorm from another college. I was afraid that something similar would happen at our school, and I was more afraid of COVID tests after finding out how they worked. (To this day I still have never taken a COVID test even though I should have that one time when I got sick a couple days after Christmas in 2021). My professor also talked about how one school had students evacuate campus in a week and another had them evacuate in like 5 hours which scared me a little.

For the rest of that class, I just sat there anxiously and the musical Chicago will forever trigger me (I was taking a 300-level class about musical theater). Several hours later, I got through classes and tried my best to focus on my studies and other activities, but I just couldn’t with this pandemic spiraling out of control. Then the school announced that spring break was going to start a week early and there will be two weeks of it. After that, it will be two weeks of online classes. The campus was going to stay open including the dining halls. I was a little relieved by this news since I didn’t want to go home early like the rest of the college students. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that day would be the last time I had in-person classes. The next day was a field trip for one of my classes, but it was a short one as part of it had to be cancelled in light of the pandemic. After that, I took part in filming a virtual campus tour as part of my work-study job as a student ambassador. It was a lot of fun despite having no hope for the near future. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long as it was also announced that the annual spring lū'au was cancelled. I was devastated as I was involved in the committee for that, and it was my final year. I regretted not doing as much planning and helping for this big event not this particular year, but all the previous years. The lū'au was one of the many big events cancelled including, the March Madness tournament, proms, and weddings. Even graduation ceremonies were getting cancelled, but plans for my graduation ceremony hadn’t been announced yet. Also, things like “washing your hands,” “social distancing,” and “6-feet apart,” were starting to become part of our lives.

Spring break started the week after, and I just worked for most of the time. During what would be my last campus tour, I had difficulty trying to stay positive as plans for the school were still up in the air. Not just for the current students, but for the high school students when they start college in the fall. Like, will the virus be gone by then? Will campus be open by that time? A couple days later, it was announced that distance learning was going to be extended to the rest of the semester. Students are allowed to stay on campus upon approval of request. Unfortunately, we also had to stop in-person campus tours, and that also meant the admission counselors had to work from home. I was really sad about that because I enjoyed working with them and seeing them every day, especially my supervisor at the time. I actually knew about this the day before from one of the office members. (It was also the last day I would see my coworkers as well). When my supervisor sent the email out about the announcement the next day, I replied to everyone telling them to take care of themselves, and that we can try to meet over zoom.

As if things didn’t get any worse, they did. Despite being spring break, people still had large gatherings despite the governor’s orders. Back at my home state, tourists were still coming even though travel was not recommended for non-essential use. The pandemic also affected other aspects such as the as huge toilet paper shortage, and I saw a lot of empty shelves when I went to the grocery stores! Even most of the movies got delayed or moved to streaming services since movie theaters had to close. It also meant there were no Marvel movies in 2020! I tried my best to stay positive through all of this despite more bad news constantly coming in. Like every time I was on social media, my feed was filled with COVID related content, and that made me worry more. On the Monday of the second week of spring break, I came into work as the only student with a few staff members. The mood was depressing since we weren’t getting visitors and campus was starting to become a ghost town. I asked myself, why am I even here, but I had to work because I was covering for someone.

Then, it seemed like the pandemic Thanos-snapped everything when a stay-at-home order was announced starting the next day. The school also announced that campus would be completely shut down, and students had to evacuate by the end of the week. I also could no longer work at the office as they too were closing. I was filled with total fear because I didn’t want to fly back home. I know at the time it sounded controversial but the reason why I didn’t want to go home is because I didn’t want to be stuck on a plane filled with passengers and a high number of bacteria putting me at greater risk of contracting the virus. It would also mess with my schedule since my classes would be happening during their usual time, but the time zone would be a couple hours ahead meaning I would have to wake up at 5am to attend class. I already put in my request to stay on campus, and I was just anxiously waiting for a response. At this point my mental health was completely declining with all of this happening. Honestly, it just felt like a nightmare that I couldn’t escape from, and I felt like I was alone. I tried to recover by talking to one of my former high school teachers, but they didn’t make things any better as they kept pushing me to come home, but I still stuck with my decision not to. Because of this, I no longer keep in touch with this teacher as they would be disappointed in me. However, I learned that you can’t always please everyone. Fortunately, my request was approved, and I was able to stay on campus for the rest of the semester.

After spring break, online classes started. It wasn’t that hard since it was on zoom, and all I had to do was log on. For others, it was difficult depending on the wifi coverage in their area. There were a couple times I had issues where my screen froze, and got booted out of the zoom meeting, making me miss part of the class. Fortunately, that did not jeopardize my grades for those classes. Another time, I was attending this virtual event about the different impacts of COVID and we had a few zoom-bombers trashing us in the comments. They even hacked into one of the professor’s shared screens trying to look up porn. I stayed in my student apartment most of the time by myself, but it wasn’t too bad. However, the campus was eerily deserted; normally I am used to a quiet campus during the breaks, but this was very different as it felt like the five years later scene from Avengers Endgame.

Then, the school announced that our graduation ceremony would be postponed, not cancelled. The original plan was to have the senior class vote from one of the two alternate dates for the ceremony. One was near the end of July, the other was at the beginning of August. The majority picked the former which wasn’t my choice because I thought the July date was still a bit early depending on the number of cases. Unfortunately, this entire plan backfired as the graduation ceremony ended up being cancelled like all the other college and high school graduations. Once again, I took a big L because I felt like I lost a lot from the pandemic, especially the rest of my senior year. Unfortunately, I had no access to Infinity stones to snap the virus out of existence. I also did not possess chaos magic or the Darkhold where I would be able to find/create an alternate reality where none of this happened. As Doctor Strange once said, “We’re in the Endgame now.” I also started wearing face masks as it was highly recommended in order to protect ourselves against the virus. (Truth is that I already brought a lot of masks with me when I left for college, and I even wore one during the field trip). Luckily, I got some good news that I was able to do my work-study job from home, and I got to see my coworkers and supervisor over zoom a few times.

During my final month in college, I was working on finishing up my classes. I only had one final project that I did virtually, and only one actual exam where I took it over zoom with my camera on. For the seniors, the school held a drive-thru graduation which wasn’t really that impressive. There was also a virtual ceremony on the day of which was also my last official day on campus. The next day I flew back to my home state, and started my post-grad life by doing a 14-day quarantine required by the state’s government order. I was still doing my work-study job for another month. After that, I basically had no job lined up for the rest of the year. I applied to many different positions, but had no luck due to many companies being closed and not hiring as many people. This went on until the middle of 2021, and you can find out how that job went. As for what happened to my college, they did reopen for in-person classes, but there were many COVID protocols put in place. For instance, they started the fall semester earlier than usual. All students were required to get tested upon arriving to campus. Of course, masks were required at all times, and social distancing was highly enforced as well. Large outdoor tents were set up for classes and dining areas. Most of the events that happened on campus were virtual, and some students still decided to stay home and do their classes online just for that semester. Then everyone went home before Thanksgiving break, and after that it was all online classes for the remainder of the semester. They even had a dorm set-up in case students tested positive, which did happen quite a bit.

That is my experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. The truth is that it didn’t have a clear ending as the virus is still around, I am still wearing a mask, and I refrain myself from hugging and touching people despite things being back to normal. I also haven’t traveled anywhere outside of my home, and I don’t know if I ever will (even though that is on my bucket list). The one thing that bothered me during the pandemic is how people would take photos with each other, but they don’t practice social distancing in them. I mean you could easily contract the virus by taking a selfie with your friends. There were other things that happened during the pandemic that added to the dumpster fire of a year like wildfires, the death of many celebrities like Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. My grandma also passed away, but NOT from COVID. She had this infection that made her end up in the hospital twice, and I didn’t find out until I arrived home. We didn’t have a funeral, but we held small burial ceremony the following year. The only positive things about this pandemic were the importance of having to work from home as an option, and taking care of your mental health. It was a very rough year for all of us, and it still continued to the next couple of years. I still can’t believe we all survived that compared to those post-apocalyptic movies. I am especially surprised I was able to write this entire post even though it was difficult reminiscing on these events. Again, if you went through something similar, please be sure to take care of yourselves. I don’t mean to traumatize anyone else, I just thought it would be important to share my side of the story considering how this is a personal blog which covers my struggles and successes in life. Plus, it takes the weight off my chest that I have been holding onto for the last three years. I just hope we don’t get any more pandemics in the future because I can’t take any more of this PTSD I got from the COVID-19 one.