[aesop_chapter title=”The Day It Happened ” bgtype=”img” full=”on” img=”http://jolineblais.net/nmd343/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/f2debb4a0b29f86ccffcf9f5a60bc4c0.jpg” video_autoplay=”play_scroll” bgcolor=”#888888″ maxheight=”300px” revealfx=”inplaceslow” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
[aesop_chapter title=”Chapter 1″ subtitle=”When Times Changed ” bgtype=”color” full=”on” img=”http://jolineblais.net/nmd343/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/f2debb4a0b29f86ccffcf9f5a60bc4c0.jpg” video_autoplay=”play_scroll” bgcolor=”#804040″ revealfx=”inplaceslow” overlay_revealfx=”frombelow”]
It was just an average Wednesday and I was walking back to my dorm after my geology lab. While looking at my phone to skip to the next song I noticed I had a few emails from my university account so I go to check it out and the first thing I saw was something that was going to completely throw me off balance. It was an email stating that the university was going to be closing downing for the rest of the semester and be transitioning to online classes due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19
I stopped for second out of confusion and tried to process all this new information that just kind of came out of nowhere.
After a few minutes, I finally started to piece the situation together and realized that I had to leave campus in only a few days and that’s where the panic started to settle in. I immediately called my mom to let her know the situation and she has apparently gotten the news well before I have because it was shown all over tv. We were trying to scramble together a plan of action because since this was so sudden my mom wasn’t expecting to have to pick me up so soon. We eventually agreed on a time and date for one of my parents to pick me up and it was the coming Friday, so I essentially only had two days to pack up all of my things and leave which was so little time. I said my goodbyes and hung up the phone and continued back to my dorm to start seeing how I was going to fit everything in the car.
[aesop_chapter title=”Chapter 2″ subtitle=”Panic at Home & Work” bgtype=”color” full=”on” video_autoplay=”play_scroll” bgcolor=”#804040″ revealfx=”inplaceslow” overlay_revealfx=”frombelow”] [aesop_image img=”http://jolineblais.net/nmd343/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Hart-Hall-exterior-6-1648×930-1268×716.jpg” panorama=”off” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”fromleft” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
I arrived back at my dorm to go start putting things away. When I was tracking up to my room on the third floor all I could hear was different conversations and people calling either their friends or family to tell them what was going on. Some of these conversations consisted “Did you hear the news” or “How am I going to move out in such a short amount of time” or “I don’t want the semester to end I was having such a good time”. To sum it up people sounded stressed and scared and so was myself.
Never in my life or even parents’ life something this drastic happened to cause the whole world to go into a huge state of panic. I finally reached my room and had to sit down for a minute to still realize that something like this was happening. My roommate and I had a brief chat telling each other how crazy this whole situation was and shared the good times we had during the semester seeing how it was going to end soon. After reminiscing I had to leave the dorm to head to the dining hall that I worked at right next to my dorm and I was just wondering what the atmosphere was going to be seeing that students mainly worked during the dinner shift.
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All I can say is that my hunch was right and the mood at work was very glum. Everybody looked down and so was I. This was going to be our final shift working together and thinking about it just put me down in the dumps because I was just really getting to know everyone and have campus shut down all of a sudden really hurt. Later on in the night it got better and we would start trying to crack jokes at each other to try to cheer each other up and it worked for the most part. But I was going to miss everyone after the shift was over.
Because of this we all decided to hang out for the last day together on campus. It was a night of laughs, stories, and was just all-around good time and it was something that really brought some light to this dark situation that we all were in. This went till around midnight, then I decided to call it because I had a lot of packing to do to get ready for the coming Friday.
[aesop_chapter title=”Chapter 3″ subtitle=”Heading Home ” bgtype=”color” full=”on” video_autoplay=”play_scroll” bgcolor=”#804040″ revealfx=”frombelow” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
Suddenly it was the day that I had to leave all my friends and end off my spring semester. Before I left one of my friends that was still on campus texted me if I wanted to have breakfast before we headed out and I accepted because I thought it would be nice to see each other face to face for the last time in a while. We both sat and talked about the fun times that our group of friends shared over the course of the semester like going to the hockey games and the events that happened afterward. Or hanging out in our dorm rooms playing super smash bros, or just watching a movie and ordering pizza.
I realized that I it was just those simple things that happened which were my best memories. After our reminiscing, I had to head out because I got a text from dad saying he arrived on campus, so we put our plates away and said our goodbyes.
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It was huge pain moving everything to the car, but I was relieved that we were able to actually fit everything in even though our rearview might have been a little obstructed. We started to drive off and I got to see the campus one last time for my sophomore year and it honestly was pretty depressing and the rain didn’t help.
There was a silver lining sort of because we were able to pick up some food before we hopped on the highway so at least it was a good temporary distraction–those were beginning to be important. The highway ride felt longer than it normally took, a two-hour ride felt a lot like four or five. This was just a scenario that I thought would never come to pass and I felt like just thinking about it while looking out the rainy car window seem to just make time slow down. Time passed and we drove across the bridge from Portland to South Portland and I never would have thought I would see my hometown so soon but at least I knew that I had a happy puppy waiting to greet me at home.
We arrived at my house and the first thing I saw was a dog jumping all over me and licking my face nonstop and it was a moment that filled me with a lot of joy. Just as I thought that moving my stuff from the dorm to the car was going to be hard I was going to have to try to lug my stuff (especially all my electronics) in the pouring rain without it getting wet. With some willpower and strength, I was able to do it in a reasonable amount of time and now the extra fun part was taking everything out of bags and organizing them in my room in a way that it all fit. After some hard work and some saying hi to family members that stayed at home, I decided to call it a day because I was just plain exhausted. It was time to start getting used to this new way of life. If only I knew how crazy it was going get in the coming month…
[aesop_chapter title=”Chapter 4″ subtitle=”Trapped” bgtype=”color” full=”on” video_autoplay=”play_scroll” bgcolor=”#804040″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
It has been one month since the virus has been declared a pandemic and I had to move off campus due to concerns of it spreading. I thought that being in quarantine wouldn’t be so bad and I could get through it, but oh was I sorely wrong about that one. It started off fine, but it started feeling like I was doing the same thing every single day. To briefly describe my day to day events it would start off with me waking up in the morning and taking a shower and all that jazz. I would get my breakfast to start off the day after a shower then I would play some video games for a few hours and then do some homework assignments for my classes. I take a lunch break then get back to finishing assignments before playing video games for the rest of the night.
This process became a daily routine during this time of isolation and it really got old quick. When I’m home during breaks I am usually hanging out with friends and doing things like sitting around a fire or going to the Maine mall and hanging around the arcade. Other times I just like to drive around and just like to look around the local shops over in Portland.
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Quarantine has really made me miss those days that I got to spend with my friends and really makes me wish that things could just go back to normal. Sure I can play with my friends online but it just doesn’t feel the same and usually, those times don’t last as long compared to hanging out in real life. Staying inside the house has also given me a lot of time to just think about things as well and hope that this situation doesn’t become worse than it already is.
That can be a pretty scary thought if you think about it quite a bit. In the end, I probably shouldn’t overthink it because if everybody plays their part we can all help fight this disease together and hopefully be able to return to normal life soon. Then the boys and I can probably fill a swimming pool with all the hair that will be cut off when the barber shops and hair salons open up again.
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