Page 24 - COVID Consortium Journal - An Edited Collection of Student Art and Writing

happening, every day if the same thing. Two months seemed to have gone by
in two days. Nothing feels the same. I’ve gotten used to this life. I can’t even
imagine how it will feel to get back to normal when we can go outside without
wearing a mask. When we can hug our friends, go to concerts, movies, and
literally anything. When we will be able to see our loved ones without fearing
that we could unintentionally kill them.

Quarantine has taught me a lot. Quarantine helped me be able to worship
the moments I spent with my friends. It even helped me like being in class. It
made me miss the presence of my classmates. I miss being able to make small
talk with someone I usually don’t talk to. I miss making accidental strong
friendships with the people who sat around me. I miss the constant chaos of
school. I miss the energy of people. I miss everything. Quarantine really opened
my eyes to what I needed to care about. It’s made me a new person, or at least I
think it did.

I heard the news that a vaccine was found and I genuinely hope it can
bring an end to this. I hope that no more people will need to die and that we
take what we learned through quarantine and use it moving forward. I hope
we take the good things that quarantine taught us and continue to do it, I hope
we all see actions that were done that prolonged the virus and create programs
that prevent these events from occurring again. I can’t say anything truly in-
spiring from what I learned during this pandemic as it is not over yet, my life
right now revolves around this virus and I can’t explain its true impact on me
until it is over. What I mean by this is that the life that I am living right now has
become my normal, it feels weird to remember how life was a couple months
ago. I’ve adjusted and even with everything going on it no longer feels weird.
Simply reflecting on that is insane to me.

I am not good with change, I fear it, but this virus has taught me that
change isn’t so bad. I genuinely wish I could have learned this in a different
way that did not involve a global pandemic. I know I will learn more once quar-
antine is over and I need to adjust back to how life was before, but until then I
take every day as a day of new learning opportunities. I simply hope people will
actually take this seriously so some progress can be made and we will finally
be done with quarantine. Anyways, remember to wash your hands and stay
safe no matter if a pandemic is happening or it’s just another regular day. If
everyone was more sanitary before the pandemic it could have possibly led to a
slower spread.

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