By: Animesh, Connor, and Ondrea Introduction:Hi everyone! We hope you all are still doing well and remaining safe. For our next installment of Reflections from home, we’re planning on discussing what we’ve been doing in our house during this quarantine period. Comment below and share your experiences as well! Enjoy! Ondrea:How long has it been since we started social distancing? I have completely lost track of time. In the last few weeks, we were informed by our school district that school will be closed for the rest of the year. As upsetting as that may be for many of us, I had to find things to do as a means to keep myself busy. In the beginning, like most people who have been quarantined, quarantine had turned me into a *chef*. (Please take note that the asterisk signs are there to emphasize sarcasm.) I started making food that I missed the most. Some of which included, Curry Puffs, Swiss Rolls, and Eclairs. Despite my sudden interest in baking everything, I had to experiment and find ways to use the ingredients to the fullest in order to preserve the amount of food that we have. Other than filling my stomach with unhealthy food, I have also been exercising--taking walks, jump roping, and going for runs. Going on walks in my neighborhood during these past few weeks allowed me to observe the change in season. As we go from winter to spring, leaves and flowers start to emerge, and animals start to come out of their habitats. Another new thing that I decided to try was playing video games. Yes, it probably sounds stupid and maybe even a little funny, but before quarantine I was never really into video games. It was either unengaging or too time-consuming for me. Then my sister decided to purchase a Nintendo Switch along with the video game called, “The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild.” I have been playing it for about a week now and it seems like it will be consuming more of my time in the future. Animesh:Hello again. It is week four (maybe 5?) Time has sort of started to blur together as our quarantine stretches indefinitely. School is fully cancelled now--and graduation has been postponed--so there isn’t really a light at the end of the tunnel. That being said, I’ve been figuring out a couple of productive ways to use my free time. First and foremost is spending time outside and working out. I’m really grateful that the quarantine period, barring the one weekend where it snowed, has been full of good weather. It’s allowed me to go for runs, play basketball with my sister, and, just generally, enjoy the outdoors. I’ve also been spending some time exercising downstairs and doing random youtube workouts. They’ve kept me physically engaged, and, without any unhealthy food from outside my house to eat, I think I’ve gotten a lot leaner during this break period. Getting physically active has been relatively easy, but intellectual stimulation has been hard to come by. Some of my class, due to their college/dual-enrollment nature, have been giving me daily assignments, but the vast majority aren’t allowed to give me work. I’m also only taking 1-2 AP exams because I can’t get credit for the majority of my classes. As a result, I haven’t been doing much studying. Instead, I started out getting pretty involved with creative writing and entering into some contests-and later getting published! That was definitely a fun experience and motivated me to keep writing and experimenting with a creative side of myself that I probably didn’t tap into much during high school. Finally, my high school debate experience culminated in an online version of the Tournament of Champions this past week. Although the best part of the tournament couldn’t be replicated, hanging out with my team and seeing friends in person, it was nice to get a semblance of closure from an activity I’ve been involved in for the past seven years. So at least, in that sense, I was pretty busy these last couple of weeks. Since then, however, there’s been a lot of Netflix binge-watching and video games with my friends! Connor:What haven’t I done since quarantine began? Don’t get me wrong, this is in no way me boasting to be some sort of productive genius. In fact, I’ve pretty much become the exact opposite. During the first few weeks of quarantine, I lived freely (or more freely). With no responsibilities or assignments, I was free to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. However, when things began to normalize—or as much as can be expected in quarantine—I was in desperate need of structure. I needed to re-organize my life. By sleeping less sporadically, picking up a planner, and instituting personal deadlines, I began making the time to not only complete my responsibilities, but also pick up a few new skills along the way. I’ve enjoyed learning to cook. With my parents often stuck in arduous business calls through the late afternoon, I’ve had to freshen up on my culinary skills to survive. Simple things like pasta and soups made up my repertoire, until I discovered the plethora of instructional videos on Youtube and Instagram Live. Traditional recipes on google always overwhelmed me, but these tutorials allow me to cook step by step with the likes of Gordon Ramsey and milktpapi, completely elevating my game. I try to memorize a dish per week, usually consisting of cuisines outside my own culture, which sometimes means Mexican, Italian, or even American. I’ve also made staying active a priority. With all these extra calories, I couldn’t let my body sit around all day. When COVID-19 first spread to Iowa, my brother and I quickly purchased some free-weights and constructed our personal gym—a good decision with most weights now sold out online. It’s given me something to look forward to each day—not the body-numbing routines, but the weekly progression and growth. And lastly, I’ve been consumed with preparing for college. All the things I postponed until getting into college are finally at my doorstep. That means learning about housing systems, doing research for clubs, and navigating through dense curriculum overviews. With high school officially over, I couldn’t be more excited for college. Hopefully, COVID-19 won’t infect that as well.
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Year ARchive
February 2023
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