Life of A Uni Student in the Midst of Covid 19 (Week 2)

As Week 2 comes to a close, I thought I'd provide an update on how a life of isolation is treating us and some tricks we're using to survive.

Just a disclaimer, I wanted to say that we are all fighting this virus together and stand in solidarity with the horrific events taking place in China and Italy that have now spread quite quickly to our corner of the world. Although not drastically impacted yet, I offer my deep sympathies to family of those of have lost their lives as well as those struggling to survive and, because we're still relatively removed from the worst of it, this in no way is meant to seem insensitive or ignorant.

Canada: Cases --> 5448, Deaths --> 60

Week 2 was a bit of a blur as all the days now tend to mash together a bit. I last left on with an update on the Tuesday, March 17th, discussing the original change to online classes. The following day, Wednesday, I drove down from Cochrane to the South of Calgary to visit my boyfriend and his sister to take our dogs for a walk. Originally I had intended to do this because there had been talk of a mandatory household quarantine much like California had implemented and I wanted to make sure I said a proper goodbye to my boyfriend. Selfish, maybe, but like I said, we had yet to be significantly touched by the complete extent of the virus. Similarly, that Friday my friend Sabrina came to visit me a last time before we all began taking the quarantine more seriously. The first week of online classes has then passed by and we were still in an awkward waiting phase without much instruction from the school. UofC postponed the mandatory release of updated course outlines three times, making the final date the upcoming Monday so although many of our profs had gotten in touch to update us it wasn't yet mandatory. Look back, much of this week and the prior days was such an overwhelming blur.

The week before the schools were closed, March 7th and 8th, we were on a ski trip to Kimberley and later met up with our cousins in Fernie for a night at the clubs and a ski day the next day. We returned to school and had a pretty regular week, I became aware of the severity of the virus on Wednesday and began taking more care in washing my hands, got sick on Thursday and spent the day in bed, then classes were cancelled on Friday for the day and my 2pm that day all classes were called off for the rest of the semester and spring and summer. Everything happened so fast, and I'm lucky to have this blog as a way to record this event for the future.

That weekend my parents put our house on a sort of lax lock down. We refrained from leaving frivolously but did so as necessary. On Sunday my mom and I went to the grocery store to stock up on food. We had try to withhold from doing this for as long as possible because we didn't want to contribute to the chaos of grocery shortages but, as everyone else was stocking up excessively, we had to buy some food quickly before we were in a position where most of the food was sold out. We spent a grand total of $350 at the local Save on Foods, where we had a nice chat with the owner (only small town things) who shed some light on the absolute chaos that had consumed his world. Security was on the brink of being necessary and they were in the beginning stages of implementing a delivery service.

On the left, our shopping cart before check out. On the right, our pantry stocked with the food.

On Monday night I drove to my boyfriends house for dinner and to stay the night. My sister and I were granted permission to leave the house and go directly to another house as long as they were also in somewhat of a quarantine. Friends were limited but boyfriends were allowed. I dropped off a few care packages to some of my mom's coworkers that have small children - a mesh bag filled with various toys and balls to keep them active during these quarantine times. I kept my distance while dropping them off, and it felt good to do something nice for others in a time of great stress where we really have to come together as a community. It was nice to see Carson's dynamic was similar to ours and felt almost surreal in the sense that I had read about these types of scenarios in books but now that it was actually happening it feels kind of like a dream. Carson's mom works in health care so she's still at work and both my parents are off, no one really on the roads unless it essential and everyone is working through things at home and experiencing this whole sense of isolation and uncertainty.

On Wednesday I went with my dad to pick some stuff up from Home Depot and Michael's for our bathroom renovation that we started during quarantine, a nonessential trip that I felt a little guilty for but I feel like a lot of us are stuck in the phase of wanting to isolate but not wanting to give up our everyday routine. I picked up a model of the titanic that I'm working on building to keep myself busy as well as a few more canvas so I can do some more painting. I'm hoping this time in isolation will be good for my creativity and I can start writing seriously again.

Caron's came to visit me in Cochrane on Friday and we stayed inside the whole time, unlike the last couple of hangouts where we've tried to get outside. Everyone's now settling into the indoor routine after getting past that initial shock. The government closed down the provincial parks so my parents are unable to hike in the mountains like they had been doing before.

Then today, I moved out of my residence for good which signifies the end of the school year and the actual beginning of quarantine. The future is incredibly uncertain in these times but it really does help to be surrounded by your family and friends and see the world coming together to support one another. My sister and I set up our old Wii in the basement and have been spending time together playing with that. I keep in touch with friends through different news apps such as Squad and some of the classics like Snapchat and FaceTime.

So far, everything been turned upside down. I've written two midterms online and submitted multiple assignments. Everything is an adjustment but such is life, we'll get through it. It could be a lot worse and we're incredibly fortunate to find ourselves in the situation we do with health care and the option to work/study from home.

Start safe. Wash your hands.