2020: Coronavirus and lockdown

2020. Where do I start? I guess we all began the year with celebrations, hoping that it would be one to look forward to. Written our new years resolutions, arranged holidays with friends and family and planned other things to do for the year.

As we dwelled into the months of a fresh start, we were put on pause.

As of late January 2020, Coronavirus had its first trace in China, which then spread to United States. By February, the number of confirmed cases were increasing as the WHO had officially named the virus COVID-19. By March, it was then known as a global pandemic and a deadly disease, spreading and affecting many countries across the world. As of 6th April, the UK had had more than 51,600 confirmed cases and more than 5,300 deaths, facing the greatest gloabl health emergency in history.

In response to the global pandemic, healthcare workers were on the frontlines trying to save the nation as shops, restaurants and businesses were closed. The government advised schools and university's to close, meaning students who had worked hard and prepared to sit their GCSE's, A-Levels or university exams no longer had to sit them.

We were confined to our homes and to staying inside, unless for essential reasons like food shopping or our daily walks. Had minimal or no contact with others and all ways of social interacting were prohibited to avoid catching or spreading the virus. We were told to self-isolate, avoid meeting anyone from outside our household, wear masks to protect ourselves and limit going outside as much as possible. This meant that we couldn't see our friends or family for the time being. This was such an unprecedented time for the world - we were living history.

Living in isolation

Well, let's start from the beginning. Whilst at university, having heard about coronavirus, how deadly it is and how quickly it's spreading, in class we had just been informed that one student at Bournemouth University had caught the virus. After hearing this news, we were told to remain calm and to keep washing our hands. After my class, I went home and had received a bunch of emails saying that classes could be cancelled and we may result to online teaching. We were told this wasn't certain yet as the university was waiting to hear what the government had advised them to do and kept referring back to their guidelines and rules as to how an instituition should react. After a couple days, teaching was postponed and my university had officially closed.

On 20th March, I booked a coach to come home. At this point, I knew that was university done for the year and quite frankly, I didnt mind! I was now in a state of quarantine at home with my family, which was where I would rather be during this time. This meant that online tuition was now a thing and our lessons were moved to online. I found it fine to adapt too, however having the motivation and concentration to do work was what I found challenging, especially with everything that was happening. It was a sad and shocking feeling reading the different headlines every day of increased cases and deaths. I was also sad my first year of uni had been cut short so soon.

After completing first year and still being in quarantine for months, it started to get monotonous. I felt like I was reliving the same day over again.

I had a lot more time on my hands - I went out for afternoon walks, learnt how to bake, cut my hair, threw my sister a quarantine birthday party, painted the hallway, created more content and so much more!

I even created a short documentary about how lockdown had affected the life of an A-Level student, which in this case was my younger sister, and my video was uploaded onto my university's 'Lockdown diaries' on their website titled "Preparing for university after my A-Levels were cancelled".

I will also leave the video below as I enjoyed creating this.

Overall, this may seem like a scary time and it is but it's also a great time for self-reflection and growth. I feel as though this is a great time to give time and attention to things you've been procastinating (hence why I've started this blog) and to have a schedule or a plan to keep yourself busy.

It's important to try and remain social (except inside the house) by keeping in touch with friends and family. As well as staying in touch with others, make sure you're in touch with yourselves - this is a great time of self care. A time to relax and enjoy your own space, to stay safe and healthy. To do things that keep your mind active such a exercising, reading, going on walks, eating healthily and generally doing things that make you happy.