By Alice, 18, Boulder, Colorado
Freshman year of college was going just fine; I had found new friends, hobbies, interests, and had solidified a great schedule for myself. But out of nowhere, it ended two months too early. I was going out to breakfast with five of my friends from my dorm floor when my stepmom called and told me to pack up my stuff by the end of the week.
I left officially the following day. Everything changed so fast, and I had no idea what to think of it. I moved back home on a Saturday and continued classes that Monday (online). No one knew what they were doing- including the teachers. Still, four weeks after I moved out and stopped in-person contact with everyone except for my family, no one knows exactly what they are doing.
At times it feels chaotic, even if absolutely nothing is going on in my house. I found that every day started to blend together and I was worrying that I was wasting my day, but at the same time wondering if there was really anything to be wasted. So, instead of looking outward on the chaos in the world, I look inside- that is, inside my house. I have now found ways to kill time, in a good way.
- Luckily, all of my classes are set at specific times which gives me a sense of a schedule. It is up to me to schedule the rest of my day around them, but homework usually keeps me very busy.
- I try to get in a bit of exercise every day, which often is just taking my dogs on a long walk, and then adding some sort of workout from YouTube or any classes that have been converted virtually, like CorePower or Peloton.
- I have found that I am cooking and baking a lot more; I unknowingly spend a lot of time every day watching Facebook cooking videos which give me inspiration for unique meals that I can make for my family. This lightens up quarantine as my hard-working doctor parents can be greeted with a hopefully at-least-ok-tasting meal when they get home from work!
- Even though we should technically be staying inside, it helps me to get outside for at least an hour a day. Our world is still beautiful!
- I’ve been doing more art recently, and have started being pen pals with my close friends. We send each other a letter along with art, stickers, recipes, pictures, or whatever we want, just to give each other something to look forward to throughout each week
- Prom! My sisters and I realized we hadn’t gotten dressed up or put on makeup in what felt like forever, so we got all fancied up, took prom pictures in our backyard, and ordered a nice meal and cocktails (it’s not illegal if it’s in your own house- right?) from a local restaurant. Hopefully we’ll have another social event soon...
Even though the process of moving out of college happened so much sooner than I had expected, I’m trying to make the situation better every way I can by taking it one day at a time, and having something to look forward to each and every day.