Birmingham, AL
My most impactful memory of the situation so far happened on the last day of classes before spring break. We were frantic, not because of the virus but because the last day before break is loaded with deadlines. I had fifteen minutes before my next class and ten of that needed to be spent cram-studying for that day’s quiz, but I was trying to fit in every last second with my friends from the class that had just ended. Pretty soon I was forced to run off to the next building but as I was jogging away it finally hit me that I wouldn’t be seeing these people again and that even though nothing was final, we most likely wouldn’t be coming back after break. I would have hung around longer or skipped class to have one last lunch together but there were too many grades on the line and I really didn’t have a choice but to move on to the next thing. I realize how uneventful this story really is, but it sticks in my head as the first moment I felt that things had spiraled out of control and the first time that I felt powerless amidst the pandemic.
Birmingham, AL
My favorite class was Chinese and I used to pass with 105%. Since the switch to online classes, I’ve failed out and withdrawn from the course. It’s absolutely miserable trying to speak a foreign language over video call in my opinion, so I stopped attending. Online classes gave me no structure and I pretty quickly lost all semblance of a healthy sleep schedule. Pretty soon I found it impossible to get out of bed for an 11 AM course and slept in. Then as soon as I’d missed the first one, I didn’t care anymore and missed another one. Then I felt like I was so behind that attending made me anxious because I knew I’d be called on and embarrassed, so I skipped three whole weeks of online meetings and failed out.