Diary of a 3rd Year Xaverian In Quarantine (Anonymous)
Introduction
This student in going into her 3rd year at St. FX, studying under the Public Policy and Governance faculty, and was living back home with her parents during the pandemic. After a long and busy summer, she is now having to manage her expectations of what going back to school this fall is going to mean, because everything could change at the drop of a hat.
A Day in the life
This student wakes up each morning with a pretty full schedule and so gets started on her day right away. A routine stemming from the beginning of the pandemic when students initially moved home and classes moved online, she gets started on homework in the morning. Once regular winter classes ended, this student elected to take both spring and summer classes and so the studying has been a continuous factor of the entire summer. On top of class work, she has gotten a head start on studying for the LSAT’s that she will take next summer.
As I’m sure we can all relate to, it can be really helpful to study in different places, or more specifically places that aren’t your bedroom, but during quarantine, while not being on campus, and not even having coffee shops and libraries open to study at, she has been struggling to stay focused while doing all of her studying at home. Having the whole family back home also makes concentrating and focusing a lot more difficult.
Throughout the day, whenever she needs a break, some fresh air, or just to move and do something, she has been taking a lot more runs and walks, either alone or with some of her family. At the beginning of the pandemic, there were always lots of people outside for walks, but now, as people are on more regular schedules, she has noticed fewer people outside when she goes out for a walk. Her favourite way to get outside is to take her dog for a walk though, in fact having her dog while she’s home is a general highlight.
Having a summer job is a necessity for most university students, but when this global pandemic swept in, it made that feat seem temporarily impossible or at least very difficult. Thankfully, once the corner of the world where she lives began to lift restrictions little by little, she was able to resume working at her summer job where she works part-time. So some days, she can’t get started on studying right in the morning because she heads off to work, with heightened safety protocols, fewer clients, and a generally more intense working situation.
On top of classwork, her part-time job, and a busy family schedule, she has had meetings throughout the summer for the various job positions that she holds on campus and will return to once classes recommence. As a member of a house council, a lot of thought has been put into how to still maintain the excitement and energy that freshmen students bring to campus, despite this year rather unconventional. While the council that she sits on receives information only slightly before the student body does, they have been thinking on their feet about how to make the best of this situation for everyone, which requires a lot of zoom calls, teams meetings and all of the methods of communicating that we have become accustomed to.
After a full day, and maybe a little bit of Zelda her family (or those that are around at dinner time) sits down as a group for drinks to debrief their days and then has dinner all together, obviously allowing for shifting, and changing schedules. This was a routine that was started during their initial 14-day quarantine and just managed to stick for the whole pandemic, because how often is it that the entire family is home for an entire six month period. Often times during drinks or dinner, the family plays jeopardy together, using a handy function on their google home. It keeps them all on their toes and is a fun way of passing the time.
At the end of the day, usually on the weekends especially, this student, and her siblings, like to relax and unwind by watching thrillers and horror movies such as the shining and parasite.