Going to School During a Pandemic

Hey b10ggers, It's Aves, back on my blog! Its really been a while since I posted, which I apologize for. I'm really going to try and post more this school year. I am now a sophomore!! Pretty crazy. I feel like I was just in the eighth grade yesterday writing this blog. I am so happy to be going to school now, during the worldwide pandemic with the virus "CO-VID19", we were not allowed to attend school. This was very rough, I was just sad all day and stayed at home. The only thing I could do was visit the grocery store, and for exercise I could only ride my bike. My experience going into the pandemic was interesting. In December 2019, information of the outbreak in Wuhan, China came about. We all thought it was a joke, just a silly cold across the world. I was competing in sports still and attending school, along with hanging out with friends. As January and February came along, and people got diagnosed with the coronavirus in places closer to us like Italy, Iran, and Brazil, we started to realize this would not just stay in China. On January 19th, 2020, the first case of corona was diagnosed in Washington in the USA. The first week of March, I was set to travel with my school to the state of South Dakota to learn about Native Americans and volunteer on their reservation, the Lakota Tribe. On March 7th we left, and nobody was wearing a mask in the airport. There was talk of the virus on the news, but as we lifted off on our way to Pine Ridge, South Dakota from Boston MA, there was news playing in the airport about the virus. We continued on our way to our trip, unaware of how different the world would be when we returned. I will write another blog post about my trip to South Dakota. It was an amazing experience aside from the virus. The second day we were in South Dakota, the tribe where we were living announced they were putting themselves in a state of emergency and nobody was allowed to enter the reservation. This would put some restrictions in our travel plans. On March 13th, 2020, we finished our trip and got on a plane to return home. After having no access to the internet for a week, we had no idea what type of world we would be returning too. As we stopped in Minnesota on our way home, we were shocked to see everyone wearing masks. Hand sanitizer stations were everywhere, and we were all terrified of getting the coronavirus. We stayed away from people and tried not to cough in public. When we returned to Boston, we quickly learned that we left Massachusetts with one case, and returned to 100 cases. We soon returned home to our respected houses, and prepared for a two weeks of March vacation. Quickly we realized our school break would not be exactly what we planned. Stores shut down, movie theaters, everything where people were together closed. No more restaurants, no more mall shopping, only grocery stores and doctor's offices were open. The first week everyone hung out with people. After that, it was announced that people could no longer see each other. We were isolated with our familes, and had to do school online. At the end of March break, we larned that we could not return to school until April 16th. Then it was May 2nd. Then the entire year was cancelled. We met with our teachers and class through Cisco WebEx. We had online assignments, and for the rest of the day we sat at home and did nothing. Our classes ended on May 28th. We then said goodbye to our teachers and classmates, and my freshman year ended. To keep busy over quarrentine, I wrote a lot and baked. I saw friends very distanced, and rode my bike. There was not a lot to do. In the beginning of June, I was able to go to South Carolina with my aunt! That was definetly the highlight of my summer. I am so so glad I got to go. Down in the south, it was much different than up here in MA. Nobody wore masks or social distanced. It was weird. I also got to go to Cape Cod during the summer with one of my best friends which was fun. In July, my family was able to travel to MA from SC so we could all bury my grandfather together who passed away in October. Over the summer I worked for my father and made money which was nice. I ran his company's social media. All while this was happening, COVID cases rose and fell. We had to wear masks everywhere. May 6th was the date when masks became mandatory in MA. September 1st is when my school started. We need to wear masks all day and be separated. I really do not like going to school during this pandemic, and I would rather it be back like it was last year, but it can't be, and that is how it is. We play field hockey with a mask on and learn in the classroom with masks on. We are hoping next year will be back to normal. It is interesting to have virtual students in my classroom. I am so happy to be at school, I just do not enjoy the precautions. I completely understand we have to do it, I just wish we did not have to. I guess you can't undo the damage that has been done. We have to wipe down our desks after every class, and wear a lot of hand sanitizer. Only a certain amount of people can be in rooms. This has been my account so far of the COVID19 pandemic. Have any questions? Comment on this post! Thank you for reading! Aves