For the past two weeks, I have been partying it up in Los Angeles… with my grandparents. When Barnard announced that we would be online this fall, my parents decided it would be safer and more affordable for me to go stay with them rather than get an apartment. Also, I live with seven people back home, so it is definitely better to have some space to myself. I can’t imagine the noise of five children all on Zoom calls all day long. My poor internet connection would die instantly. So, I am here, in my own room with the best peace and quiet a girl can dream of. I love Hewitt, but nothing can beat my grandma making dinner every night, or watching game shows during said dinners.
The one thing I can’t do is connect with people under the age of 65. Back home in Philadelphia, I was able to see a friend or two — socially distanced, of course — and it was great. Now, I am living with a high-risk group and most of my friends in the LA area are quite far. My 14-day quarantine will finish on Monday and I can start to go “out” again, but I still run into the issue of what to do while still protecting my grandparents and following California’s laws.
So far, I have resorted to FaceTiming with my closest friends and counting down the days that I will be able to have long, meaningful conversations back on the lawns outside Milstein. The time difference has made it difficult for me to convert in my head, but that’s what my Alexa is for — much to my dismay with Amazon. I ordered a dip nail polish kit and can say with confidence that I am not going to be a nail technician anytime soon. If you ever decide to try one, it is essential that you have 100 percent acetone on-hand because it gets messy and you will have to peel it off like me. I can say with confidence that I am able to rewatch shows after just finishing them without getting bored. Since March, I have watched Friends and 16 seasons of Law and Order: SVU, twice. I probably have a problem, yes, but it helps me cope with “familiar” faces like Monica Geller and Olivia Benson.
I say all this not to blog about my boring quarantine days, but to acknowledge that there are other options to fill my days besides going out and grabbing pizza at Koronet. The acknowledgement might be more for my own sanity, but who knows, maybe someone else is going through the same frustration as me. These weird times make it very difficult for college-age students to socialize the way we normally do. It’s been my goal to find different ways to avoid going crazy until Barnard lets us back on campus. Now I just need someone to tell me they’re proud.