In the past three days, the unthinkable happened. A whirlwind of information, confusion, and emotion flooded the George Washington University campus as well as other college campuses all throughout the United States. The coronavirus had officially corrupted the nation and over 40 college campuses rushed to transition to online classes. This is a nightmare.
Neither my friends nor myself were in the correct mental state to just pack up our lives and move back to our home towns. We thought we had more time to savor our freedom. Now we have no other option but to trade brunches, monumenting, clubbing, friends, and independence for regulation, boredom, and our highschool lives. We won’t get to see the coveted cherry blossoms bloom, attend graduation on the National Mall, or rejoice as the weather warms and Kogan regains its liveliness. Everything that had made the GW experience so special had been stripped away from us in a matter of days. While the administration has not yet confirmed that we will be online for the remainder of second semester, it is rightfully assumed. Yet, it still doesn’t feel real.
Even as I was packing, I couldn’t bring myself to pack for more time than the April 5th deadline. And in the few short days we were given to mobilize, there was no way I could suddenly gather all of the resources to both pack and store everything in my dorm. I stuffed what I could into my two suitcases, but if you looked at my room right now you would have no idea I was moved out. So, after April 5th I will be flying back from California. This isn’t goodbye DC, not yet.