A warm hug with my mom, a cup of coffee with an old friend and quality sleep on a fluffy bed… this is what I expected the start of my winter break to be like. Instead, I was stuck in a Japanese college dorm room for four days with 2.4G Wi-Fi, cold meals delivered to my room and a government app that tracks my GPS location every minute.
As per the Japanese government’s COVID-19 regulation, I was forced to quarantine for four days from December 11th to 15th when I flew from California to Japan over winter break.
Unlike my other friends on the same flight as me who were isolated at top-class hotels, I was placed in a college dorm in Tokyo. I was even more devastated to find that my bed was as hard as the wooden chair in the room and that I had to set up my own pocket Wi-Fi, which I had to reconnect every two hours.
I spent the first night attempting to call my friends (the calls crashed often due to poor Wi-Fi), re-watching the first season of Money Heist, and scrolling through Instagram. The day was mostly filled with a feeling that I was wasting my time.
The second day, I decided to explore, as my curiosity got the best of me. What are some things that are in Japanese college dorms that are not in the UCLA dorms? What does this campus look like? As I explored, I realized that the small shower places, Japanese buckwheat pillows and the sandy soccer fields outside were all something I missed out on during my experience at international schools and at UCLA. I had never been to a Japanese school before, so to think that I was living in a Japanese college dorm excited me.
On the third day, I made plans with my friends for the winter break, read The Truths We Hold: An American Journey (Kamala Harris’s autobiography), and even came up with the idea to write this article. Reading was something that I never had the time to do at UCLA. If I was isolated in my house, the good Wi-Fi and fluffy bedding would have distracted me from reading. It was in this uncomfortable but peaceful environment that helped me get back to this old hobby.
On the last day, I decided to go deeper. I thought about my future, about what I want to do before and after I graduate. Organizing my thoughts in this way without any distractions or inputs from others helped me clarify what I really want in my life and find meaning in what I do.
At the UCLA dorms and at my house, I never had the time to think about this. I was constantly surrounded by friends and family, usually leaving me with no time to think alone. Thus, the isolation period was almost a meditative experience for me: a chance to think, reflect and grow.
What I initially thought was going to be a quarantine horror story turned out to be a much-needed experience that helped increase my tolerance and clear my mind. It’s important to always see the bright side of things, and make the best out of what you are given. Most of us are currently isolated in our rooms or houses due to remote learning; let’s use this time to do things we didn’t have the time to do in Fall quarter and make this a year with no regrets!