Quarantine Chronicles Pt I: Brian Morrell ’20

Week One

The coronavirus has impacted us in every possible way, from school to social life, and I’m sure it has made a difference in your lives too. Being a fourth-year student during this time has been really disappointing. We are missing events like Senior Formal and Commencement will be moved to a later date, but we have to make the most of it (keeping social distancing in mind). 

Since this has happened all of our classes have been moved online for the remainder of the semester. No more presentations 🤣! Don’t get too excited, because we still have weekly assignments and lectures. The workload can be stressful, but I have been making sure to check e-mail and Moodle regularly so I don’t fall behind or miss anything. Since I live off campus, I am starting to make trips home to move stuff back from time to time. Over the course of my time here at PSU I have never seen the campus so empty. It’s like we’re living in a pandemic or something.  

It’s important to make sure to stay active during this time of social distancing. While the gym is not open you can still go outside for a run or have a catch with some friends (six feet apart). I have been to the spring down the road a few times to get some fresh water and it’s another excuse to get out of the house.  

The bars and restaurants on Main Street here in Plymouth are all closed for the time being for obvious reasons 😢.  However, our generation has no problem keeping in touch with friends and family. I have noticed a lot of ways people are staying in contact using social media. For example, some people like to post a video of them doing 10 pushups and tagging some friends to do the same to create a chain of videos to inspire people to stay active. More recently, people have been posting embarrassing pictures and then tagging friends to do the same to keep others in a good mood so we aren’t stuck looking at the news all day long.  

One of the positive aspects of this is that we live in a world where we have the technology to stay in touch with people for personal and professional reasons. Working in marketing for example, a lot of the work that we do can be done from the computer. Working from home can be distracting at times but the bottom line is the work will still be able to get done. It’s also useful to use a platform like Microsoft Teams in order to communicate. The con would be that I don’t get to go to work to work in Communications and Marketing, the best department on campus 😞. 

Overall, week one has been a success, my schoolwork is getting done on time, the tasks from work have been going very well, and my social life… well that took a hit, but I’m sure it will get better in the next few weeks. Stay safe out there!