As will come as a surprise to no one, the last few weeks have been among the strangest in my life. The COVID-19 outbreak has really wrought havoc on virtually all of my plans for the coming months. First, Coachella was postponed to the fall—it would’ve been my first time going, but okay, understandable. I’ll survive. Next, the last three tournaments of USC’s club volleyball season were cancelled, which was a bit of a tougher blow. We had a really strong team this year, which included several seniors who didn’t get the send-off or satisfying end to the season/their careers that they quite deserved, not to mention our chance at winning the national championships. And the cherry on top: classes moving online for the rest of the semester, news which I learned while in Idaho for spring break (Idaho had very few cases at the time), and decided to leave early as a result.
I honestly thought online classes through Zoom would be impossible to adjust to—and don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t been a cake walk—but it’s a lot better than I anticipated. It’s an extremely straightforward platform and it honestly hasn’t made my classes ultimately very different, aside from me sometime sitting in bed for them. About a week into this quarantine, though, my biggest worry is how my mental state will be affected cooped up indoors long-term. I’ve been trying my best to do mini work-outs and take *responsible social distancing* walks, but it just has me all missing springtime at SC—when the sun comes out, everyone is happy to be finishing out the school year before summer, and the times are good. I know that without this happening now, though, the fall will be even better. Can’t wait!