While continuing on my journey to provide perspectives on the coronavirus from individuals who represent the common American family, I realized the next subject I was going to interview was a person who is currently attending University and who was around the age of a young adult. I thought to myself as to who I could interview that would fit these criteria. After a while, I finally realized who better fit those criteria than myself! Therefore, this blog post will cease to be a bit untraditional in the sense of conducting an interview and bring another individual's story during the coronavirus to life. In other words, this blog post will consist of myself telling the story that I am living currently through this pandemic. I felt the best way to accomplish this was by asking myself the same questions I have asked my previous subjects addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Keep in mind, many questions that were addressed in past interviews will be combined responses that are included in my perspective. I hope to achieve the goal of providing a common perspective from individuals who may be in a similar situation by explaining my story during this time of difficulty. My story starts on a positive side. Like most of my other interviews, it is important to look at both the general positives and negatives of the situation we are all living through currently. The most important positive, I believe everyone should realize and appreciate, is the ability to spend time with family and loved ones. Sometimes college can feel like you are on a deserted island with no one there to assist or love you through the tough situations that can be associated with secondary education. With the stay at home orders in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have found ample time to spend with my immediate family. I feel as though, my family as a whole has become closer due to the emotional experiences we are all going through. It is reassuring to be able to build a stronger connection with my family before I head off to college again in the future. I have also experienced moments of realization that have had positive effects on my life during this time. The main realization I have encountered is being aware of who my true friends are what people care about me the most. My friends, who I have become very close with at college, and I have almost in a way become closer even though we had lost out on potential experiences with each other. My friend group continues to group call each other almost daily in hopes of not losing our friendship. I am very grateful that I have friends who care about me and who want to become closer even though the virus prevents that physically. In retrospect, I miss my friends very much which leads me to the negatives that have occurred due to the virus. As you might predict, the biggest negative I see from this pandemic is the lack of interaction with friends, family, and society in general. While it is nice to have more time to spend with immediate family, the lack of social interaction with my friends has been tough to overcome. I feel over the last month or so, people and myself included, have realized how much we need other people in our lives and interact with others daily. Therefore, I eagerly miss college as well. I miss my friends. I miss the late-night study sessions in the library. I miss eating breakfast every morning with my soccer teammates. This idea leads to my next major negative effect that the virus has caused. Online schooling has been an interesting experience that I will never forget. I find online schooling to be a challenge and see it as a downgrade from standard in-person education. In a way, professors expect you to teach yourself the same material and ideas that would be taught in a normal class period. In addition, they also expect you to take the same exams, quizzes, and homework assignments that simply do not fit well into the online format. While my university is making many changes to accommodate the different learning environments, I still would prefer to be receiving my education in the classroom. However, these two aspects do not play a role in the amount of fear I have for the virus. I normally move on in the interview by asking my subjects to rate themselves based on fear of the virus on a scale from one to ten. In this situation, ten is having the most fear of the virus. I find it interesting when I combine this question with another involving their highest concerns that involve the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, I will do the same in my response. If I had to rate myself based on my fear of the virus's implications, I would give myself a six. Few reasons contribute to the fear I have which have resulted in my major concerns during this time. The first reason may seem cliché or obvious, but it deals with the health of others. This includes the situation of my friends, family, and other loved ones that are involved in my life. As we have learned over the past month or so, the coronavirus can be very deadly and it worries me that there is a possibility of them contracting the infection. Another reason that promotes my fear is the state of the economy. While the state of the economy may not have a large effect on my individual life, it can have a drastic effect on my family situation. As the economy steadily decreases and more people are out of work, I become more fearful of what other effects the economy may have on not just my family, but other individuals in society. In some cases, the state of the economy can directly affect the health and condition of some individuals in society by causing mental stress and fatigue. I worry for those people who may be less fortunate than my family and I. I can only hope that people will be safe and things will get better soon. I feel the most important thing I have realized throughout this pandemic is the idea that what seems lost will be found. The virus has brought death, sickness, and numerous other complications that have plunged out society into a state of wandering. At first, our nation did not know how to address the virus, but over time we have found our ground and are set to defeat the invader. I thought I would lose my friends, potential life experiences, and my education. However, what I thought was lost in my life has been found. While the virus has impacted my life in many ways, I am still able to find the good in life. I fully believe that God is looking out for us and protecting us in unimaginable ways. This gives me hope this pandemic will be over soon resulting in a society that is lost no more.
