How COVID-19 has affected my life, a student submission by Celestina Martinez

Photo courtesy of Celestina Martinez

By Celestina Martinez, Student Submission

As my sister makes cookies at a friend’s house, I stay home and watch crime shows. One of my best friends goes to work and my mother goes to work. So did my dad, until recently. My corona quarantine life has not been as glamorous as social media makes it out to be.

I stay up way too late – 2:30 a.m. or later – and sleep in way too long. When I do get up, I start my day like any other day: dress, eat, make the bed and then lay in it, spending hours switching between social apps, all pasted with the same news and memes. One day, I made homemade tortillas.

My quarantine starts with me worrying if I have a job or not. I work on Delta’s campus in the biology AP study room and since there are no face-to-face classes, my job now seems pointless. 

My boss updated us on our work status every day: there was a plan in action. Student workers would go to work in a 4-hour block, Monday-Thursday cleaning biology models and classrooms. Great – I would be out of the house and working, socializing with my coworkers! 

Sadly, that came to a crashing halt when Delta announced it was closing its campuses and only people of importance would be allowed on campus. Shit. There goes my job.

I start to panic. How am I going to pay my loan payment? My phone bill? All these things clog my head.

Luckily, one email makes that go away. Delta contacts all student workers letting us know that they will still get paid and our bosses are going to enter our time in. Woo, thank goodness! One less thing to worry about.

Now, my worry is how to entertain myself for the next few weeks. 

I’m starting to get tired of watching Netflix or Hulu. I have read all my books and there is not much to do in my house. I’m starting to miss my friends and social interactions. I really don’t want to stare at the same four walls anymore. I might regret the color grey for my walls.

I do not know how this will affect my family, because we have become accustomed to our own schedules and space. Now we are in each other’s lives and stepping on each other’s toes. It’s going to be a fun time!

Thank goodness for the two bottles of wine stashed in my closet. 

I prepare for worse to come.