A “Great” Start to 2020

To be honest, I would have never expected to experience global pandemic that would impact life, but here I am. At the end of 2020, I had made a new year’s resolution to myself that I would get my life together and well… that didn’t exactly happen. Here I am quarantined in my house with all of my dorm life packed snugly into my room. I DREAMED of an extended spring break to hopefully mentally prepare myself that I have yet another half of a semester I still needed to finish before I finished my sophomore year at UNC, but now I am dreading it. Why? everything literally came crashing down on the whole world at once! First I hear that there’s a virus going around, the world isn’t too worried about it. Next thing I know this virus known as “Covid-19” or Ms. Rona as Twitter seems to call it, is spreading rapidly so fast that it is putting countries on lockdown and closing businesses everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very serious virus that everyone should be cautious about, but it is definitely taking a toll on my life. Here’s how:

It all started when people started buying out all of the toilet papers, as well as milk, eggs and packs of water bottles from the stores, completely emptying the aisles. Then, I get an email saying that universities are closing and are moving to online classes for the rest of the semester. For a person who lives with many brothers and a stay at home dad, it isn’t easy for me to study efficiently at home. I’ve been asked numerously by the media and my parents to stay at home and isolate myself, which was what I have been doing and it is currently driving me crazy because an extrovert like myself needs social interaction! I then get an email from my restaurant job saying that I have been laid off due to Covid-19, and I’m thinking, “great, how will I be able to make money?”. The same thing happens to my mom, who owns her own nail spa. At this point I’m completely scared about what will happen; how will we pay rent? How will I pay for my college tuition? I will we pay for groceries and other necessities? All of these questions are running through my head, the U.S definitely has not prepared for the consequences of this pandemic and we are painfully suffering from it.

I honestly believe that this is the start to the end of the world. 2020 has started with Australia being engulfed in bush fires for many months, volcanoes in the Philippines that have not had any activity in the last century are suddenly erupting and destroying villages, Locusts have swarmed East Africa, Indonesia has been flooding, Kobe Bryant died, and the coronavirus has became a global pandemic interrupting the lives of everyone. For now, one of our biggest problems, the coronavirus, is increasing in cases everyday and killing thousands. The world has always been so fast-paced, and it is probably the first time in history that it is not. Most people are practicing social distancing and staying in their homes instead of going out. I guess one of the positive things to come from this is that the environment is becoming “healthy” since pollution is decreasing due to lack of humans working and going out. This situation definitely reminds me of a movie called “Contagion” directed by Steven Spielberg, Warner Bros. , 2011. Will it end like it? Let’s hope so.