Natalie Nevins- During my time out of school I have been doing way too much laying in my bed and sleeping, as well as wishing life could just go back to normal. As a senior this is an incredibly somber and surreal time for me. Laying in my bed day in and day out, I have had a lot of time to think about all the things I would’ve been doing if my life was never flipped upside down. I know this is a really serious and dangerous virus, but that doesn’t make missing out on your senior year any easier, and this has been something I have been struggling with throughout the duration of this entire thing. Not only am I missing the last few months of my senior year, which are supposed to be the best times and experiences of my life, I am losing out on time to spend with the people I started this whole journey with. To add, as an athlete I am expected to be at college by August 3rd for preseason, which is basically a month earlier than the rest of college students. This has me even more on edge, as I have even less time to close this chapter of my life, and to spend time with all the people I love before I go away for good. I am sure it seems like most of us seniors are overreacting, but imagine working your tail off for 12 years straight and not getting an opportunity to hear your name being called at graduation. Even worse, imagine having to enter this scary new chapter of adulthood without ever getting a chance to receive closure from the only life you ever knew before it, your childhood. On a brighter note, throughout this whole quarantine I have learned that five of my closest friends will be attending colleges in the Philly area, which honestly was one of the only positive outcomes of this entire whirlwind. Whether it be Temple, Rowan, or Drexel, I am honestly relieved to feel a sense of familiarity when I go off to school, or “home away from home.” 

In addition, I have been watching a lot of my favorite shows like Dance Moms, All American, and many other binge worthy series. I also have been going on different runs and walks around the neighborhood to save my sanity, and if my parents go to the grocery store, I will join them just for the ride. The soccer element has been another hard part to adjust to as it was a daily part of my regular schedule. Nowadays, my father and I will go train together, play each other in soccer-tennis, or even go on abrupt runs with each other. In addition, my PDA coach schedules Zoom meetings for my team every Thursday at 5, in which we are required to check in and keep him updated with what we are doing. He also requires us to complete “assignments” for him on a weekly basis and to send them in to him by Sunday night. My two kittens have been absolutely thrilled with all of us being home constantly, but my family itself is going a little crazy being trapped within the same house for so long. As a result of this quarantine chaos we even purchased a cat leash for our one cat, so yes we are those cat people. A surprising positive from this whole thing has been that I am able to online shop a bit and order some different things for delivery. I have also attempted to open my artistic horizons with coloring, writing and other things but most of the time I end up back at square one, laying in my bed watching Glee. 

I miss a bunch of things about school and about life in general but I am trying to stay positive through this hecticness. I miss the feeling of having an actual routine, and place to go to actually get out of the house and learn. I also miss seeing other humans and knowing that there is more to the world than the three Nevins’ living in my house. I also have found that I tend to get more work through the E-learning way as opposed to real school. I also have been doing assignments I would not usually be asked to do in school which is a bit odd. All in all, I just miss the feeling of normalcy, and getting to see all my friends and familiar faces in the school, but I am trying my hardest to make light of our current situation, and be thankful that my family is all well.