Category Archives: Quarantine

Just finished my Math final and now I’m done with 2 out of my 4 finals! Due to me signing the honor code, I cannot disclose it’s difficulty and whatnot but I’m glad that it’s over. Not to say that I’m going to immediately forget everything I’ve learned or anything, but now I feel like I switch my brain over to my remaining subjects. Even though classes have been pass/fail, it seems like most people are studying just as much as a normal semester for them. At least, spending the same amount of time — less work could be done due to stress etc. The last couple of nights I’ve been up in the haunted 24 hour room in Sawyer, and have seen different people there each day. We distance ourselves naturally, but it’s reassuring(?) knowing that other people are studying as well because that motivates me. Time to knock out the last two 💪😤

Guess who procrastinated again for my finals by hiking up Stone Hill? To be fair, my professors have been surprisingly lenient on my exams — one of them changed from three 1200 word essays within 24 hours to only three 900 word essays within 72 hours! Thank goodness. So using that as a reason for celebration, we decided to trek up good ol’ Stony once more. Maybe it was because it was their dinner time, but there were way more cows than usual. I think I counted ~25? Some were a little overprotective of their children, but overall cows are very respectful as long as you respect their space. One headbutted me while I was trying to take a selfie — maybe she’s camera-shy? We spent a good half an hour or so just walking alongside them, feeding them grass from our hands. Like I’ve said time and time again, breaks like these are necessary, especially in times like these.

My chemistry teacher from high school is retiring this year, so some people from my grade wanted to catch up with her one last time via Zoom. Of course I said yes, and the timezones worked out so the people back home had to wake up early (ha), and it was dinner time for me. When I logged on, I was greeted by a dozen or so faces I haven’t seen in a year! It was so nice seeing everyone and our dearest teacher again 🥰 It seemed like a 50/50 split with people moving back home post-COVID, and people staying in the US (for context, 90+% of students from my HS go to US colleges). But I think I was the only one who was still staying on campus. Everyone else was living with their family or close friends. Some said they hadn’t left their house in months, which I can’t imagine doing. I’d go insane! But people have different health priorities and all I can say is I’m blessed to be here in W-town where at the very least I can have my daily walk to pick up food.

When I was little, I used to go outside when it was pouring rain and soak it all in. Of course, my mom would yell at me for wetting the house, but it was always worth it. Something about a shower by nature was so…cathartic. I probably didn’t stress much at that age but I felt cleansed and whole again afterwards.

As I grew up, I cherished the rain less and less. It became more of a nuisance because my mom was right, it did leave a mess. And on top of that, rainy days are just so gloomy! But today, I had no choice but to cherish it. Because as Abu and I were walking back from dinner, it started pouring. Like, CSS-texts-you-twice-about-staying-inside levels pouring. Instead of waiting it out like rational people, we decided to sprint it out. I had a frisbee so I thought it would cover me a little at least (spoilers: it didn’t). So here we were, exposed to the torrential downpour, running out of breath, laughing at our stupidity, all our stress washing away. Much needed before finals season. Kinda cathartic!

You know what it is, my favorite form of procrastination! But this time, instead of visiting my cows atop Stone Hill, we decided to venture into the unknown — Hopkins Forest. It was a nice change of pace! We probably passed more houses than I’ve ever seen in Willytown, although they all seemed to be dead (dinner, perhaps?) during this hour. Surprisingly, we were also passed by more cars than I would’ve though on this minor road. After 20 minutes or so, we “entered” the forest, which I guess was just a fork leading us onto a new trail. Another 10 or so minutes, and there was an opening on our left so we entered. An unobstructed view of the purple valley lay right before our eyes. It was incredible. Amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before. I’m going back there when it’s warmer in a time of less stress to sleep overnight under the stars.

Today was the last meeting for my tutorial on Russian crime and punishment! After 12(?) long weeks of reading and writing about the judicial system in Russia from the 11th to 19th century, I can officially say I’m finished with my first ever tutorial class 🤩 As the semester progressed, I began to like it more and more until it became my favorite class so I’m feeling a little melancholic right now. Partly because I began to understand the groove of the “tutorial cycle” more, and learnt how to kinda manage my time. And I think another reason was that the tutorial format lended itself to the least amount of friction/change after moving online, since the quality of our weekly meetings didn’t go down with Zoom. Nevertheless, I’m glad I took this class, even as my first Div I / Writing Skills requirement in the face of corona.

P.S. Interesting thought experiment: what if all classes next semester are in tutorial format? For Div I/II and some Div III courses, it would allow for a fuller online experience. And there’s a 1:7 ratio of faculty:students so it’s feasible. The only problem would be courses that don’t translate well to online already (Div III with labs, dance, etc.) as well as intro courses. But I think Oxford does this already for all their courses so maybe it’s possible?

Wow, can’t believe the end is already here. Truly, time flies.

The next two weeks are gonna be hella busy but I hope to continue to chronicle them so I can look back at them in the future and think “Ha! You were stressing out over that? During your easiest year and on top of that, classes were pass/fail?” But hear me out, future me. there is a global pandemic and I don’t know my summer and even fall plans, and post-grad plans for that matter, and I’m constantly worrying about my family and friends so yeah, it was/is going to be a tough finals week!

So like I said yesterday, we ordered Dominoes right. But this was on top of dinner and cake, so we decided to save half of it for breakfast today. We left it in the box in the croom, right next to the cake and cookies, but this morning they were gone!!! Nobody we knew had any idea where it went. So I’m assuming that the custodians saw the box and threw it out? Which doesn’t make sense since A) it was with our other food and B) why should they touch stuff that’s clearly not in the trash? I don’t know, maybe I’m just being salty but that’s money down the drain :((( I know it was an accident but I hope it doesn’t happen again :(((

I turned 19 today! As my friend said, “happy COVID-19th” 🤣

A month ago, I would’ve been disappointed in the prospect of celebrating my birthday in quarantine. But now, it’s not so bad! There was a surprise zoom call with some of my friendies at midnight, and it was nice being back in that chaotic environment once again. Someone baked a cake and ate it during the call — not too sure if it was for me or if they just wanted to make a cake for themselves tho hmm. And this afternoon, my friends who live right next to / below me hosted a mini-party, complete with gourmet pizza (Dominoes), candles (the lamp), and cake (from Tunnel)! We just hung out and let ourselves forget about the pandemic and finals and all for an hour or so, enjoying the best that Williamstown has to offer. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my birthday with anyone else 🥰

First off, it snowed this morning!!!!! Why!!! It’s May!

Okay, now that’s out of the way, I want to address something. There’s been an alarming trend of quarantined people attempting to cut their own hair. Which is fine and all, but it seems like a lot of them just give up halfway and go completely bald? If you’ve always wondered how you’d with zero hair, I guess now’s the perfect time to experiment so you can’t really blame them.

But I’ve been cutting my own hair for a while now, and let me tell you, a normal haircut is honestly not that hard to do. You just need a mirror and a stable hand, that’s all! My friend also (unintentionally at the same time) cut his hair today, and we’re trying to convince someone else to try it out too. I wonder how the barber industry is gonna be like once everyone figures it out / settles for a bald look for life.