Day: March 24, 2020

The end of this quarter has been one of unprecedented history. As the news of the coronavirus becoming a pandemic came out, many schools closed (including UCI) to prevent matters from getting worse. Although I won’t be writing on the extent of the situations nationwide and internationally, I can at least comment on my own experience on campus. 

Since March 10 the UCI community faced the news that winter quarter finals and the entirety of spring quarter instruction will be done remotely. The days following that decision consisted of the mixed reactions of almost all the UCI community. The staff, for example, had to consider the administration of online finals. Given the stress of the uncertainty about plans for next quarter my professors in particular decided to make finals optional or cancel them entirely. I am grateful that amid the stress of dealing with their own off-campus concerns that my professors made the best decisions for their students, as this was a stressful time and a lot of students communicated the concern of not being able to perform to the best of their ability on finals. 

While other students took their finals or waited to see they were cancelled or optional, it dawned on me and my hall that our time spent in the dorms would be coming to an end. For students like me who were living in the dorms we questioned whether we would be staying for spring quarter – given that spring quarter instruction would be done online some students may not need to continue to stay on campus and pay for housing. Of course students were fortunately given the option to continue to dorm and so some of my hall mates are as of now staying, but it was saddening and abrupt realization that life on campus this school year was basically done.

As I realized that on-campus life for spring quarter would not be taking place it made me sad to think about the potential events for next quarter and what could have been. As a student involved in the performing arts it was concerning too how the arts community would be affected as art is typically done tangibly and in person (the faculty of the school of arts is now fortunately making a plan for online learning next quarter). However I realize that matters are worse for other students given situations of unemployment, family concerns, and even the question of whether commencement is taking place; beyond this campus the virus is affecting individuals even more greatly as well. Given this I want to recognize that my situation is one that is more privileged and fortunate than others, and that I am not seeking pity- just documenting my experiences. 

Looking back on what has been a crazy week, though, I am glad that after I made the decision to move out of my dorm and learn from my home, me and my hall graciously spent our last days in the hall making unforgettable memories so that saying goodbye for the year was easier. I have to also thank the staff at UCI because during this unprecedented situation, they made and are still making well thought out decisions for the students and our education next quarter.

So yes, this was and is still a stressful time but moving forward I encourage everyone to be patient with each other. As a community at UCI we are each paving our own path and each individual has and will continue to make important decisions- everyone should thus support each other as these decisions are made. I have hope that as we all practice the right precautions (social distancing, washing hands) that circumstances will get better. For now as we spend more time to ourselves let us take some time for self-reflection. Social distancing is a great time to get creative, think about what impactful things you’re going to down after things get better, and keep in touch with others through our many means of social media. This is quite the unexpected end to this quarter and start to next quarter, but I am hopeful for the future and when students get to return to UCI in the fall.

What an unexpected ending to Winter Quarter … I can’t even begin to explain the chaos and uncertainty I’ve felt these past two weeks. Right now, I sit in my house fighting off allergies and I’m thinking back to last week – which feels like years ago – before schools and universities were closing.

Weirdly enough, I was messaging a friend about what would happen if UCI were to move to online. She was concerned that she would no longer have a job, and I naively thought I would be able to go to coffee shops and do some work with high school friends who would most likely come back. This was two hours before we received word from the Chancellor about the precautions being taken, and instructions to administrators to move everything online.

In a matter of a few short hours, I received emails from Professors, TA’s, and my other instructors all explaining they were immediately moving to ‘remote’ – meaning online – learning. It didn’t feel real. Here I was, a week away from finals, and there was a flood of emails from Professors scrambling to figure out whether finals would still take place. 

As I write this entry, I’ll let you know now that most of my finals were indeed cancelled, or made optional. But as a commuter living away from home, when all of this was taking place, I was focused on getting back safely and quickly. So I packed a few items to take with me to my last lecture the next morning, and made a plan: I would wake up early, get to class, and make it back to my home in the course of a few hours.

 It was one of the weirdest days of my life, and even now as the days pass, it doesn’t feel right.

I would have never imagined the progression of the current virus spreading, and I just sit here in wonder of when everything will be ‘normal’ again. This is life. So many unexpected twists and turns at any given moment. 

I know that this has affected all of us. For many, hopes of festivities, graduations, promotions, and celebrations have been taken away. My heart goes out to all affected, and to the families of those affected. 

The only advice I can give to the seniors in High School, is to pay attention right now to how prospective colleges are handling this situation and their treatment of students and workers. I am lucky to have been in a position where this doesn’t affect me financially. UCI Professors and instructors have been very generous and understanding, and to them I am eternally grateful.

I want to end this by saying, if you are very upset and sad, that it will be okay. This is not the end of the world. But also, think about the many young men, and especially young women  across the world who do not have access to higher education, or even K-12 education. Recognize the privilege we have in this country. And remember … the journey is actually more important than the destination. 

Stay safe,

Celeste

As noted in his last email, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Auxiliary Services Brice Ken Kikuchi has listed all of the closings of buildings and services campus-wide due to COVID-19. Anteater Expresses buses have stopped running as of Wednesday night at 11 p.m., forcing students to walk, bike, or use some form of alternative transportation to get to campus and back to their place of residence. On-campus amenities, such as the UPS store, The Hill, the Wells Fargo and SchoolsFirst banks, and all of the fast-food chains that are not dining halls have shut their doors. This means that if you rented your book from the Hill but did not return it on time, you’re basically screwed.

Personally, I will admit that at first, I was pretty excited about spring break coming early, but then I quickly found out that it was not as fun as I thought it was. Unless you are an extreme introvert, you will miss going to all of the campus socials and events, gossiping with friends, going to parties, and all of the other little things about the school year that you enjoyed.

Even back home, things don’t get any better. I and my boyfriend can no longer go on our Starbucks dates because restaurants no longer offer dine-in seating, forcing people to either stick with delivery services like Postmates (not recommended for those who are on a budget due to the extremely high delivery fees), drive/walk up to the restaurant themselves and order their food-to-go, or just stay at home and cook all together.

Regarding panic-buying, although it is a good idea to stock up on food so that you won’t have to come back in the future, it is also counter-intuitive if you are not buying food that you know you will definitely eat. You don’t want to panic-buy food that will rot and spoil in your fridge, or sit in the pantry for months and never get eaten because you will end up wasting money in the process. It’s best to take only what you personally need and leave the rest for shoppers who actually need food to eat. One person does not need five cartons of milk, ten cases of bottled water, eight dozen packs of toilet paper, or six containers of strawberries.

I remember the day when I and my boyfriend went on our date last Sunday, and we decided to stop by at the Northgate Gonzalez supermarket in my area. We were met with a long line of people standing outside of the store waiting to get inside. As soon as we got in, we noticed that some of the shelves of produce have been picked clean. Toilet paper and water bottles were to be sold individually upon request, and non-perishable goods were nowhere to be found. Upon checkout, we noticed that the back door had also been deactivated as a means of theft prevention, forcing shoppers to enter and exit through the front, where they can be seen by the guards.

After I move all my things out of Arroyo Vista, I will have to figure out how I am going to live during the entirety of this COVID-19 crisis. The City of Los Angeles has already closed down bars, nightclubs, libraries, gyms, and entertainment venues, and has prohibited people from dining in at local restaurants. If public transportation goes next (which I doubt because a lot of people rely heavily on public transportation to go to work– yes, there are some individuals who still have to go to work, my father included), that means being forced to cough up hundreds of dollars for ridesharing services, and if those services freeze, and you have no other alternative method of transportation, then you are basically stuck.

While it is very upsetting to find out that spring break, graduation, prom, ZotCon, Summerlands, GradNite, and multiple other events that people have been looking forward to will not happen, we also must appreciate the fact that cities and counties across America, as well as many other countries worldwide, are taking precautionary measures to contain the virus in order to limit its spread as much as possible. It is better to act now and to have it under control than to have it spiral out of control to the point where hospitals have way too many COVID-infected patients to handle, and as a result, the death rates start to skyrocket.