Well, I Never...

Well, I never thought that it was going to take so long. I am obviously very naive when it comes to pandemics, I thought that in a couple of months since it started, things will go back to normal, people will be sharing their incredible stories from life during spring 2020, writing books about it and by now we will not even remember what it felt like panicking about not having toilet paper on supermarket shelves. When I titled my blog post from 23rd March 2020 "And Pause" I really thought we were going to pause not STOP completely for ages. I was and unfortunately still am naive (because I think that it will be gone with the vaccination, right? No more dying, suffering and restrictions....naive, I know).

Anyway, since the media is full of reflections on the past year, commemorating the first national lockdown, I felt like I should reflect on mine, which started exactly a year ago. I was sitting at uni, listening to our tutors about the Degree Show plans when I found out that a member of my family has been coughing a bit that morning and I needed to go home to isolate myself immediately. I remember I felt like I had a plague walking through the corridors of the school after I excused myself from the class. Luckily my family was fine and nobody suffered from Covid-19. I am not going to reflect on what I missed or didn't do because of the restrictions or what I could have or would have if..., but I would like to reflect on what I gained out of this strange situation. For example, I made two really good friends. It is bizarre when you think that meeting people was the last thing that I was up to last year. Surprisingly, because I couldn't meet anyone, I started to contact those who I thought were super isolated and that's how it happened. We suddenly had time to chat, share our life stories and become friends.

I have finally spent the whole summer in England and it was beautiful. I never thought about the perfect climate this country has in the summer. The nights stay fairly cold despite the hot days and so sleeping with open windows was bliss and rather refreshing.

Like everyone else, I spent a lot of time with my family, I walked miles, I became the next Masterchef champion, I learnt how to Zoom and Team up with the world outside but mainly I learnt to live in a moment and not to plan much.

There is no doubt that the Pandemic is a tragedy but it also made me a better person. It made me stop and think and question everything around me, I learnt a lot about racism and antiracism, about disabled people, about LGBTQ+, about politics, environment, history, poetry, art, film, math, teenagers, education, disease, maps, migration, routine, habits, the domestic environment, friendship, grieving for the dead and missing the living ones ... and about myself (to never settle).

Being naive as I am, I really don't think I will be writing an anniversary post from another lockdown next year. Lets see.