We asked readers to tell us how they’re coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, we bring you some of the responses. We will publish more in the days ahead. To read all of the Coping series, click here.
Prior to the Bay Area shelter-in-place order, I was studying abroad in England. Although I heard about COVID-19’s increasing presence in the United States, those concerns felt a world away from me.
That is, until the United States issued a Level 4 travel advisory in March. In less than 12 hours, I went from peacefully roaming the streets of Sheffield to frantically booking a flight home and packing all my belongings.
Even though I’ve been back in California for a month, I still find it challenging to establish a sense of normalcy. To boost my morale, I try to keep up with the lifestyle I created in the United Kingdom.
Despite the eight-hour time difference, I still make efforts to attend my online lectures and participate in virtual extracurricular activities. Ironically, those early mornings when I login in for my classes or reply to a club Facebook group are when I feel the most awake.
I make sure to communicate with my friends and course-mates back in the U.K. We might be on different boats — scattered across various cities and time zones — but we’re riding the same wave. We worry about the future of our final projects, vent about the university’s response and share our hopes for the next school year.
Interactions like these remind me that I can still make memories from my study-abroad program, even if I’m a country away from it.
Stephanie Lam
Cupertino
To read other submissions from readers about how they are coping during the coronavirus shutdown, click here.
We also welcome more submissions. Whether you’re working from home, out of work or a critical frontline worker, we’d like to hear from you. Think of this as an opportunity to share with other readers. Not about politics, but about how you’re getting by and how this challenging time affects you.
Send submissions to [email protected]. Please include, for publication, your name and your city, and a horizontal photo of you. Please also include, not for publication, your address and phone number. Please limit your thoughts to 250 words.
