Although we are all apart from one another, we're still in this fight together. Below are our stories.
We want you to share your stories with us. If interested in sending in a submission, please email Erica Thompson at ethompson110@stlcc.edu with the following information:
- Name
- Major
- Where you reside
- Your story
_- Any photos you would like to accompany your story
*Please note if you'd like to remain anonymous
Issa Albayati
Anthropology & Spanish, Crestwood, MO
I honestly would never think that what's happening now happen this fast and get to almost every country in the world and cause quarantining and social distancing. On the top of that,we all must stay at home for unknowing period of time till the virus disappears. How do I feel about the coronavirus? There are some positive and negative things happening. Although this may seem stupid to some people, one of the positive things for me is that I got to sit with my family and get to know them more and get to know more about their personalities and who they are. I have learned a lot about my family; for example by just sitting with my parents I realized that my dad loves tea and he drinks it like crazy on the other hand I realized how religious my mom is. She's been reading the Quran for 24 hours a day and talking about how it's very important to face god and start praying so that virus can disappear soon, unlike my brother who doesn’t like to listen to my parents and stay at home. Also, it was perfectly timed because I had a test in communication between cultures class and that test has been moved to April which means that I get to study more for it. However, the negative things about coronavirus are staying at home, not being allowed to hangout with my best friends, facing online education, and not working in the restaurant anymore. The Coronavirus is a very dangerous virus so for the sake of your safety stay at home even though if it feels boring.
Marisa Loewenstein
General Transfer Studies, Maryland Heights, MO
As much as I love us being off and not doing anything having all this free time, it feels like we are in jail a little bit, more so on house arrest. We are not allowed to go outside unless we absolutely need to. That irks me because I love to drive, go places and I have not been able to drive my car besides the two times last week to go get gas and go to the store for products that I absolutely needed because I literally ran out of. My mom is not even letting us even order food from a fast food place that offers delivery nor get groceries delivered to the house because she is super paranoid about catching the virus.
When I heard from my boss that we are most likely not going back to school, I cried, I was heartbroken because I was thinking, holy crap, Friday March 13th was our last day with each other and we didn’t even know it. It sucks because if I was smarter and thought of that sooner, that it was possibly our last day together, I would have said my goodbyes and wished everyone good luck, but things didn’t go down that way. Though we did have a pretty litty lit karaoke/ dance party the day before with our bosses and co workers.
It was very nice to all of my coworkers through the virtual meeting that we had. I will say that another thing that is positive throughout this is that I am still getting paid, I know that a lot of people are getting laid off or not getting paid, which is terrible. I am thankful that I still am getting income, my parents are getting income as well.
Daxton Lewis
Graphic Communications, Crestwood, MO
How the “Rona” has impacted my life so far: A tale of social distancing
Typically I am someone who enjoys staying indoors, BUT then we got hit with this COVID-19 and everything has gone downhill since. I can’t go anywhere, I can’t see my friends…I AM DYING…of boredom. I miss my coworkers and my boss, they are the people who light up my days. There are things I can do, but I feel trapped inside. I have been doing video calls and facetime calls with my new partner and a few friends. I have also learned that I genuinely just enjoy the presence of other people, we don’t have to talk when we can just go about our business and sometimes talk. It’s really nice, but kinda lonely…
I am mentally ill, and I do isolate at times, but even this is too much for me. I don’t think anyone really cares, but this is my personal experience with everything that is going on. I am straight up not having a good time and I wish all this would end so everything can start to feel real again. I have started pushing the people who mean the most to me away and I do feel bad, but I can’t help it. That all stems from my lovely childhood, which isn’t what this is about, but it does impact me in my life now.
I really think I just need a hug and physical affection from my friends and maybe then I would start to feel better, but who knows? I really hope everyone else is at least doing decent in this time of social distancing, we already know I am not.
Maria Gomez
General Transfer Studies, St. Louis, MO
At the beginning of all this situation I was kind of glad that college was giving us an extra week of spring break. I was happy that I had a lot of time on doing all those things I can´t do because of school, like go to the gym every day, get a lot of rest, and spend time with my friends and my boyfriend. Until I heard that my friend´s colleges were changing their classes to online for the rest of the semester. At this point I started realizing that the situation was getting serious. My family started calling me, worried, asking me if I had enough food for staying a long time at my apartment, what was going to happen with my school, if I was ready to stay in there for a long time if the US closed the borders. They were also insisting me to go to Florida with my cousins, because the borders of my country, Colombia, where already closed. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go, because that would mean not seeing again many friends and important people who were graduation this semester and transferring to another university, among them my boyfriend. A couple of days after, my dad called me worried saying that he really wanted me to go to Florida with my family, even though this is not what I wanted, I knew that it was the best decision I could take. It was a hard decision, I cried a lot, specially in the airport with my boyfriend. Right now, I’m in my cousin’s room, isolated because I´ve been felling sick the last days, not being able to hug anyone or going out the room without gloves or a mask. I’m really looking forward for the day that they open the borders in Colombia, so that I can finally see my family.
Ibrahim Delic
Accounting, South County
The coronavirus pandemic has been the highlight of 2020 and the whole world is talking about it. It's crazy to think that there is no person on the planet that has not been affected by this virus in some way. I have been affected in a way that I have to take classes online and also my job has been jeopardized. However, I always like to look on the bright side of things and I think that this is a great opportunity for all of us do something new and now we have more time to explore ourselves. For the time that I have been quarantined I have realized that I miss talking and interacting with people from school and work, and although I always thought I was somewhat an introvert you could now say there is an extroverted side to me. Being isolated has been a challenge but I am coping with it in various ways. I'm trying to keep myself busy by doing school and work related stuff, and since I have been on spring break for the past 2 weeks I have also used this time for leisure activities such as watching movies and TV shows, playing video games, browsing housing my social media etc. I think I become much lazier for the time I have been quarantined. Lying in bed all day has become a habit and I'm trying so hard to fight laziness instead of being productive from home. I just hope this whole thing ends soon, and we will all get back to our normal lives and learn to appreciate all the things we have.
Lauren Turnbull
Psychology & Criminology, Fenton, MO
I just wanted to tell you how much you’ve ruined my life. Not only have you taken away my ways to financially stabilize myself, but you took away my socialization time. And if you knew me at all, you would know that that means the world to me. Seeing people and being able to talk to them face-to-face is something I do constantly, and now I can't because of you. I can’t spend time with my friends, I can’t see my co-workers at STLCC. And I’m very angry about that. I'm usually a very bubbly person but ever since you came around, I’m getting very down, and I want you to go away. And that's all I have to say to you. Go away and let me have my social life back. Thank you and good day!
Keyerra Collins
I have been bored out of my mind because I’m so used to go to place to place. I can’t even go out to eat because of this virus. I really think it’s stupid and it’s just basically telling us we need to wash our hands because there’s so many germs out there that can kill you. Then you see people that now want to wash their hands and be a germ phobic because it’s what society saying. This is another way to stay in the house and be with our families and save money. Actually, I like the fact there’s no traffic and barely anyone on the road because I don’t have to try to beat traffic or get up extra early to get to work. It’s funny but I am still working through this virus but not that many hours so it is very frustrating because I have low income. I like to work and keep myself busy with no distractions. I have been more on my phone than anything since I have been at home more. At this point, I just want things to get back to normal because I miss all my college friends and I don’t like online classes because I am a visual person like face to face interactions. This is a big challenge for me because I have to cope with online classes.
