Covid vaccine

 At first I thought that if a vaccine were to come out the first ones who should get the vaccine would be college students but now that i think about it the reason I thought this is because I just wanted to protect myself against the virus. However I now know that the people who should are those front line workers like nurses,doctors and emts. This is because I think those who are caring and interacting with those who have covid, should be protected as much as possible because they are very important in combating covid.

First connection to covid

The spread of covid has gotten to the point where almost  every citizen in the united states  now has a personal connection to someone who had it. This is true for me as well when on October 20th I was informed that my cousin and everyone in her immediate family had caught Covid.I always knew there would be a few Covid scares in my family because many of my family members work in nursing homes as nurses and aides, but because up until then no one in my family had caught it so I wasn't really worried about it . I think this is why Covid has gotten to where it's at in the US. The US values the individual over the whole and although that can be great at times when it comes to problems likes this it fails us because too many people have the mentality that if it doesn't affect them it doest mater, or does not exist. When obviously this is not the case.

Covid,College, and grades

 Before the semester started, I already knew I was going to have a difficult time in the beginning because it takes time to adjust with new environments especially takes time to adjust with new environments especially right out of highschool, however with covid and moving most of my classes online it has made it even more challenging. In addition to having to find a device that is able to connect for classes, it is also crucial for students to have stable internet connection. I am grateful that the University of Kentucky gave students Ipads that way at least students had a device but  many students are still  at a disadvantage especially when it comes to the internet. I don't know any personal testimony from other students, but I know that I can say that this semester online has affected my grades in a bad way. I think this is because, for many professors this is the first time teaching online and because of this they don't do a good job. This has caused many instructors to work more, but this does nothing but stress students out especially since most of us are facing struggles such as not being able to find work, or having to care for sick relatives, or being in quarantine themselves. In my graduating class , College was already becoming less appealing because most of us were already turned off by how much debt we had seen friends, family, and teachers go into; and Covid in addition to taking classes at full price only to get online classes that make me feel like i'm not learning much of anything has made it more unappealing than it already was. In my scholarship for first generation and low income students, one of the criteria we must meet to keep our scholarship is to meet for tutoring once a week. At first it sounded very reasonable however when I think about the times my internet went out and I was scrambling to get it back on I realized that maybe this was more of a problem than I thought. Luckily I was able to got to still all of the meetings, however another peer also had internet problems and often was disconnected from zoom meetings. He had also said that it was difficult for him to call in from zoom because his phone was also unreliable. I'm still not sure how many people this affected but the problem is still pretty big considering that this could affect whether or not we get our scholarship. 

Covid and pop culture

 Just like how people make jokes about depression, rescission, and even school shootings to help people get through fear and tough times, people have made ways to make Covid 19 and quarantine less scary. Some of the ways are through making tiktok’s, youtube videos, and memes. One example that I will share that is from the US is called Host, Host: Follows 5-6 people who are trying to cope with the recent lockdown and isolation. In order to spice up the weekly zoom calls, they hire a spiritual guide/ medium who is going to help them do a virtual sayiance. Of course things go south and they end up letting a demon into their lives and said demon kills them off 1 by 1. What I find most interesting is the different internal conflicts of the movie. For example there is a couple who have been physically separated due to the pandemic and they both want to move in together but don't want to make an in the moment decision. 

Typical School Day

 In the video it shows how I get to school on days that I have Hybrid classes. I leave the house , walk and get to the bus stop around 11:04 am. The bus usually arrives at 11:07 and then I ride until it gets to the the transit center around 11:13. Then I walk the rest of the way to campus and get to the classroom around 11:26. After this I just wait until class starts at 12:00. After class is over at 12:50 I just repeat the earlier steps in reverse.

Online school problems

 I do not think online learning has provided an equal opportunity for learning during the pandemic. I am lucky that I have been able to get stable internet access, and multiple ways to get device that I can use for zoom, however I know this is not the case for everyone. Even if students do have internet access and a device, that doesn’t mean that they will do well in their class. For example, for my scholarship we are required to complete tutoring which is fine, however we were told not that there is no excuse for you to miss a tutoring session even if you don’t have internet access. Which surprised me because that is beyond most of our control. I remember in one of our sessions, one person's internet keep going out and he was counted absent because their internet kept going out.When we asked what we should do if we can't get internet access and our tutor said we would have to call in, which also does not make sense to me because if a student have reliable internet access what makes you think we will all have a reliable phone. I am not sure if online class will make me less competitive in the job market but I have talked to many of my peers who have said that they feel like they are burning out because of the stress of online schools.

Maintaining relationships and making new ones during Covid

 When I graduated high school I was hoping to finally break free of my parents and finally have a taste of the “freedom” college was supposed to have given me. However with Covid still very much present in our day to day lives, this has led to much disappointment in my journey into early adulthood. I didn’t move into the dorms because I didn’t want to risk paying for a dorm, buying lots of decorations only to be told 2 weeks later that I have to move out. I also missed k week and any events that might have taken place on campus as well as parties. This has also affected making friendships or at least getting to know other people because I have not been able to really meet people because most of my classes are online and I don’t live on campus. As I talked to my friends who went to other colleges like Transylvania and EKU and they seem to have the same problem as well.And Although I know these things are not that important in the grand scheme of the pandemic,these things were important to me in my college experience.