It depends on the day or hour really. Sometimes it’s nice to just be at home with school work being the only responsibility I have. Most of the time I’m just annoyed. Not being able to work is actually terrible once you think about it. For the first week, it’s cool to not be at work but after that, the whole not making money thing kinda blows. Not being able to pay the bills or even just buy the new videogame that just came out is a change. In the end though with everything going on the one constant weighting feeling is just “what’s coming next”. With the fact that for COVID-19 it takes two weeks for symptoms to occur any shelter in place or similar polices take that long at least until we see the benefits from those policies. That fact is something my family does not seem to grasp which makes dinner table conversation quite annoying.
That is a whole nother point which deserves its own paragraph living with family for an extra 2 months without working. The loss of living with my roommates who all didn’t care about what the others were doing was something I did not realize I would miss. Being able to eat dinner when I want, or just go get something to eat at midnight(Not that that is really possible due to the Quarantine currently) isn’t feasible at home. Either it’s being guilted into eating with the family during family dinner or questions about where I’m going really drags on one’s freedoms. Even something as simple as making your own dinners is freedom taken away while at home. The problem isn’t mitigated with working like normal either. Being at home with my dog is a big plus though since he acts like a space heater in the bed!
In the end, however, I’m fine all the “problems” I am dealing with are nothing on the grand scheme and just wish it could be better, I have food on the table every night, power, and a roof over my head. In these times that’s all I can ask for.
-Joseph Maffei
English 802 Spring 2020 
The dog as a heater comment was funny. I believe it is important to keep in mind that this will not last forever. Come the end of August, we will most likely all be back on campus for another, hopefully better year. This time next year, this will all just be a bad memory.
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This was funny and relatable. I love your dog. The loss of independence is extremely stressful, even if it feels like a first world problem. You get used to being able to do what you want when you want to without anybody feeling like they can object. I begged my boyfriend not to go home so me and him could just quarantine in his Philly apartment. But obviously, this is scary times and everyone felt like they needed to go home. We feel this loss of independence for a week or a month at a time during regular school breaks, but now it is indefinite (probably until next semester). It can be torture sometimes for some of us. We have to revert to old ways of being before we went off and became adults. All you can do to comfort yourself if remember that it’s temporary and it’ll be blissful to go back. Try not to let your family bring you down.
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I like this piece. I relate to the family situation it’s crazy how you can feel more comfortable with a roommate.
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