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Hey future me! Here’s a little reminder from 2021...

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When I first heard this I was outraged that someone would first of all do this with such a terrible reasoning behind it, and even more that the others around him did not even try to stop the man killing George Floyd. I wondered how big the backlash would be to this, and the next day, I heard news of the riots sprouting across the nations in George Floyds name.

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This headline shows that Joe Biden has won the election. I am happy about this because now, he can fix all that Donald Trump did wrong. What’s more is that he can now help the nation recover from Covid-19. I am very interested and excited to see how he will get us out of this mess and what things he will implement. I wonder, however, if he will make people mad with those policies.

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Finally! This headline shows that after a long year of quarantining, we are finally getting vaccines for COVID. I am so excited to get mine when the time comes. Once we do get one, we can finally have my relatives come over to the house and I’ll be able to spend time with them after such a long time

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Me: What were your first reactions to hearing about COVID19 when it first became a pandemic last year?
Fabi:

“I thought that it wasn't going to be in Florida at first, so I wasn't worried, but when I realized that it would come at some point, then I started worrying and that added to some anxiety I had.”

“I felt very safe at the time, so that calmed me down, since I had a very careful family.”

Me: How is today different from when the pandemic first happened for you, your family, the nation, the world?
Fabi:

“The first day, everyone was calm and it didn’t seem like such a big deal.”

“A couple of months after, they started panicking since it was spreading everywhere and people were dying.”

“In present days, the vaccine is out for almost everyone and we are starting to decline.“

“I don't think that COVID will ever go away, but it won't ever be as bad as this year.”

Me: How has your life changed since first going on quarantine last year?
Fabi:

“Well, no more going outside is a big deal.”

“It is harder to meet up with friends, since now we have to coordinate safety procedures before meeting face to face.”

“Going out to restaurants is harder now since we go to restaurants with space and outdoor sitting so that its safer.”

“As for school, you have to wear masks all day long, every moment there is someone cleaning something to make sure it's safe, and school is in general more strict because of social distancing.”

“The teachers get mad at you for barely touching someone as opposed to last year when we could hug freely.”

“Staying at home is also hard, since we are so stocked up with everything that its hard to store things aside from wipes and masks.”

“I feel like masks are taking over the world.”

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Me: What were your first reactions to hearing about COVID19 when it first became a pandemic last year?
Mami:

“My first thought was ‘Wait, is it really a pandemic?’ because this stuff has happened before for a few decades and they’ve never made it to [America].”

“I actually laughed when they said that they were running out of toilet paper, but then when I started seeing that they actually were running out, so I went on a shopping spree, buying things like masks and toilet paper, since I had no idea how long the pandemic would take.”

Me: How is today different from when the pandemic first happened for you, your family, the nation, the world?
Mami:

“There is definitely a new normal: people don't shake hands anymore; when you go out, you take a mask with you everywhere; I buy more things at the store than I need right now since I don’t know if it will be there the next day; and people are now working from home more.”

Me: How has your life changed since first going on quarantine last year?
Mami:

“People are more understanding of how it feels to work online, since I actually work online.”

“We have a lot more family time, but we also have to come up with creative ways to stay out of each other’s hair during meetings and such.”

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Due to the pandemic, I’ve had to cancel several events, like vacations, plans for the summer, and much more. One thing that I really missed was Summer Camp. Every year during the summer, I would travel to North Carolina and go to sleep away camp at Eagles Nest Camp for three weeks. It was the only time I would be fully immersed with nature and I loved it so much. However, since Covid arose before the summer of last year, I was unable to go and instead spend a somewhat lonesome summer. This kind of summer was also supported by the fact that we could not go outside and all we did all day was stay indoors. So instead of taking hikes around the mountains, I would be sitting by my computer and talking to my friends for days. While that wasn't unpleasant the slightest, I did feel like I could have been doing more at that time. Another thing that was canceled was my sister’s and my birthday. My sister has her birthday during the summer, and since we could have no human interaction whatsoever, her birthday was spent at home without her friends and other family members. As for mine, it was the same story. Another event that was canceled was our annual trip on a cruise during the christmas season. Every year we go to either a place that snows or we go on the Disney Cruise before Christmas, but of course, this year we weren't able to go due to Covid. Instead we spent that time at home, and again, while it wasn't unpleasant, we were missing out on a lot of fun.

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They recently announced that next week as of the date I am writing this (May 7th, 2021), they will be releasing a vaccine for children 12 to 15 years old! FINALLY! We can get vaccinated and this nightmare of sickness is closer to being over. This is so impactful in many ways. For one, the CDC also recently said that people who have been vaccinated can walk outside without masks, so long as they are not near crowds of people. This means I can go on walks again without having to be uncomfortable. Second of all, we may actually be closer to being able to go to school without masks on and maybe, everyone will come back to in-person school. I am so excited for this to happen. However, there is one thing. I don't think I am going to take the vaccine as soon as it comes out. To ensure that it really is as safe as they say, I may wait for some time in order to see if there is anything wrong with the vaccine. Then I will take the vaccine and finally be vaccinated. Third of all, once I get vaccinated, I will finally be able to get a dog! This is unrelated to many things that are currently happening, but I have wanted a dog since I found out they existed, but there have always been roadblocks that have stopped my family from getting one. But finally, it seems like that day is coming soon. Of course, there is still a long way to go before the pandemic ends, but this is good progress towards returning to normalcy.

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When I first heard about Covid-19, I did not think it would be a big deal. I thought that it would be over in 3 weeks. Quite honestly, I was happy about it, because that meant that I would get to have an extra week of spring break and get to stay online for the rest of the year. If I had known that it would cause the death of millions and force all of us to stay indoors for a year, I would have thought differently. Back then, I thought that people were overreacting and that we would be done soon, but looking back, I realize that we were ALL underreacting. I didn't fully understand how the process of vaccines worked, and that meant that I had my hopes too high for when the pandemic would end. During the first couple of weeks, I was feeling good and happy. I was staying home and enjoying my time there, since it meant I could pursue hobbies that I’ve always wanted to do, such as draw more. Even better, I made new friends. A lot of the friends I have right now are friends I met during quarantine. I am also very lucky that I had kept in touch with the ones I had before the pandemic. I was also happy that school was shorter, we had no finals, and that we would have a larger summer. But all of that was at the cost of a terrible pandemic that we STILL have not escaped from.

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This shows several animals looking at the camera rather awkwardly and strangely. This shows how the online experience was like for some students, since all they do is stare at the camera and in general look uncomfortable. It’s also funny because these are animals that you wouldn’t expect to see like this.

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It’s a classic Scooby doo unmasking scene from the show. The difference here is that it’s saying that Charmin toilet paper is behind the COVID pandemic. My mother sent me this and I found it pretty funny.

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I got a 3D printer after saving up some money, and with it, I printed some things. My favorite is a 3D printed piggy bank that I then gave to my sister as a gift. This picture shows it being made.

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During the pandemic I began a series of drawings that I titled “Quarantine Drawings.” I drew nearly every week of the pandemic, taking inspiration from those things around me and projected it in art. One of my favorite artworks is a coffee cup being happy. I felt Happy that day, so I drew this.

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Me and my friends in the hallway in between class. Nearly all of my friends were in the photo, and it is blurry since we were moving around a lot. We were taking photos of each other so we decided to take a group photo. This is during the pandemic, hence our masks

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This was during immigration day with the friends in my group. We were just about to enter the bus to start the activities. This was also the last day of in person school before we all went online for both the rest of the school year, and for some, the rest of 2020

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This was during our Science Olympiad State competition. We had just bought 100 mini-munchkins from Dunk-in Donuts and were were sharing them with everyone. This was around November.

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This is me and all of my friends during Spirit Week. I believe it was 90s or 80s day. It was very fun and we all dressed up and got a photo taken by a school photographer. This was about 3 months before the pandemic.

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I drew a picture at a time when I was feeling like some things were not going so well, so I drew a variation of the Ying-Yang to remind myself that balance is needed to be happy