My quarantine experience

A narrative by Brianna McFarlane

At the beginning of the lockdown, like everyone else, I thought it would be temporary and fun. I was so excited to stay at home because I didn’t have to wake up so early, and I felt that a lot of school pressure would come off. “Oh boy! I was wrong about that,” but at the beginning, I was excited to try online school because it was something new.

At first it wasn’t bad at all, I enjoyed being at home. Freedom is a perk that comes with being at home; I could watch television whenever, eat whenever, go to bed whenever, or go on my phone whenever, even though it’s a bad habit. My new eating habits have resulted in weight gain and now I exercise to lose the weight. School has been going well but I thought being online would decrease workload; instead it has been the same and more. The heat is one of the bad parts of staying at home; at school it was very cool and rained a lot, but now I sit dripping in sweat.

As the months passed, staying at home became less exciting. My mom quarrels about the electricity and food bills, which makes me think of other parents who are struggling to make ends meet. Every day feels the same, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I am anticipating my return to school to socialise and learn effectively. I feel like I’m betraying fellow colleagues who feel differently but it’s true. The funny thing is I know I’m going to say otherwise when school reopens. Staying at home has definitely been a challenge and is really boring, but social media has helped to alleviate the boredom and also infringed on my schoolwork ethics.

Experiencing this has made me more appreciative of school and has given me a greater appreciation of the importance of socialising.

n Brianna McFarlane is 14 years old and a second form student