I wake up to the sound of birds chirping outside my window instead of loud, yellow machines used for construction. I wake up only to see the pale blue walls of my childhood room; no longer waking up to see my roommate, Erin, lying across from me in our cinderblock enclosed dorm. I get up and look outside, there aren’t any cars driving by or even a single person walking on the streets. I walk downstairs and make a fresh cup of coffee to start my morning. After that, I walk right back upstairs to my bedroom where I’ll spend the next 3 hours in online classes. I don’t have to walk more than 2 feet, from my bed to my laptop, to get to my classes anymore. No more walking up 3 flights of steps in Gore Hall or speed walking to get to my 8 a.m. chemistry lecture that I woke up late for. I don’t even have to put on pants if I don’t want to.
It’s strange just how fast everything in my life has changed in only a matter of weeks and moving forward, everything feels uncertain for several reasons. First, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to work again. With the recent job layoffs, I only have unemployment benefits to rely on now. Those benefits are far less than I would have made from working, leaving me feeling financially burdened. Second, I wonder how my grades will be affected by the transition to online school. I’ve had to readjust my whole school schedule to fit around my home life, making things feel difficult to manage. Lastly, I think about what would happen if one of my family members got sick. Would they recover? How would I be able to take care of them? During this time, many aspects of my life have become so uncertain, leaving things to feel chaotic.
Everything is still constantly changing with new developments from the news, schooland a million other sources every day; the uncertainty of it all can be overwhelming at times. Even in these stressful times though, it’s nice to know that my friends and family are going through this with me and we’re all there to support one another. So, no matter how much life changes, I know I have a support system to lean on and that this scary situation is only temporary.
English 110 Spring 2020 10:10-11:00 
This piece was enjoyable to read because of how relatable it is. We are all feeling gloomy and unsure of how to act when in an instant we had to pack up what we knew and put our lives on hold. While reading I found myself nodding my head in relations to everything you were saying and how we are simply left alone with our thoughts every single day. On another note, I appreictaed the reassurance in the concluding paragraph stating this, however is all temporary but at least we aren’t going through it alone. I think in the end, we are going to be the ones to help each other through this and we’ll be better for the closening of the relationships we do share with our friends and family.
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Tess, I really liked how you were able to conceptualize all of your thoughts into questions because honestly those same questions are running through my mind constantly. The piece was also very relatable because I know in my situation, my roommate and I text all the time about not being able to wake up to each other and have the normal routine we had while being at home. I also liked your concluding paragraph because although you have questions and uncertainty, you’re able to wrap everything together with the fact that you aren’t alone in how you deal with your problems and that your family is there for you now more than ever.
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To start, I really liked how you introduced the feeling of change and newness in your first paragraph, with all the direct comparisons between your life staying hope and your life at back at UD. I can really clearly picture the differences of your life a month ago and your life now through those examples. I also find this extremely relatable, I’m in the same boat as you with unemployment and the uncertainty scares me too. But I agree with your last statement it’s only temporary and so many others are going through the same thing so we’re not alone.
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