Learning in “The Q”

During the beginning of the first semester, I was making some of the best memories I have ever experienced. I was able to check off a few things on my freshman year “bucketlist,” like swimming in the fountain on the green at three in the morning, and successfully pulling an all-nighter to ace an exam. I had platefuls of mozzarella sticks, cheese quesadillas and pizza at Russel Late Night, and walked back to the dorm with a cookie and ice cream cone in each hand. To say the least, Late night made me quickly realized that I couldn’t just eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I walked slowly to my 9 am on a Friday morning with my friends from my floor, as we all questioned some of our decisions from the night before. For the soccer team, I had my first “pizza party,” where I was naive enough to think it was an actual pizza party, and ended up being the victim of a game involving unknown juice and duct tape.

Finishing off the semester, I have added some new “activities” into my life. For starters, my best friend and I moved out to my family’s summer house and have been living together for the past two weeks. It sort of feels like college, since we don’t have our parents around and are living off of red doritos and microwavable meals from 7/11. I would say however, that even though it doesn’t seem like it, we have learned a lot in our quarantined second semester. We have figured out how to make smoothies that are actually enjoyable and don’t taste like dirt. We found out our body’s limitations with coffee, realizing that 2 hours of sleep cannot be fixed by 8 cups of coffee in a matter of 4 hours. We realized the only way for us to become a morning people is to just avoid sleeping and stay up the entire night to finish our new Netflix obsession. Once we hear the birds start chirping, we get in my car to go to the nearest beach and watch the sun rise. We impulsively bought the game, Sims 4 on our laptops, and haven’t stopped playing it since, comparing our fake virtual lives and yelling at our computers at 3 in the morning.

Reflecting on the first semester at school, I think I learned a lot without even realizing it in the moment. I learned that although it seems like a good idea, going out on Thursdays isn’t the best option. I learned that although it seems like there’s too much work to do, breaking everything up into bit’s and pieces makes everything much easier. I realized that I get distracted fairly easily, so going to the basement of Perkins and finding the most isolated space is the best place to study for me. I learned that waking up 10 minutes before my class isn’t the way to go about it, as I rushed out of my dorm in my pajamas with my hair in a messy bun.

Reflecting on the time in “the Q,” as my friends have been calling it, I have learned a lot more than I expected. I have learned how to cook new recipes and experiment with different foods. I figured out the best way for me to take notes is with colorful pens, so I can remember everything I need to learn. I learned that although I like my alone time, being around someone who makes you laugh is much better than being by yourself. I learned that playing the game “Chopsticks,” is the best way to procrastinate doing homework. I learned that sleep is actually very important, and I won’t be productive if I’m running on less than 5 hours of sleep.

Although I miss being at school dearly, I am enjoying myself in quarantine. I would say that I have been able to figure out new ways to be productive and motivate myself, even though it’s so much easier to just not do anything. I’m quickly realizing that pulling all nighters and eating a pint of Half Baked Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shouldn’t be an everynight occurrence. But through these tiny “life lessons”, I’ve learned that life is so much better when you take it one day at a time. During this time, it gets overwhelming when you look at the whole picture and hear about everything that’s going on. By taking it day by day, and focusing on the little things, it makes life much easier to look at and get through.