New reflections have been shared from our students as part of the global project “A Day in my Life: living under the Covid-19 Pandemic”. We hope you and your students enjoy reading them.
A Day in my Life: Alistair 13, Gonzaga College SJ, Ireland
My typical day in lockdown consists of me getting up about 10-15 minutes before my first online class because this gives me enough time to get dressed and have a very small quick breakfast. I work my normal school day until half 3 but sometimes go past that if I have further work to do and when I am finished all my work I will go to the park with my family at usually around 5 o clock to play football and get some daily exercise but I make my best efforts to stay at least 6 feet from people at all times to avoid contracting the virus and even though this feels surreal and can be difficult I must do it to keep safe my daily routine is impacted quite considerably as I would usually not restrict my movements at the park or I would walk down to the shops but I cannot dk that now and it is very strange for me however I find a silver lining in every cloud and in this lockdown I can spend more time with my family for which I am very grateful but I cannot visit my grandfather because of the virus which saddens me but I still make an effort to ring him every evening to stay in contact with him and I have a similar situation with my friends but I can stay in contact with them too. I try to stay positive so I hope and believe we will peak and begin to recover here soon but I know that this can’t be done without people obeying rules and that’s why it frustrates me when I see people disobey these rules but I think in general we have been very good as a country in obeying these rules. I know that some people will continue to die but our fantastic healthcare workers are doing great work and I hope our deaths will decrease and we can return to normal soon
A Day in my Life: Conall, 14, Gonzaga College SJ, Ireland
In Ireland, although we don’t have measures that are as strict as some other countries, we are still confined to our homes (except for shopping or going for a run/walk/cycle/etc, within a 2km radius). I think that what we need to learn as both a country and a world is that we need to be prepared for anything and to listen to professionals, for example there were a few people who, a few years ago, predicted that the next global pandemic would be a virus, yet we were very unprepared.
Covid-19 has changed my daily routine a lot because most days of the week, before this virus I did 2 hours of kung fu, sometimes 3, the place that I trained was also half an hour away from my house, which means that every day I would usually only have about 3-4 hours of free time every day, whereas now I only have online classes and homework.
The only two challenges I have faced are not being able to see my friends at school or kung-fu and getting bored because of the lack of things to do.
A few good things about this are, one, that I don’t have to wake up at 7:15 to go to school, two, am getting more time to do less homework which means that I actually have free time and three, my parents feel bad because my birthday was only two weeks ago and I couldn’t have a party or anything so they bought me a lot of chocolate and sweets.
A Day in my Life: Julien, 14, Gonzaga College SJ, Ireland
Covid-19 effects my daily routine in almost everything I do. Under the lockdown circumstances, I try to work around it and not let it bring me down. Throughout this pandemic it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel because nobody knows when this will be over. But we can all learn from this so if it does every happen again, we will be prepared.
During the week when I usually should have to go to school, I stay at home and do school there. This way we cannot yet the coronavirus effects our learning. Every day I get up early in the morning like I would for school, take then same morning routine, eat breakfast, get dressed, get ready for school etc. But instead of getting on my bike and cycling of to school, I walk over to my desk and prepare myself for the upcoming classes by following my timetable. By using my timetable, I can make sure that each subject gets the same amount of time like would normally. Having online classes was weird at first but you get used to them and learn how to engage.
I think this will help society going forward because we now know how to adapt to whatever the situation is. I hope this pandemic does end soon though, because you do begin to miss you friends and your old regular life. But this has changed everyone, and we don’t know how long it will continue changing us for.
A Day in my Life: Nathan, 14, Gonzaga College SJ, Ireland
It is now the second month of Covid 19 forcing Ireland into lockdown. I wake up every morning thinking and praying for all the people who have died the previous day. Our country is taking on covid-19 and I would love to thank all the healthcare workers for everything they are doing for us. My daily routines are very different to usual and it was hard to get used to the routine for the first couple of weeks. Our teachers are doing a great job of teaching us every day and keeping us busy as time does pass by slowly in these dark times. Although not everything is dark. We can take this lockdown in a positive way by enjoying spending time with our family and appreciating what we have and access to the internet. Post covid-19 will be hard to to get back into our normal school day routines but I hope our country will be fully stable by the end of the year.
Stay home and stay safe.
A Day in my Life: Oscar, 14, Gonzaga College SJ, Ireland
I live in Ireland, which has suffered greatly from the covid-19 pandemic. I am very grateful to be staying at my house in Kilkenny, far away from the worst affected area Dublin, where I used to live.
Covid-19 has greatly impacted my life, in bad and good ways. I usually wake up at 7:30, but after quarantine I get 30 minutes of extra sleep. When I wake up, I get dressed in my comfiest clothes (another bonus) and go down to the kitchen to eat my breakfast. I then start my online classes, which I don’t mind. I will say that I find it harder to learn through online class than regular class, but I feel that I complete my work more efficiently at home. After all my classes finish, I go for a walk with my family. I love these walks as they are very peaceful. There’s no traffic or loud noises and it is rare that we encounter another person. When I come back from my walk, I read for about an hour. This is something I would never have the chance to do in my regular life. I then eat dinner with my family and go to bed early at around 9:30.
I believe my physical and mental state has improved since quarantine. I know that many people are struggling through these hard times and my prayers go out to them. I hope that I can see my friends and get back to my sporting activities soon but in the meantime, I’m going to use this situation as a life learning lesson.
A Day in my Life: Sydmichael, 14, Gonzaga College SJ, Ireland
So it’s come to this huh? Everyone’s told to stay home. Never thought that it would be this bad. It took some time to get used to, but after a couple of days I started to get into the swing of things. So this is what a typical day in quarantine is for me.
I wake up at around 8am so I can go down and grab a quick bite to eat for breakfast before logging onto my computer to get ready for online class. I sit at my desk eating my breakfast while watching YouTube before classes start.
After online school is done I get my homework out of the way, then I play a couple of games on my computer before logging off and going outside to play some basketball, football or rugby. If the weather is nice we sometimes head over to the park (which is very close to me so don’t worry) to get some fresh air.
After going back inside/coming back home I usually log back onto my computer to play some more games, and get any excess work done. After an hour and a half or so I log off once more to go play Scrabble with my family and watch some game shows on TV before heading to bed.
Personally, I don’t find the restrictions so bad as I live right next to a park so I still have plenty to do. I also don’t find online classes that bad, but a bit of me does wish that I was back in the Gonzaga school building with my friends attending real classes. However, Covid-19 had forced me and my family to cancel a trip to Alton Towers, one of my dream trips. However, we do still intend on going, hopefully by August when the restrictions might be lifted. However, I have been given the opportunity to spend more time with my family, watching a movie or playing a board game together. This situation has also helped nature redevelop for a little while. I was happy to hear that air pollution had fallen by massive levels in many major cities during the lockdown. Overall, I’m not particularly bothered with this whole lockdown thing, but I really do still want to go out there. But following the government’s advice is much more important. Stay at Home!
