Day In The Life: Quarantine Edition
Right now, most of the world is in quarantine. We are all going through something very similar, stuck in our house, 24/7. Most of us are probably bored, maybe a little stir crazy. By now, we all seem to have our daily routine down, too - even if it isn’t a very productive one. However, all of our daily routines differ. Three girls, from different parts of the world, wrote a journal entry about a day in their life during quarantine. Their daily routines have some very similar elements, and yet they all vary. While reading, see how their routines compare to yours!
Darcey - Australia
Even though quarantine is limiting, there are still many things we can do. Everyone probably has a completely different routine, but here is mine!
On a typical school day in Australia, I wake up at around 6:30am. Though that is not the time that school starts in Australia, I am still doing American school while I stay in Australia. This means that school starts at around 1 am and ends at 7:20am, Australian Time. Obviously, I cannot wake up that early, so I typically go to my final class of the day from 6:40am - 7:20am. After this, I usually do meetings with some of my teachers, covering all the material I missed in that class. If I don’t have any meetings planned, I go back to sleep. I wake up at around 10:30am after that and continue on with my day.
Because my family traveled from America, we had to quarantine completely inside of our house for 2 weeks. This meant that friends had to buy food for us and leave it outside of our house, as instructed by the Australian government. My parents decided that throughout this time, a good investment would be a treadmill, so from typically 11 to 12, I work out. After that, I start my school work and eat lunch. Since I cannot go to class, some of my teachers record classes for me, and I watch them as part of my homework. Then, I typically watch YouTube or Netflix until dinner time. Once dinner has happened, I chill and then go to bed around 1.
My routine is very different from the classic Australian student. Most schools in Australia are still open, and people are still hanging out with their friends. Only some schools are online. There is not a real concern here, with people constantly breaking the original 3 guidelines, which are you can only go out to shop for food, go to the doctor, or go out to exercise. All of the beaches were closed as well, which was a huge step, and something that has been greatly protested. When people finally convinced the government to reopen these beaches (Bondi, Coogee, and Bronte beach), there was a rule made that people would have to social distance and not abuse this right. However, people flocked to the beaches and no one social distanced. After this day, they shut all of the beaches again and said that people could only go from 6 - 9 am. Because of people not treating these rules correctly, these privileges were taken away.
An Australian beach before the privileges were taken away.
Lou - California
Lou dressed up for a nice family dinner during quarantine.
Good morning everyone! For some strange reason, I decided to wake up at what seemed to me like the break of dawn: 6am. I kinda just looked up at the ceiling for two seconds and immediately fell back asleep, but instead of waking up at my normal 10 minutes before my Zoom classes start, I woke up at 8. Quarantine is always keeping me on my toes. What I do love, however, about these days is how amazing the weather is. Everyday I get to wear bikinis under my clothes and all of our doors and windows are permanently open as Los Angeles reaches the 80s everyday. If it was cloudy and glum all the time, I don’t know how I would cope with this whole situation we are in, to be honest. It is currently 8:15, so I should go get some breakfast and get ready for school. For some reason, I like to dress up everyday and always seem to gravitate towards my closet. Weird, right?
My lunch break is from 11:15 to 12:30, and during this time, I eat a quick meal and play ping pong with one of my family members. My family and I have tournaments every day, and it’s crazy how good we all have gotten. If your life goal has ever been to become a ping pong master, just get yourself a ping pong table, and let quarantine do its work. Now I’m onto English class; we are currently reading Macbeth. I am convinced that if someone can actually understand Shakespeare, they must be a reincarnated version of the great writer himself. After school, I always work out with one of my best friends. I am currently doing Chloe Ting’s 2 week shred. It’s super motivating to have something to do everyday. Since I can’t play tennis on a real court everyday like I am used to, working out is a great way to dispense my energy.
I am an extrovert and love to socialize, so quarantine can really make me anxious, so I always end my day by face timing my friends. Because of our low-key quarantine lives, we don’t always have something to talk about, but just having their presence while I scroll through my Pinterest feed in silence somehow satisfies my need for social interaction. Not being able to connect with people and have physical contact with friends has been pretty hard for me, but I’m convinced that everything will turn out soon.
Eava - Washington
Now that spending time outside is allowed, Eava loves spending time social distancing at the park with her friends.
Most mornings I get out of bed when my alarm goes off at 8:45am. I then stumble down the stairs and let my dog Levi outside to play while I make myself a much needed cup of coffee. While my coffee is being made, I put once piece of whole grain bread into the toaster and I drink a cold glass of water to refresh myself. I head into the shower and after about 15 minutes, I jump out and I get started on my skincare routine, brush my teeth and do my hair. At around 9:20am I'm done getting ready. I start class at 9:30am and end at 1:30 pm. After class, I take a two and a half hour break. In that break, I take care of all the flowers in my garden, I read my daily devotionals, and check my astrology app - I’m a Virgo - to see what the day has in store for me. At around 2:30pm, I enjoy a strawberry mango smoothie and at 3:00pm, I take an hour and thirty minutes to finish any school work or projects that were assigned in class. Once I am done with my schoolwork, I do my daily chore and take my dog to the dog park for 45 minutes, where I often social distance with a friend. When I get home from the dog park, I (often begrudgingly) begin to do my Chloe Ting workout, and by 6pm, I eat a light dinner of salad and vegetarian chicken nuggets. From 7:00pm to 9:00pm I usually watch a movie with my older sister, Corrah. Finally, at 9:20pm, I do my nightly skincare routine, brush my hair and teeth, put my pajamas on, and browse social media until about 10:30pm. For the last hour before I go to bed, I read. Right now, I am reading The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith, which I definitely recommend!
