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Collected Item: “Dorm Life During A Pandemic”

Give your story a title.

Dorm Life During A Pandemic

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Text Story, Photograph

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

Last year in the fall of 2020, while the pandemic was still raging on, I began my first year of college at Arizona State University. Like every college freshman, I was ecstatic and beyond ready for this next chapter in my life, even with COVID-19 taking control of the world. I was ready for new friends, fun experiences, and making connections. I kept this positive attitude even when we found out all classes had been moved to online, and all freshmen welcome events had been canceled. I told myself I would make the best of the situation, and considering I was living in the dorms, I would still feel a part of a community, make new friends, and have somewhat of a college experience. I was incredibly wrong. When I arrived at the dorms, it was brought to my attention that the dining halls were not to be used as a recreational area, and we had to take our food right back up to our dorm after getting it. There was a strict no guest policy. Campus was a ghost town. I ate, slept, and did school all from my small twin sized bed. All day, everyday. My roommate and I felt like our dorm had almost become a prison, and this started to seriously affect my mental health and general well being. Students were moving out of the dorms by the hundreds due to all the reasons I listed above, so the already empty and quiet hallways became emptier and quieter. The photo attached is one of myself the day I moved in, taken by my mom. I had no idea at the time how miserable I would become being completely isolated at one of the biggest universities in the country. If I had not joined greek life, my only friend from my freshman year would have been my roommate. Eventually, I was able to move out of the dorms to an apartment, and I immediately saw a change for the better within my life. Now, with life slowly returning back to normal, it is odd to think about how different life was just one year ago. I will never again take for granted the simple pleasures of sitting in a dining hall with my friends, or walking to class with hundreds of other students.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

dorm, isolation, freshman, asu

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

n/a

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Ashlynn Alloway

Give this story a date.

2020-08-16
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