Documenting personal experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. A Northeastern University student interviews another student regarding living under the pandemic at home and at the university.

This audio interview expresses Alyssa Fell's emotions and perspective on the pandemic throughout its course from March to now. The questions reflect her opinions and understanding of responses and changes due to Covid-19 in social, political, and financial regards.

You probably already have this, but this came out towards the end of the Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne. The MSO hadn't performed since March, like pretty much all of our performers. I also hadn't been into the city since March. Seeing the images of Melbourne, and hearing Paul Kelly's love letter to the city (which always makes me teary) had me sobbing. I used to live in Southbank and had run around "The Tan" (the path around the Royal Botanic Gardens) many, many times over the years.

This was towards the end of the Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne. Sky news, in particular, were making out that all of Melbourne was opposed to this infringement on our human rights. This article reminded me that, actually, most of Melbourne was feeling the same way as me - it sucks, but it's the right thing to do.

Even though the big story of the year is the Covid-19 pandemic, there is so much more going on behind the scenes of that story. The wildfire season continues to rage on. You hear the stories on the news, but unless you live in one of the areas affected, it can be hard for people to picture. This infographic illustrates just how widespread an area the wildfires affect.

Just like scores of others, I attempted baking as a hobby to fill all the extra hours I found myself having during the pandemic lockdown. At first, my attempts yielded tasty but not terribly appealing to look at dishes. But after a few practice rounds, I found a knack for making cobblers! Peach and blackberry, it turns out, are my favorites! Having a hobby is even more important now that everyone is spending more time indoors.

Scanning facebook, I came across this article stating that the number of Covid cases in Europe are increasing again. This is disheartening because recently the number of cases of covid had seemed to be leveling off and declining. As the pandemic began in Europe and Asia before the US, this could be an indicator of things to come for us if we are not vigilant. Hopefully, this is just a small hiccup and not a major setback.

I snapped this photo on the way to work on Sept 14th. The smoke from several wildfires burning had drifted into Arizona turning the sky into a hazy orange. Usually driving to work at that time of morning means the sun is right in my eyes, but this morning, the sun was a weak red dot, indicating just how thick the smoke was, and just how widespread the wildfires are along the west coast.

This is an audio interview with a classmate who is based in Korea. She is a freshman who is studying Pharmacy. She expresses her thoughts and experience on the current pandemic, Covid-19.

This graphic was posted where I work and on the Maricopa County government website. It gives the reader some points to consider before venturing out in public. This graphic is part of a series of similar graphics to help inform the public on how to safely socially distance during this pandemic.

After being cooped up basically all summer, trying to maintain social distance from everyone due to the pandemic, I decided that I needed to get out and get some fresh air. My cousin had never been to Flagstaff so I decided to go on a day trip with her to Flagstaff and Wupatki / Sunset Crater to get outdoors and get some fresh air and do some sightseeing. We spent the day being tourists and seeing some beautiful scenery. Even though the pandemic is still going strong, this was a safe, socially distanced adventure that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

2020 has not been the best year... for anyone probably. Wildfires, pandemic, riots, protests, poor economy, all things that bring stress to people. People handle and deal with stress in different ways; some turn to their pets. Your pet doesn't know anything about what's going on with the world, they just know you are their human and they love you. They are always willing and excited to give you a cuddle and be near you. Every day you come home, they are super excited to see you, and sometimes, that can make a terrible day so much better. This is a photo of Maya the Papaya, aka Jellybean! She is my moms dog and is the super cuddly-est dog and is always so. super. excited. to be near you!

These photos are some I took while creating PPE Kits for where I work... My workplace has always used them, but now, with the pandemic, we are using a lot more so we made up packets that can be grabbed and taken with we will always have supplies available when we need it. ppe, work safe, COVID-19, HST580, ASU, precaution

This is an interview with Northeastern student Patrick Mceleney about his experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. He talks about the experience of leaving school suddenly, flying home to Japan (where his parents are stationed), and working as an EMT under the threat of a global pandemic.

This story is important to us because everyone has been affected by the pandemic in their own way. It is critical for us to document these strugles and triumphs so we can look back on how we reacted to this pandemic and how we should react to the next one.

Annie, a university student in Boston, shares her perspective about how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled both when it began to take hold in March and now, as a student who returned to campus with hybrid classes. She also discusses how it affected her living situations, her experience with the Canadian response to COVID-19, and compares her situation to that of her brother's, who also attends university.

Spencer describes the challenges and emotions involving the shutdown of his last semester of high school, as well as his adjustment to college life.

I suffer from severe allergies pretty much year round... So occasionally I sneeze or cough a few times when the pollen is particularly bad. But now, with the pandemic, anytime anyone sneezes or coughs, everyone gives you 'the look.' I find myself automatically explaining my sneeze, "Allergy Sneeze... nothing to see here," each time, so when I saw this meme on pinterest, it made me chuckle!

I interviewed Jacob about his experience from December 2019-present (September 2020)

I interviewed Jacob Frisch about his experiences from Covid 19 and how it impacted his life.

"I feel so bad about your senior year," and "I'm sorry your senior year was taken from you" were things I heard almost everyday from people. Honestly, I didn't care because it gave me a relaxing rest of the year because I decided to register for very rigorous courses. The school had been frantically trying to find something to do for the seniors to make senior year memorable without feeling disappointed. We didn't have prom or the senior trip where we go to Kings Dominion and then eat dinner on a cruise ship to go back to Baltimore. Like I said, I didn't mind that we didn't have these experiences, but I know there were a lot of disappointed people in my class. I knew it was going to be expensive and out of budget for me to go anyway. In May, I received an email from my school. It talked about how graduation was going to be and that there would be a bus parade for the senior students. I completely ignored it because I personally didn't want to go. I thought it would have been weird and not worth my time. A few days later my mom found out about the parade and was upset that I told her that I didn't feel like attending to it, and ended up making me go. When I got onto the bus I found out that two of my friends were on the bus which made it exciting for me. The bus only allowed 12 kids on it because of social distancing. We arrived at the school and waited for the parade to start. In between each school bus there was a firetruck or a cop car and they all turned on their sirens and honked their horns throughout the whole parade. There were so many people are parents on the streets of the small area my school district is in. I am glad I went to that and I honestly feel like this brought the community together during the uncertain times that the pandemic has brought to us.

This article illustrates one of the main problems with fighting a pandemic. In order to completely stay safe, one needs to stay at home. But in order to pay bills and afford to keep their households going, one needs to be able to go out and work. Trying to balance the need to stay distant and the need to provide for one's family is a struggle that everyone is going through together.

by Jessica Myers for the Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship

by Jessica Myers for the Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship

By Jessica Myers | Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship

by Jessica Myers for the Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship

In this interview, I (a Northeastern history student) interviewed one of my peers about his experience with covid-19, and asked him his thoughts about the pandemic as a whole and the impacts that it had on him and his family. This interview helps showcase the thoughts of a college freshman during the pandemic and how life has changed for him and others as a result of the virus, which I feel is critical since all factors must be considered when looking at the covid-19 pandemic historically.

My immediate family, sister and mother, live in the city of Albino, in the province of Bergamo, the hardest hit area in Italy. The rest of my family lives in Cremona, the second hardest hit area in Italy. My sister contracted the virus at the very beginning of the pandemic, sometime in February 2019. She locked herself up in her room for 6 weeks and eventually recovered. Six months later she still suffers from fatigue and on-and-off muscle pain. Two older relatives died of the virus. One was in a hospital for minor surgery he had postponed for a few months. When he finally decided to get it done, it was right at the beginning of the storm. He was infected and died in a matter of days. The second one was in assisted living. The angel of death glided over the facility and took more than two dozen residents with it. The most painful was the death of a high school friend, a family doctor in Como. He started seeing patients with strange symptoms. With no guidance and no information from the Health Dept, he kept doing his job. When he came down with the infection, the virus load was so high he only lasted a few days. My mother escaped the infection. She lives in the same building as my sister, but they didn't see each other for months. She lived alone like a recluse. Friends or relative would drop off food by her door, she would put out the garbage and that was it. In the meantime she kept hearing stories of people she had known for a lifetime who passed away "they are dropping like flies" she told me one day. She mentioned a famous poem by Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, a poem he wrote while he was fighting in the trenches of World War I: "We are like leaves on a branch in autumn." I spent hours every day, sometimes several times a day for weeks, trying to console and give her courage. At a certain point I thought she was about to give up. She wasn't eating anymore, she was getting weaker and weaker, half asleep the whole day, awake in terror and sorrow at night. As to my life, it is similar to that of most of you. I live outside NY, my wife, two daughters and I managed with some adjustments in our routines. I avoided social networks like the plague (sorry for the metaphor), stayed away from the news and commentaries, focused on my teaching as much as possible, even took care of the backyard. Over the months, it was discouraging to the point of banging my head on my desk when I was watching Europe slowly getting control over the pandemic, while in the US we were and still are stumbling like blind morons, clueless and bamboozled by borderline criminal propaganda. I am not talking about all, of course. But it is frankly horrifying and terrifying to find out that 1 out of 2 people - more or less - I see in the streets live in a state of willful derangement, posing a danger to themselves (I could care less about them) but most of all to the rest of us.

This interview describes Cameron's life during the Covid-19 pandemic as a high school senior, now freshman in college, and citizen of New York and the United States.

It says that history repeats itself, so instead of trying to prevent plagues, we should learn how to control them.

This pandemic has strained multiple relationships in my life. When the stay at home order was first issued, it seemed like everyone moderately close to me took it pretty seriously. In retrospect, this may be because of the lack of answers we had about covid-19. The increase of fearmongering yet informational warnings in the media affected people to staying in their home for days at a time. Eventually, people’s fear were wearing off. Only a couple months into a quarantine and people around me began participating in nonregulated social events. Not only did I witness the increase in parties again, but an overall lack of awareness. Putting on a mask in public is not a very hard task, but even at this time, people I knew fought it relentlessly. People in my own family would continue to physically greet people in public and would come back home carelessly spreading germs from the outside. I did understand that this was a very different transition from normal life just months ago, so I understood the initial ignorance. After many conversations and pleas of mindfulness, it was easy to see that it was no longer ignorance, but selfishness. With people in my life living with underlying diseases that gives them a lesser possibility of surviving, I made sure to be well aware during this time. This was not met with reciprocating energy from some of my friends and family. The negligence around me began to offend me. I made sure to continuously live in a cautious manner for the safety of others around me, yet I was surrounded with others that just cared about themselves. After this realization, I did not care to contact these people as much. Pairing this with the stay at home order, I basically cut these people off. With the people in my family that treated the pandemic differently from me, I chose the same to not reach out as much even though I could truly never cut them out of my life. After observing these various irresponsible acts, I realized some important people in your life will disagree with you at times. Unfortunately, because of the state of the world right now, those disagreements can truly damage a relationship.

At a time where I’ve never been more in need of a break, I received more than I had bargained for. It is early 2020, I’m in my senior year of high school and worked almost everyday after school; I almost reached my breaking point. Everything stressed me out: drama, school, work, and lack of sleep. I hoped and wished and prayed for a break, and my prayers were unexpectedly answered. At first, it seemed like Coronavirus was just another cold, but then the world collapsed and everyone shut down. I was about to get an early spring break: two weeks to flatten the curve. Yet, this break turned into a nationwide hellscape. Everyone was forced to stay home, schools closed, entertainment centers closed, hockey was postponed, and even graduation was up in the air. I’ll admit, getting to stay home everyday was a blessing for the first few weeks. Then, it started to make me go nuts. I didn’t get to see my friends or go to work or school; my life was paused. A break is only good when you enjoy it with your friends, and my friends weren’t allowed out of the house and quite frankly, neither was I. My anxiety truly peaked and I was scared things would never even begin to go back to normal. Although it was different than it should’ve been, graduation still happened. I finally was reunited with my friends and teachers and it felt amazing to accept my diploma. As for college, it has been a little stressful amidst the pandemic. Not having in person classes is extremely different and it's much harder for me to learn, but i’m managing and things are getting better by the day. This brings us to the golden thing that remains: masks. I hate having to wear a mask in public, it’s a severe pain. However, I will follow the rules until everything returns to normalcy. At the end of the day, this pandemic has taught me a valuable lesson: always appreciate what you have and live in the moment, you never know when it could come crashing down. And today and forever, I stand by this. I will cherish what the lockdown has given me and taught me, yet I had to walk through hell to get to heaven.

This interview with Christopher Kiriaki talks about how the pandemic affected a college student's life.

I decided to write about what my experience was like living in quarantine this past summer. I want the reader to understand that though there were definitely challenges, as one could expect, there were also positives to take away from the experience.

This story explains what i did to help my get through the first part of this pandemic.

Because of the pandemic, in-person graduation ceremonies were cancelled. Instead the ceremonies were held over Zoom. This program outlines the video webinar order of events for the graduation ceremony.

Daniela gives us an inside look at what it was like to be a high school senior during COVID-19. She also talks about what it was like living in California during the pandemic. Daniela takes us through her experiences with graduation, prom, friends, and just generally what her life has been like living through the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This is Nicki Ribakoff sharing her story about how Covid-19 impacted her life, specifically her last few months of being a high school senior. She talks about multiple experiences including transitioning to online school, being responsible for getting groceries for her family, and maintaining relationships with her friends.

This interview is done between two people who had just met for the first time. It is meant to remember this moment in time and how this pandemic can bring even strangers together.

This is an interview with a Northeastern Student, Trisha Howes as part of our HIST 1215 class. Annie (Anna) Schaller interviews Trisha Howes and asks her about campus closing at Northeastern University. Howes also speaks about her job going to remote and what it was like to be a virtual intern.

History is a mirror decorated with stories. Learning about historical matierals is interesting and enlightening. An article about Spanish flu from the Boston Daily Globe on September 30th, 1918, titled Number of grippe deaths fall off and discussions with the Media History class have inspired me in understanding health policies, social changes, and more from diverse perspectives during the Covid times.

It is a clip of a news in Japan, where a supermarket called Trial in Chiba city made a cart named "no-contact" cart. How to use the cart is where you have a prepaid card, and as you go thorugh the store and put stuff in the cart, you scan your items and the monitor keeps track of what you bought and the price. At the exit, a staff will do a quick check to see if all items are scanned, and then you can go through a designated gate to exit the store. The designated gate will print out the receipt of what you bought. This allows less cluster around the register, and people can use their own bag on the cart and put what they want inside their own bag as they scan. The store also has AI cameras all around the store to prevent stealing and keep track of the stock so that it can minimize the staff to be exposed.

Audio interview with Sophia Press, a freshman at Northeastern University. She shares her experience with Covid-19.

Maddison Morris, freshman at Northeastern University, accounts her expirience of learning about COVID-19, it's severity, and how it affected her life as well as how it will shape the future.

I first became uneasy about the coronavirus when the US government started to make mandates about what businesses were to close, the limits of crowds, and when they made wearing a face mask in public mandatory. At first, I did not notice a significant difference in everyday life. The biggest change for me was moving out of my dorm room at Duquesne University and going home where I would complete the rest of the semester online. It was a very different experience in the sense I never would have thought that I would be completing my first full year of college education at home. With that being said, I got very used to attending class and completing work virtually. Moreover, as time went on, I realized at the time that the biggest change, the weirdest aspect of the pandemic was that almost every business was closed (except for the essential businesses) or at the very least open for only a few hours out of the day and there were many restrictions on the amount of people allowed in a given building at any time. For the first three or four weeks of quarantine, I struggled to find activities to do while I wasn’t in a Zoom session or doing homework. That was the worst part for me because I am someone who loves to be doing something all the time. It is hard for me to sit around inside all day not doing much. So, when May 1st came around, the government allowed golf courses to open in Pennsylvania. I have always enjoyed golfing in my free time even in the years prior to this pandemic. But when golf was allowed to open back up in PA, I began to golf more and more as it was one of the few activities that I could enjoy. Golf is not a sport where someone would come into contact with very many people in general so, I began golf quite frequently as it was a perfect way for me to ‘de-stress’ from being cooped up in my house attending zoom calls and doing homework problems for what seemed like one long day that didn’t really end. That brings me to my next point which was that pandemic life took a toll on my mental health. Waking up every day knowing that I was strongly encouraged to stay at home and if, in the case I did leave the house, I had to keep my distance from other people. To me, it felt like pandemic life was a very cyclical way of living which lacked variance. It was the same thing every day for weeks on end. Just that state-of-mind was probably the largest toll that pandemic had on my life. Fortunately, though, it seems as though we are through the worst parts of the coronavirus pandemic. I am seeing more and more businesses re-open which is encouraging. And hopefully we can continue being safe in order to get over the virus and back to normal life.

I am interviewing Emma Clifford from my HIST1215 class at Northeastern University on pandemics. Emma is from New Jersey so I asked about life and how she adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic.

I sat down for an interview with first-year Northeastern University student Pearl Rincon. We spoke about her her experience with the pandemic, her transition to online learning, and how her life changed during the quarantine.

I have noticed that the youtube have increased number of videos regarding how to keep makeup budge proof under your masks. I feel like this helps people to still feel beautiful despite having a mask on as well as follow the CDC guidlines.

During the school year prior to the virus, I attended a university that did not meet my expectations. I stayed in my room almost every night and only went to classes. It was not the college experience I had expected and was promised. When the outbreak started to hit the news in March, I was hoping my university would go to all online learning, so I could be home with my family and friends. At first, I thought this was going to be the best outcome, but I did not know how much of an impact the virus would have and still has. The lockdown ended up being exactly how it was at school; there was no seeing my friends and extended family. I spent most of my time in my room and on my phone constantly. My classes were boring and I lost even more interest in school. I had hoped that the virus would fade out so I could begin my new journey at a new school, but the virus had other plans. I am now doing classes remotely from home instead of on campus. Although I have more interest in this school and courses, but the online learning is not the same as in-person classes. I feel everyone is struggling to keep their motivation up and I cannot imagine what the grades below me are experiencing. The virus has taken a toll on most likely everyone's mental health. It is a time of uncertainty, which takes away our sense of security. The only thing we can do to keep moving forward is to think positively and be grateful for the small things in life. Although the virus has taken so much from us, we have been forced to take a step back from our daily lives. I have been gifted spending quality time with my family and finding new hobbies that interest me. My confidence in myself and my relationships with others have increased. The world my never be the same as it was, but we cannot let this stop us from moving forward into the future.

This interview with Sophia Akhter shares insight into the life of a college freshman and highlights how the Covid-19 pandemic effected her.