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  2020-05-04

  My day inside

  I find time is hard to past by these days. My sleep schedule has changed drastically ever since we were given stay at home orders. I usually start my day at around 10 am and then end it by 3 am. The time in between is quite monotonous and I am really looking forward to the orders being lifted. So my day starts and I grab something to eat. I then login to my live lectures which are all day. I listen, or at least try to, take notes, and then do some homework. Often now I have to re watch lectures to understand the material since when I watch it live I am not really paying attention. I then study and get ready for the day. I try my best to remain in contact with my friends but it is not the same anymore. The only interaction I usually have is getting help on an assignment or us figuring out how to complete a task that we have been assigned. Once my classes are done I usually eat again and then try and exercise. Normally when I am on campus I am able to get a lot of walking done, but now since we are inside, I need to be active. So after I decide to exercise , I unwind a bit and then have dinner. Everyday I have to make something since I do not want to get food from outside. Cooking has been the one part that is different, since I try to make something new every day. I then eat and study some more. I find myself productive for whatever reason that may be. Usually I have to really try and focus to get work done because it is really distracting being at home. Something about being at home just does not make me feel like working. Nevertheless, I am able to study and continue to catch up on the material. This routine is quite monotonous at this point. It has been roughly 8 weeks like this and it is starting to get tiring. I know change to the stay at home orders is coming, and I can not wait for it. I am thankful that my semester ends soon so that way there will be some change to my routine. 8 weeks of the same thing every day is quite a drag on life and I look forward to the changes. I really hope the Fall wont have a second wave leading to life like this again!
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  2020-05-04

  Transition to Online Classes

  As a Junior in college, the transition to online classes have been what I expected. They started off really difficult but as the semester comes to an end, it seems like we are getting used to them now. We were exactly halfway through our semester when we were told to shift to online format. That was quite the disruption. All my belongings were left in my apartment and I had to drive 6 hours to go and move out, since there were no flights. Along with classes still giving a full workload, this was not easy. I found it quite difficult to focus with online classes since it was so easy to drift off while listening to a zoom lecture. Normally, I don’t use a laptop in lecture halls because it is to distracting. And I was right, it is very distracting. Nevertheless, midterms were also a fiasco. Only one was proctored and that was a mess. It was through zoom and it was quite distracting. The average ended up being in the 50’s leading to a big curve given to us. My exams that weren’t proctored were still difficult since learning the material was a challenge. I am studying computer science so the material in my Junior year is quite challenging. Nevertheless, everyone has made their best effort to the transition. One thing that is the hardest with the transition were projects. My classes had group projects and working online like this with a group is difficult. We often couldn’t get a time to work because we are in different time zones. In addition, we had to screen share and give remote access to each others computers to complete basic tasks. Often I found it better to just work alone and then collaborate for email. Losing the interaction of groups was the most difficult. However, the professor was considerate and gave extensions and a lot of extra credit. He added upward of 40 bonus points to help us. This shows that professors do understand the hardship to transfer to remote learning, because even they must be facing hardships during these times. If this has to continue in the Fall it wont be as bad because I would only be taking electives in my final year. I would miss the interactions that I have on campus but it is unfortunate situation we are all in and we are making the best of this situation.