Items

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  2020-11-19

  Student Life During a Global Pandemic in Boston

  I was supposed to spend my first semester of college abroad in Rome, Italy as part of my acceptance into Northeastern's NUin program. Due to the pandemic, I had to switch my location to London, England and then ended up having to switch to Boston, Massachusetts. But despite the unexpected change in location and covid-19 guidelines, I ended up having an amazing first semester here in Boston. Life on the Northeastern campus was definitely not what I was expecting for my first year of college, but my peers and I were able to quickly adapt to the safety guidelines and online classes. My entire education relied on one thing this year... the strength of my WiFi connection. As you can see in the photo, all of my classwork, textbooks, assignments, and professors were primarily accessible from my laptop. Instead of being taught in-person with a live professor, all I had to do to get to my class was open my computer and click a link to a Zoom meeting. This made it easy to attend class, but it also made it very difficult to focus during class because I was able to mute myself if I didn't feel like paying attention. If I learned anything from going to school during the covid-19 pandemic, it was self discipline. This is because I had to make sure that I stayed focused on my classes when I could have easily not been paying attention.
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  2020-11-04

  Ghost Town

  This is a picture of one of the most popular and bustling tourist spots in Boston. Here is a picture of it during Covid-19 pandemic. A once busy street packed full of residents and tourists going to get food at the many restaurants inside Quincy Market and people walking along the Freedom Trail packed this destination full of people. The sea of people that one would see here is a huge contrast to what is seen now, which is an almost eerie image of the empty plaza. Once this year is over and this virus is gone, this historic plaza will return to its former glory.
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  2020-12-04

  College During Covid

  College has definitely been a whirlwind of emotions during the pandemic. As a freshman, my first year was far from traditional. Strict rules and regulations have been put in place and made it hard to meet new people and get the full college experience. As a student at northeastern, there have been many regulations such as no more than 1 to a table at the dining halls, mostly online classes, and no going to watch sports games. While this is hard because it makes it difficult to feel like part of a community at school, Northeastern has done a wonderful job of keeping its students and staff safe. In the picture provided, it captures the idea of Boston late at night, but instead of the usually bustling city, one can see that it seems to be rather calm. This is because Boston had implemented a 9:30 pm curfew for all of its residents. Because of this pandemic, the city and school life has been drastically different, and many students are looking forward to less regulations when this pandemic is over.
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  2020-12-02

  Planet Fitness- Boston

  Planet Fitness Planet Fitness, the place people go to work out and get some exercise to stay in shape. My love and passion for working out had just begun when the coronavirus went global. At first all the gyms were shut down in Boston as exercise was deemed not essential. The state had a list of businesses that were listed as essential or not essential to be up and running while they were trying to figure out how to control this virus. The whole state of Massachusetts had a series of phases of when certain businesses could be open. I am writing right now during phase 3. I do not know how many phases we are going to have, but it has been about 8 months now. When the gyms were finally opened, I was pumped. I was tired of doing home workouts every day since it got boring. I also was getting tired of being stuck in my apartment all day every day. Planet Fitness was a good place to work out but also a good place to meet new people. The coronavirus changed that. Everyone must wear a mask as they work out. You must stay 6 feet apart from everyone else. The worst part is that only about half the machines can be used. Planet Fitness disabled half the machines so no one could use them. This is a major bummer since I am limited in the things I can use. I cannot wait until the coronavirus is finally under control, but in the meantime, everybody needs to play their part and stay safe.
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  2020-12-02

  Ethiopian Cafe Roxbury

  My dad had taken a long trip from his home to come visit me, the college student who lives in Boston. The tradition of eating at our favorite restaurant in town was soon to be. The 2019 red Toyota Tacoma was freshly cleaned and ready for another trip down to Roxbury, Massachusetts. I was picked up from my campus at Wentworth Institute of Technology on a bright sunny Saturday afternoon. It was about 75 degrees with a slight breeze on this beautiful July day. As we started driving down towards Roxbury, we could see nobody was outside. Usually Boston is full of people exploring the city and enjoying the downtown on a Saturday. Even at the Ethiopian Café there was no one in sight. We could see a mailman walking door to door dropping off mail but that was about it. There was hardly any traffic and no noise as most businesses were shut down. The birds chirping and the wind blowing was the only noise around. This looked like a ghost town. Inside the restaurant there was no one inside. There was a sign at the door that stated, “mask required to get inside”. The only business they were accepting was pickup or delivery. This was the “new normal” now for everybody. What was once an upbeat and social place to dine, is now a quiet empty restaurant running off a few customers at a time. I could not sit down with my dad and eat the food we had ordered. They would not allow anyone to dine inside or outside. Everyone had to just get their food and eat it somewhere else.
• 2020-11-17

  Beauty of Boston

  Arriving as a freshman at Northeastern University, I found myself allured to the urban beauty of Boston. In these times it can be observed that the inhabitants of Boston are fewer, mostly at home, wear masks, and have totally changed their way of life. However, despite the pandemic, Boston's urban scape and landscape remain unhindered in its growth, development, and display. The backdrop beauty of the city is appreciated in these difficult times and keep its inhabitants - including myself - resilient and to press on.
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  2020-03

  Boston Symphony Hall Closes

  This is a photograph of a sign posted in the window of the Boston Symphony Hall. This sign illustrates how sudden many of the closures were due to Covid-19, leading to suddenly canceled events.
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  2020-04-21

  Signs From Around: #8, Boston, MA

  "Signs From Around: #8, Boston, MA" is part of a series exploring the signage surrounding COVID-19 from different parts of the world. Stay at home be over. #FordhamUniversity #VART3030 #SignsFromAroundSeries