Life Under Lockdown - An Account Of Isolation

First of all, I'd like to say that this is a travel blog. Normally I write about incredible experiences across the world, however I feel that I should take the opportunity to write about the current situation as it is one of the most historically significant occurrences of my lifetime.

One day people will wonder what it was life to live during this time, so testimonies like mine must be preserved. However, this is my objective testimony and I'm not trying to sensationalise the situation. Please understand that this is from my perspective, I am a normal 19-year-old student from Scotland.

I understand that this situation is different for everyone depending on their surroundings, I'm not trying to tell people that social distancing is a complete breeze and should dry their eyes and I'm certainly not saying that it's incredibly difficult either.

It started with Serpentza talking about the danger of a new disease in China, I googled it and there was next to nothing about it, simply stating that it may present a threat to the elderly or those with weak immune systems. I think we all never thought it would come to the extent of drastically affecting our lives.

The virus spread monumentally, to the point that people's lives in China had been torn apart and when I came back from Portugal it was when it started to spread internationally. Italy was one of the first European countries to be hit hard. I remember getting a haircut, one of the customers is talking to the Italian barber about how he has to cancel his trip to Venice. I said to my barber how worrying it must be for Italy, he said that it wouldn't be anything to worry about.

A few days later I was talking to one of my Brazilian friends on WhatsApp, he was studying is Milan and told me that he had book a flight the night before and decided to get the hell out of Italy because of the coronavirus, his university classes had been suspended, but I thought it was a bit much that he decided to just leave.

A few weeks later and Italy is in lockdown and no-one can leave their houses. His decision wasn't so crazy after all and he dodged a bullet. But during a family dinner the topic came up and my sister had said that the coronavirus is not something to be worried about. She said it was just the media sensationalising the issue in China and it couldn't be so bad here in the UK. Even at the time, I had shared her opinion.

The last football match I had went to was Hearts v Motherwell, I can remember waiting in the café in Stirling station and hearing an announcement about being vigilant of the coronavirus, I thought it was a bit excessive, I mean come on, it can't be that bad. A few days later I was at the union pub with my fencing friends and we were talking about having a social in a week's time. Sadly this social would have to be cancelled and not long after it would be my last night out before bailing.

Sitting in Spoons with some of my friends and coronavirus came up in conversation, we all shared the idea that we shouldn't worry about it and have a good night. As long as we are young and healthy we cannot be harmed. The next day I was hungover waiting to go into my my law seminar, I was talking with the other students and they had said that football matches could be put off completely as the Serie A has done so already. I was shocked to find that the Euro would be postponed to 2020 and a few people in football such as Mikel Arteta had been infected.

On Sunday, I would do my weekly shopping, I had heard about panic buying and in the Tesco I saw that the toilet paper aisle had been emptied completely. I wanted to buy some chicken for making fajitas, but it was completely empty and was lucky to get meatballs for spaghetti. I had then received emails, I was told that the salsa classes and fencing were off and that all seminars and lectures would be online.

It was at the time my flatmates had started to think about bailing, but I was completely happy in Stirling, I had the gym to go to, my flatmates to hang out with and my own space. Things are completely different living with my dad in Glasgow. It was St Patrick's day, a day which would normally be spent necking pints down the pub was to spent in my flat kitchen listening to Irish music. I had told my flatmates that day I'd be bailing the next day as the gym had been closed and I felt there was no point in being in Stirling much longer.

We decided to get one last picture together to commemorate our friendship and a great first year of university cut short by coronavirus. The next day I had decided to tidy up my bedroom, organising all the stuff I couldn't take with me into one place and placing all of my stuff I'd be taking home into my rucksack. I had left my TV in my room, soup cans, creme eggs and a case of protein powder had been left in my kitchen cupboard. In this moment my flatmates were sitting on the couches together in the kitchen and were sad to see me go with my rucksack filled up with my possessions, it was time to say goodbye.

Compared to now, things still felt like business as usual, pubs were open, McDonald's were taking orders and Greggs was still open. Sitting on the train looking like I was still on my gap year, things didn't feel like the world was radically changing. I made it back home and I was exhausted. Later that evening, I'd be watching the news, this was history in the making and I knew that things had got very very serious.

I had plenty of lectures to catch up on, I am lazy, but I always make sure to attend the lectures, I find it easier to concentrate sitting in the lecture hall rather than in my bed staring at my laptop. This new way of studying would prove to be difficult and involve being riddled with procrastination. Having no fixed routine would cause me to wake up absurdly late and I'd have to push myself to contribute to my Spanish seminars.

That weekend I had decided to turn my Switch on, my cousin had told me he had a Minecraft realm in which I can play with my friends across all platforms. This took me back to my days as an 11 year old boy who would spend all his free time on his laptop playing Minecraft. Minecraft has given me something to do when I am being encouraged to stay at home, but at that same time didn't help my procrastination when I was supposed to be studying.

Then things got even more serious, the government had instructed for all bars, restaurants and most shops to close. As I was walking my dog, the following days I would see businesses on Byres road closing their doors. More and more, the streets were starting to feel empty. The next few days I was told that McDonald's were closing down completely, then Subway and then Greggs. On the last day before Greggs would close, I wanted to use my last chances to get Greggs for lunch, but the shelves were all empty.

On a Sunday after a few hours worth of Politics and Spanish lectures, I had received a message from my flatmates talking about the fact that our exams had been cancelled. My university had decided that it would be best to not go through with exams as different people have different circumstances, I did not feel too elated about this. This is because even though I was finding it difficult to adapt to different studying conditions, my studying at least gave me a reason to get out of bed.

Because of my exams being cancelled, I had nothing else to do except play Minecraft on my Switch, giving me the thought that I would have enjoyed this time more if I was five years younger as at that time I did nothing but play on my computer with intervals of going to school, eating and sleeping. Now I just don't find it as engaging, I'd rather be going to the gym or the pub.

I then received a WhatsApp message from the Woman I'd be volunteering with in Bahia, she asked me if I could help out with her classes online and I was willing to help for all that Brazil has done for me. Listening to Jorge Ben Jor, my favourite Brazilian artist has been one of the things that is getting me through lockdown.

At least with teaching English online, I have been given something to do, because of the time difference, I tend to be teaching up until one in the morning and I tell the co-teacher that I am more than happy to do so. It gives me the opportunity to share my love of Brazil with people who live there and they are impressed by my language skills.

As I have said before, learning languages is my hobby and it is something that you can do from the comfort of your own computer screen. All this free time has given me the opportunity to brush up on my language learning, not only am I trying to learn Russian, I am also trying to learn Italian on Duolingo. Russian and Italian are contrasts in terms of language learning, I find Russian incredibly difficult while Italian is a piece of cake.

While I take my dog out, I notice that the streets are completely empty, I can stand on the road without seeing a car and it is the most noiseless I have ever seen Glasgow. Pubs and local businesses have boarded up their windows to protect them and Great Western Road looks like a scene from 28 days later. That brings me to today, as I am writing this on my recliner chair in my room, in short my life under lockdown has caused radical changes in my life. If I have more to write about things that have happened during lockdown I will.