Hello, everyone my name is ____ but u can call me ____. I am 21 yrs old and I currently live in LP.

I am at
my 3rd year in college, taking up Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Filipino in De La Salle
University – Dasmariñas.

When I was young, I wanted to be a game show host but when I grew older, I decided to take up
education as my chosen profession. I took up Education as a course because that was what my parents
wanted. But I did learn to love it because of my friends and the people I encountered, and also because I
was greatly inspired by my professors.

My hobbies are watching videos such as cooking vlogs, make up tutorials, fashion vlogs, k-drama series,
Korean variety shows, and so much more! I also love watching Filipino movies. Right now, I’m hooked on
watching Grey’s Anatomy.

So, the first question in this activity is… Share with us your thoughts and feeling after six months of
vacation. During the first months of quarantine, I was still occupied as there was still ongoing class and
there were still a lot of activities and assessments that had to be done online. The school was quick to
transition to online learning after quarantine was established indefinitely. Honestly, I can’t even consider
these last six months as vacation as I was still too busy with school. Only the last two months were the
only time I would consider it as a vacation of some sort. During those last two months, I discovered a lot
of things such as baking. I made my own banana bread, pandesal, baked sushi, and I even made my own
kimbap. I also had the chance to clean up and organize my room. But despite all these, in this
quarantine, I miss the outside world. I’m not old enough by a couple of months to be allowed to go
outside. It is okay though as I don’t have any business outside my home. But I do miss seeing other
people, seeing and talking to my friends in person. Because of the virus, we had to establish a new kind
of “normal” wherein we can’t be too careless in taking care of ourselves. We have to wear masks and
face shield when going outside. We always have to pack our personal alcohol or sanitizers to keep our
hands clean, we have to distance ourselves from each other, and all other precautionary measures. I
miss the old days where you can live free, breathe freely, without having to live in fear of a contagious
virus. But I do believe that with enough discipline and competency from each of us, this pandemic will
pass, and we will all go back to the way things were.

Next question, what have you reflected about yourself, your family, and your friends.

I guess it became more apparent to me that I can easily become overwhelmed when I experience too
many problems. I can get stressed out pretty easily and this pandemic is not helping with that. But
despite this, I’m still trying to improve upon that, be mature, and try to take hold of myself when things
don’t go the way they’re planned.

When it comes to family, well I still live with my parents and my younger brother, so I get to spend more
time with them. We got to know more of each other since most of us can’t leave the house. I also live
with near some of my cousins and since the quarantine, they’ve been working from home. I get to spend
time with all of them, and they all help take my mind off of what’s happening outside. But I am still
concern for the well-being of my relatives and family. Sometimes, they still have to leave the house to
work especially mom and I just don’t want anything bad to happen to them.
Finally, when it comes to my friends, I am really glad we can still connect with each other. They helped
me a lot during this quarantine. I can ask help from them for my schoolworks and we have fun chatting
and talking with each other. We share about each other’s experiences and we have fun in general. I
would very much like to see them and spend time with them in person, but I am still thankful that I can
still spend time with them even if it’s just online.

3rd question, are you really affected by the pandemic? Yes. I think we’re all affected, in a way. Sure, I may
not have the virus itself and be in need of constant monitoring or medication, but this pandemic has
almost affected every aspect of everyone’s lives. As a student, I can’t go to school. I have to resort to
online learning and even that is difficult. Not everyone has a good computer and a stable internet
connection. There are even people who have those but still have problems connecting to the internet.
We know that our country doesn’t have the most reliable internet service. This also applies to teachers,
workers, employees, and public transportation drivers. People don’t receive the proper income to
sustain their families and they still have to be careful to not get sick. Even as something mundane and
taken for granted such as standing next to each other, we can’t even do that with this pandemic
happening. Everyone’s greatly affected by this and I sincerely hope this ends soon.

Last but not the least, is there any big difference in your personality now?

I changed quite a bit ever since the pandemic. I watch the news now more often than I was beforehand.
I am more aware than I was before of what’s happening around the world as well as in our country and
things aren’t looking too good since the start of 2020. I don’t have enough knowledge on world events,
but I am trying to learn so that I am more aware and educated. This pandemic helped me understand
myself and try to be more mature when it comes to my daily life. I thought I could handle myself during
this pandemic, but I realized it wasn’t easy. I needed help as I lack the resources, so I learned to ask for
help. There’s nothing wrong in asking for a little bit of help.