Quarantine Life - blog posts written by students from our HL4A

29/04/2020, 10.45 a.m.

What the Corona virus has taught me

If we know one thing for sure, it’s that the current situation is something no one has ever experienced before. As my life, as every other person’s life, has changed drastically over the last six weeks, I wanted to share my personal view about the state of affairs. I am lucky to say that I have developed a steady day-to-day routine that has enabled me to get healthier, more stress-free and more mentally balanced than ever.

My day starts as early as possible with breakfast and with planning my day or week. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I join an online yoga class at 9.30 a.m. Additionally, another regular schedule point ist he online livestream mass together with my parents.

For the rest of the day I like to go for a run, cook and do the grocery shopping for my parents. Even if I should be continuing my homework by then, the great spring weather often tempts me to stay outside and read a good book before I go back inside to study. I usually finish the day by doing something fun, like watching a movie.

Undoubtedly, this routine can still get very stressful, and I’ve lost a lot of motivation for trying new things, like learning Dutch or painting. Nevertheless, I’ve learned that by simply improving my routine, I get to spend more time on things I already enjoyed doing.

Indeed, the world has all its right to be concerned! However, I believe in a bigger plan. Let’s call it a higher meaning that all will result in something even better than before.

Personally, I’d advise you to use the time that you’re given and find something creative that can enrich your personal life. For example, spending more time improving your skills in your hobbies, practising an instrument or doing more sport.

Lastly, I hope you all stay healthy and leave a comment with your thoughts!

Posted by TanjaPrattes

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Corina Alora

1 May, 3:29 p.m.

Life in the Time of “Rona”

In this post I will share my daily routine, thoughts and feelings as well as some activities to stay sane and healthy. Recently I came across many blog posts from teenagers my age that described their personal experience with quarantine and social distancing, which made me want to write my own and see if anyone would share similar experiences and thoughts as me.

As you all can probably imagine my daily routine is not very exciting, extraordinary or whatever. My mornings always start at 8:00 a.m. with the charming sound of my beloved alarm clock, also called a phone. As many people, I love a good iced coffee at the start of my day to make sure my body wakes up, too. After I am done with my “breakfast” it is time to go wash my face, brush my teeth and make myself look acceptable for all the challenges my day might bring. Of course, the most time of my day I invest in my education, with getting all my schoolwork done to make sure I do not stay behind in any of my classes.

In my personal situation quarantine means having the ability to get to know myself better and focusing on things that are important for my future life. Yes of course, it sucks to not see my friends and hangout with them, but spending a few weeks apart won’t break a good friendship and honestly, in my opinion it helps to build a stronger bond or even finally realize who your real friends are and aren’t.

Considering all the bad facts about the virus, it is not all bad. Do not get me wrong, the virus is deadly and especially puts our grandmas and granddads in a serious situation that we all would like to avoid, but on the other hand, nature is finally recovering from our behavior. It goes without saying that this once in a lifetime situation made us all realize how spoiled and ungrateful we are about what we had and how good our life was.

Some of my favorite activities to take my mind off our current situation are reading a book, painting some old shoes or even getting creative with old clothes to make them look new and trendy. In case you are more the sporty type, I would strongly recommend to try some yoga, meditating or even just doing some exercises at home with this amazing app called “Lose weight at home in 30 days”, which helps you create your own personal fitness plan adjustable for your needs such as losing weight, gaining muscles or just staying fit.

Do you have a special Corona routine? How does this situation affect you? Do you have similar thoughts as me?  

Title explanation: Rona is a slang word that teenagers use instead of Corona. Given our task to write to fellow teenagers I thought it would be suitable to use this term instead. I think it makes my blog more appealing and interesting for young adults.

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By Katharina Haas

April 26, 09.00 pm

Life during quarantine

At the moment we all have to find our way in quarantine. So, with this blog entry I would like to tell you about my personal situation and give you some tips against boredom.

The past six weeks have been quite difficult. I live in a house with my grandparents but I make sure to keep my distance since that’s my way of protecting them. The first weeks we didn’t see each other at all, while usually I talk with them as often as possible. So we started to write letters everyday. Apart from that my daily routine has also changed when it comes to sleep. I usually work at night, go to sleep when my dad wakes up (I always hear the sound of the coffee machine when I fall asleep) and then I wake up between 12:00 and 2 p.m., I always make sure to sleep 8 hours. After “breakfast” I work until 8 pm. At 08:15 p.m. I always watch a movie with my parents, right now we are watching all the marvel movies on Disney+. After that I finish my work and write the letter for my grandparents. Furthermore, I sometimes call my friends from 7 to 8 p.m.

Many of my relatives are ill or work as doctors, so we are very worried. Some acquaintances even died, but I was lucky enough that Corona hasn’t affected anyone close to me yet. My grandmother (the one who lives in the house with us) found out during Corona that she probably has cancer and now has to go to the hospital at high risk. My other grandma needs my mom's help for everything because she cannot afford a nurse. But my mom is no longer allowed to enter the retirement home and is now phoning with my grandmother as often as possible so that she doesn’t feel lonely and helpless. Furthermore, my parents and I live together in a small flat, but they are like my best friends and I really enjoy spending such a long time with them. I feel very comfortable about eLearning because at school I have to be nice all day long, but at home it is possible for me to work focused and only talk to my friends when I want to, instead of ignoring them at school because I want to listen to the teacher, which usually leads to bad feelings. Accordingly, my friendships are a lot better and I love that.

I am very proud of our government and the Austrians because they all act absolutely sensibly. Moreover, I feel like friendships are becoming closer and people are becoming friendlier and more thankful. Apart from not being allowed to visit and support the sick and lonely, I like the overall situation.

I can recommend you some activities that I’ve been doing recently like planting flowers, writing letters (not only to my grandparents, but also to my friends), going for a walk, baking or cooking, doing sports, reading, talking to your parents, petting your pet, playing video games and watching movies or series. You could also learn something you’ve always wanted to learn. I, for example, practise playing the e-guitar with my dad. My mom and I are also cleaning up the house, which is a lot of fun with the right music.

Summing up: do what you want to do and what feels good for you. Nevertheless, don’t forget to eat healthy, sleep regularly, drink enough and make sure you exercise enough.

I hope you’re all well. How are you feeling right now? What are you doing in quarantine? Let me know in the comment section down below.