coronavirus – Committing to the Commute

Trying to Survive Online

Posted on April 6, 2020 by kaytlynlaferriere

As being college students, whether it be residential, commuter or one that has recently become the biggest of all (an online student), we have all had to learn many different things. That’s literally our job; to learn things. In fact you don’t even have to be a college student to learn things, but I think you already knew that.

As commuters, we had to learn how to get to our school; to park at our school; to do our school work, whether it be in the library or our kitchen table; to balance school work and our job. Some may even have had to learn how to take classes on campus as well as online. And because of the world we are currently living in, that has become my hardest challenge yet.

I do feel that many college commuters also take online classes since it can be more beneficial for them to stay home instead of having to drive in everyday, or taking an online class so they can go to work or tend to their children more. Needless to say, I’ve never been one of those commuters. I’ve never taken an online class until now.

WHAT! I know. It sounds crazy!

I just never thought I would enjoy it, I found it to be a lot more work, and frankly I was scared of it. I don’t know if there are any of you like me out there, but if so, leave it in the comments below and let me know as to why you’ve never taken an online class.

But the time had come. A time I was dreading and was never expecting. Due to the pandemic, all my classes were forced to go online and for the first time ever I had to learn how to take online classes. Dun Dun Dunnnnn…

Lets just start off by saying this, it hasn’t been easy and I’m still working it. It’s not like I can go from one day only having face-to-face classes and then magically transitioning perfectly into online classes. This is a process that I have to deal with day by day and continue to keep practicing at. And you do too since we are all currently in this together.

Queue The High School Musical Ending in 3,…2,…1…

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Anyways, each day I’ve had to learn how to access the work along with learning how to submit it. I’ve also learned that every teacher is different. So learning how each one runs their course has been a challenge. I’ve also had to learn what Zoom is as I’m sure most of you have too. I’m not sure about you guys, but the only thing that came to my mind when hearing about Zoom was the kid TV show lol.

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Wow I’m old.

I think one of the biggest struggles has been the change from having a specific schedule to now having class anytime you want and teachers sending work and announcements left and right. Have you gotten ones at 1am because I have. It’s ridiculous!

Like I’ve said it’s been quite challenging and very stressful. Everyday I’ve been trying to create a system of my own to keep everything structured as much as I can to make sure I get the work done, yet still have enough time to relax. It’s been working for me so far, but remember time management is key. If you need a starting point may I suggest a to-do list or even blocking out times to do specific things.

That is actually something I learned from a couple of tip sheets that I read. I highly recommend that if you’re stuck transitioning from face-to-face to now online during this time to look through some tip sheets on how to take online classes. Or even if you’re someone who is considering online classes in the future. They are certainly helpful to know and in fact you may already know some that you have applied in your regular classes.

I will say though that this is not a regular semester nor how regular online classes go. This is a weird time for all of us so we need to be patient and try not to beat ourselves up about not doing things the way we hope. This is a learning curve we all need to deal with, even our teachers. If you’re reading this now (during the Covid-19 pandemic) and are struggling with the transition from face-to-face to online I highly recommend this tip sheet for how to deal with taking online classes now.

All I can say is that we’re all going through it right now, some having it harder than others, but we can get through this. Before you know it the semester will be over and summer will be here. YAY!! All we can do now is try our best and be kind to one another. This is not a normal situation for any of us so we need to give each other some slack. Even if you think you are the only one struggling during this time and having a hard time navigating through this new territory called online classes, just know I’m right there with you struggling and learning every step of the way.

Essential Talking with an Essential

Posted on April 2, 2020 by kaytlynlaferriere

Has everyone gone stir crazy yet? I’m sure you’ve never had to stay all cooped up in your house this long before; I know I haven’t.

At times I just want to go out and go anywhere, but I know better. But then I start to think about the people who don’t really have the choice to stay home during this pandemic. The essential people. The people who are risking their lives to help the ones in need and keeping our world going. I wonder what is going on through their heads; in fact, I wonder what is going through my Dad’s head because he still needs to go out everyday.

This has been a very abnormal few weeks for him. He’s gone from a busy 9-5 job facilitating his employees and building medical equipment, to having very few people, in hopes to keep them all safe, and disinfecting everything. He used to hire the cleaning crew, but now he is the cleaning crew.

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The only normalcy in his life is coming home and seeing his family everyday. That’s what keeps him going, along with his faith in God and Tom Brady’s quote, “Under stress, I’m the best”.

However he feels sad for his kids because with one being in their senior year of high school and another trying to finish up college, they won’t be able to have all of those fun and memorable times with friends, including those celebratory moments all young adults should experience.

“I’m sad that my kids can’t have a normal life and good young adult memories anymore, ” my father said.

“Car in snow bank after blizzard” by City of Boston Archives is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

The only thing that came to mind for him that was at all similar to this pandemic was the New England Blizzard of 1978 and an ice storm in the early 70’s.

“I remember having no power for two weeks. My family and I had to sleep and live in the living room,” he said. “Our life had been flipped upside down.”

Yet even though his life went back to normal after those storms, he’s not too confident on getting the same results with this situation. He feels that due to the fake news from the media along with the constant hype, that “people will be so afraid the sky is going to fall, that our economy will fall as well. And if there are no jobs, the next issue will be starvation”.

He said that this might not be something I want to hear, but it has to be said. He finds the younger generation to not be as creative or have a strong inventive skill set that he finds the older generation only had.

They had the great outdoors to build forts and we have Tik Tok. If not being able to leave our homes is bad, could we do it without our phones? Think about it.

He just finds survival may not be as easy to the younger generation as it can be for the older ones. However if any good change can come out of this, he hopes that all this “boredom” will be a wake up call for all of us. We will be more inventive, we will design more and dream more. We will even go outside and get our hands dirty. That’s all he wants.

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I want to know what you guys think!

I’m sure what my father said could be striking to some of you, but think about it. What would we do if we didn’t have our phones? I’m sure they have been a big help during our social distancing and quarantining, but what if we didn’t have them? So much of our life is online-based right now; school, work, keeping our sanity by watching Netflix, even ordering food. What would we do?

The bright side is that people have been more creative and finding anything they can do to keep busy. Whether that be cleaning your house or getting back into painting, it’s all great and stimulating our brains too and we need to keep it up.

Along with keeping our brains stimulated, we need to remember the people who are doing everything they can to help keep our world going in these trying times. To the hospital workers, Firefighters, Police Officers, Military workers, grocery workers, any other essential workers out there right now, and the many others I’m probably forgetting. We need to be appreciative of them because we need them right now. So do your part and stay home for them no matter how badly you want to just leave your house. Continue to stay strong! 🙂

Commuting to My Kitchen

Posted on March 25, 2020 by kaytlynlaferriere

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying safe.

Since I last posted many changes have happened in our world that have surely affected us all in one way or another. With everyone trying to lessen the curve with the COVID-19 outbreak, many things have been cancelled, shut down, or have limited hours. I don’t think anyone had expected this or thought it would get this intense. Many schools have even closed down and switched to online-based classes.

For myself, my college has been closed down for over a week and I am now having to do remote learning. I will say the transition hasn’t been easy, but not as bad as others at my school. Since I’m a commuter, I already lived at my house so there was no need to go and pack up all my belongings in a dorm room. I also don’t have to waste time driving to school everyday; I now just walk 30 feet to my kitchen table and boom I’m at school.

However I am not the only one in my house doing school work. My brother is also home with me since his school has also been closed for the mean time. My mother works at a school too and she too is home and working remotely. My father however can still go to work because he is essential to his company. I don’t know how long that will last, but if he is sent home I hope he can work because his income is very important in helping sustain my family. And well for my dog, he’s seen no change. Luckily everyone is doing well and staying healthy. We just hope it can stay that way.

Nothing has changed a whole lot in my household; we are still doing our daily routine. I still wake up, get ready, eat, and do a bunch of homework. It’s sort of like a really long spring break except I can’t go anywhere fun like restaurants or stores, or see anybody. Lets just say Face Time has become the new norm along with the home phone ringing every 30 minutes. Also try celebrating your birthday in quarantine; you really have to get creative.

What I don’t like however is the amount of work I am getting. I understand that school needs to continue and now with no more class time teachers need to add different things to their curriculum; but, they do not need to over compensate! The constant emails and notifications; the added assignments and various readings or videos is ridiculous. I feel like I’m more stressed about what new assignment I’m going to get everyday than if I’ve washed my hands or have come into contact with someone with the virus. It’s crazy! All I ask is to keep it simple. That’s it. The more stress someone has the more their immune system will weaken and we don’t need that.

I’m trying to keep sane as much as possible, but I will say it has been difficult with staying in all the time and having to learn this new way of taking online classes. But this is new for everyone and we just need to calm down, think positive, and get through it one day at a time. I find if I make a to do list everyday, even if it’s a dumb one, it will help keep my mind focus and for me to stay on track with everything I have to get done; it sort of gives me a purpose everyday. I highly recommend it! Plus keeping in contact with friends and family is good too; you don’t want to become a complete shut in.

If I do get a chance to actually relax and not do homework my hobbies tend to include cleaning out every cabinet in my house, working on puzzles that everyone usually has from a few Christmases ago that were in your closet, and watching TV (does anyone have good recommendations because I need something to binge).

With all that being said, I am managing, but it has been hard. I’m trying to stay positive, stay as safe as I can, and taking it one day at a time. Hopefully you are too! And remember, wash your hands, stay 6 feet apart, and DON’T GO OUT unless you absolutely need to!!! To End this it starts with YOU!

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.