MESINA, MELANIE JADE D.

PHIHUM – R

APRIL 10, 2022

MY EXPERIENCE DURING THE PANDEMIC

At the outbreak of the pandemic, the world has changed dramatically as a result of the COVID-19
virus. I recall it began in January 2020, and I’ve learned from the news that it originated in China.
When I initially heard about the virus, I reasoned that it would pass and that we would be back to
normal in a few weeks or so. However, by March, a large number of individuals were already on
the point of death due to the virus, we were placed on lockdown, and businesses were forced to
close. Prior to the lockdown, we were instructed to purchase the necessities for our family. I also
recall alcohol is being hoarded. I was not permitted to leave the house because it was announced
that two people per household would be allowed to purchase only essentials, in order to prevent
the virus from spreading.

It was my senior year of high school, we were scheduled to graduate and march, but due to the
pandemic, the ceremony was cancelled, and the institution just had a virtual graduation for
everyone. I had not anticipated this outbreak, and it was distressing to consider that I had not
spoken a decent farewell to all my friends on graduation day. During the lockdown, I had more
time to study new things, fall in love with new things, and pursue hobbies such as baking and art.
The school in which I was enrolled announced that classes would resume, but that they’ll be done
online this time due to the pandemic. My experience with online classes has been less than
favorable. I struggled to maintain concentrate. Power outages and slow internet connections
continue to be our primary issues with online classes. I’m always sidetracked by online classes, I
can’t help but to check my phone every now and then that’s why I can’t focus on class.
Communication and contact with my classmates and professors are also challenging for me.
Because it is hard for me if there is a group activity or some research paper to make and what I
usually don’t like is that some of them are not replying through chat. My family consists of seven
individuals, and when lockdown was declared, I had a difficult time concentrating on online
classes since the home was constantly noisy and I was unable to combine schoolwork and
household tasks. My parents had a bakery, but the pandemic has resulted in more losses than gains.
Fortunately, my sisters were eager to assist and support my parents financially, which helped me
realized how much I want to graduate, find work, and support my parents.

As times goes by, the issue of the pandemic is being brought under control because of the vaccine
and booster we got from the government that a lot of citizens were able to get, which led to the
rate of cases of people affected by the virus slowly going down, and now the situation is getting
better. Furthermore, I feel so much better because of its progress. Since the situation of the
pandemic is improving, we are slowly getting back to doing our normal daily activities and going
about our normal lives, but we still have to follow the rules to prevent the spread of the virus by
always following social distancing, using face mask and sanitizing. The government also remains
the policy of using the vaccination card to verify if one is already vaccinated. As for the situation
at the university, I am still not certain if we are going to have limited face-to-face learning this
August, but this makes me a bit sad because before if there were some questions to be asked or
requirements that needed to be done, we could just search for them through the internet, and it was
not a big deal if we were not properly prepared or not presentable when coming to class as long as
we attended the sessions. Since now we are experiencing the new normal situation, I am sure to
miss online learning. We are also uncertain if the situation will return to what it was before the
pandemic crisis. The entire experience taught me that we tend to take things for granted until are
taken away from us, at which point we realized the value of the things we lost, but it is still possible
to do the things we used to do the things we used to do as long as we follow the policy, take care
of ourselves and our loved ones, and look forward to a better future