Coping With Life in a Pandemic
It has been about a year living in this "COVID world" and there does not seem to be any sign that this way of life is coming to an end anytime soon. With the recent announcement of a third confinement in France and the news of the existence of a second, more deadly variant of COVID, it seems like COVID is here to stay: forever making our lives a living hell. However it is not all doom and gloom with COVID life. Indeed, the numerous restrictions in place have put a limit on what we can do with our time, but it has also given people the opportunity to use their very limited amount of time to pursue newfound hobbies. So it is a mixture of feeling like you do not have enough time to do what you want but also confinement has forced us to develop new ways of entertaining ourselves. It is true COVID has brought a lot of stress and misery to our lives but the AUP students and faculty that I have talked to have proved that some good can come out of anything. Here is how a few AUP staff and students have made the most out of their experiences under confinement.
Annika
Year: Junior
Major: History
"At the beginning of the first quarantine, I got a few house plants and they have just been slowly accumulating ever since. I have never been someone who liked plants but when I went home for the summer, I was all alone. So I started taking care of my mom's plants and was like, 'Whoa, I really enjoy this.' When I came back here to Paris, I immediately bought some plants."
Image Credit: F.D Richards, flickr.com
Denise
Assistant at AUP Library
"Ever since confinement started, I began making pottery and jewelry, When I was a teenager I used to make jewelry for my high school friends but I never thought it could be a business. Due to COVID, I was mostly at home with lots of free time so I started making a ton of jewelry and I was like, 'What if I post these online to sell?' Now I have a website and Instagram for my jewelry. I am hoping to make this a full time business"
To learn more about Denise Geney's business you can follow her on instagram @orchiajewelry or check out her website https://orchiajewelry.com/
Violet
Year: Junior
Major: Communications
"I picked a few things since the start of confinement like baking, painting, as well as learning Spanish and practicing Kabyle which is my native language but I went back to it because since living in France, I am a bit rusty"
Violet's Paintings. Image Credit: Violet
Lindsay
Year: Freshman
Major: International Comparative Politics
"I have been exploring Paris more even though the museums and restaurants are closed. I feel like I am exploring Paris but just in a different way because I would have not found all these amazing parks if I had other things I could do."
Image Credit: Carlos ZGZ, pixhere.com
For many of us, we started out searching for new hobbies or rediscovering old ones as a way to cope with the drastic shift in our way of life as a result of the pandemic. However, slowly over time these hobbies have become more than just the last thing keeping people from losing their sanity and more of an opportunity to learn about themselves. One thing we can all agree on is the pandemic has changed the way we value our time, which has affected how we use our time. It has given us more time to reflect on what we really like and what we really want in life. These are more than just silly hobbies to pass the time. For many people like Denise Geney, its a chance to start her dream career or for Violet, its an opportunity to spend more time discovering her cultural roots.
