Editor’s Note: Jake Moore is a student enrolled in Dr. Leo Jeffres’s Specialized Writing class.

I was on spring break vacation in Florida with 15 of my friends. It was the time we had all been looking forward to for months. Back home we had heard about COVID-19 but didn’t think too much of it since it was mainly hitting other countries. All we had in mind was we were about to be free of responsibility and close to beaches.

On March 11 we were all getting ready to go out to a popular club among college students in Fort Lauderdale called Capones. Then I heard a loud yell, so I rushed over to see what it was. My friend Marin was laid back with his face covered--he said, “Rudy Gobert just tested positive for the coronavirus.” Gobert is a professional basketball player and the Jazz’s prospect player.

Not too long afterward, the NBA made an announcement postponing the rest of the season. In that moment my friends and I knew the disease that didn’t seem too scary since it was mainly in other countries, had just gotten serious. We learned that all of our schools extended spring breaks and were switching to online classes. It seemed like a nightmare you couldn’t wake up from. The rest of the week the news just got worse and worse, and I started to worry that we might not make it back to Ohio. Luckily, we were able to fly home.

Two days later I lost my serving job because of the virus. That first weekend I expected to make enough for all the spending I did on vacation. Down on my luck, I didn’t feel too bad about it because I had a part time retail job as well where I could pick up more hours. Then, just three days later, the government shut those businesses down too, implementing self-quarantine and social distancing.

Life has drastically shifted for me because of all this. I’m a very social guy and value time with my friends and girlfriend. I love film and I would regularly frequent the movie theater and even had Regal’s unlimited movie pass. Now that the theaters are closed, I can’t see any of the new releases I was looking forward to. My girlfriend, Olivia, and I loved to go out to eat and now have date nights at home. We loved trying new places and just getting alone time with each other. Now we don’t get much alone time at all because I have two roommates and she still lives with her mom and brother.

Communication with my family is weird now because I can only see my parents through video calls.  I am scared I might bring them something. Having a group skype call is almost like something you would see in Star Wars.

Now that I am stuck inside, I have more time to catch up on shows and video games I always wanted to enjoy. I just didn’t think it would be under these circumstances. I was looking forward to summer but now I just play the waiting game, hoping to get back outside and do normal things again before summer passes by. It is funny what something like this can make you miss.

I can look on a screen, read a book or play a game but yearn for human interaction. It does bring comfort knowing we are all in this together, and I think we’re all learning lessons about what’s important from this tragedy.