by William Hall
This is an opinion piece.
I have had a lot of free time due to COVID-19 and its effects on society. I have been able to focus on my leisure activities, but the disruption to my academic life has been irksome. COVID-19 has interrupted some of my other plans for this year as well, from job opportunities to events I hoped to attend.
With the recommendation to remain at home, I have had to stop frequenting locations outside of my home, including bookstores. One positive is that I have had more time to read the many books I already own, such as classic literature and writing guides, the latter helping with my own writing.
I have also had more time to work on my personal writing, especially my work for a writing conference I planned to attend this Spring. The conference has become online due to COVID-19, but I am still submitting part of one of my novels for review. I will miss out on any face-to-face meetings with industry professionals, but I will still receive feedback on my submission.
Now that Calhoun is closed, I am not only missing out on some aspects of my classes, I am also unable to continue my search for internships and cooperative learning opportunities. I would like to put my knowledge to use in such work and gain experience, but COVID-19 has put this search on hold.
I frequently visited the campus library at Auburn when I was working on my degree in English, and this situation with COVID-19 has prevented me taking such visits at Calhoun if needed. I have gained access to the computer programs required for my courses at Calhoun in the Drafting Design Technology department, so I can still complete my coursework and turn in my assignments. I have been using free student versions of AutoCAD and SolidWorks for my classes, and I have had plenty of time to work with them.
I have not had much of a problem with online shopping, but I already had a good amount of most living essentials. I have encountered websites of grocery stores having less options, but I have found enough of my regular purchases without much difficulty.
I do hope for this situation to end soon, and I would like to return to normalcy, especially the academic and social areas of my life. Until then, I spend much of my time reading and writing, along with taking care of my cat, who is enjoying having me home more.