Iysha Macy/The Broadside

Those who live in the residency hall are required to take a COVID-19 test weekly, and that we did. I began feeling like a greasy trash can up in flames, so I scheduled a test at the Curative testing trailer on campus. Although I hadn’t seen my results yet, I decided to not go to school since I felt terrible and couldn’t catch my breath.

After emailing my teachers that I would be taking precautions and wouldn’t be showing up to class, my test results came back negative. However, I was still concerned about being sick. I got in contact with housing faculty to further discuss what would happen next because of my COVID-19 related symptoms. They told me I wouldn’t need to quarantine but to proceed with precautions.

Later, my roommates all got tested, and the only one who wound up positive for COVID-19 was one roommate. She mentioned that she wasn’t feeling “like crap,” and she just got over the cold she had the week before.

I was then told to quarantine for 10 days since I was in close contact and hadn’t received the booster shot. I was put in quarantine on the fifth floor in COCC Wickiup Hall with a view of the library, the hiking trail and the COCC track.

I shared the suite with someone who had close contact with someone who tested positive as well. They were here for a good week but was then released and I was alone for the remaining week and weekend.

This quarantine for ten days was very blurry. I painted on all my canvases, worked on a couple projects, danced to all my favorite songs and got all my writing assignments finished.

It was the day before I could finally go outside and to my classes bright and early. I didn’t lose my taste or smell, and all I had was a hard time breathing, congestion and achy muscles.

The food that was served by the Sodexo center was pretty hit or miss some days. It was good and some days didn’t look as great. They would feed me and everyone else in quarantine meals in different hours of the day; breakfast at 8:00 a.m., lunch at 12:00 p.m. and dinner at 5:00 p.m.

My days consisted of different approaches. Back to the lonesome boredom of waking up, brushing my teeth, showering and debating on getting uber. I got more time to craft, write, work out and catch up on a TV show I was watching. If not any of those, I was sleeping days away or I was reading.