AS MY LIFE CHANGED IN QUARANTINE

Before quarantine, my life was that of a student :  I used to wake up around half past seven and to leave home at eight o’clock to go to school. My days at school finished everyday at five o’clock, except on Wednesdays when school finished at noon and I often had lunch out with my friends. I also used to hang out with my friends on Saturdays.
I can remember the day when President Macron said on TV that all the schools in France, from the primary school to the university, would remain closed for some weeks. It was a Thursday evening when he spoke and schools were to be closed  on the following Monday. The next day was Friday; I went to school and I talked with my friends about his decision. We were happy to stay at home for two or three weeks, but that day we didn’t know that we would have to stay at home for about two months, till May and that that Friday might be the last day of our school year and our last day in the middle school. I didn’t immediately realised that to not go to school meant to stay at home all day long, to not go out. These days at home were very strange; I woke up later than when usual, around 9 o’clock and I spent  most of my time in my room chatting online with my friends or in my brother’s room playing video games. I stayed in touch with my friends by the phone, but we couldn’t meet and hand out. School at home was very different : teachers sent us homeworks on school website and four or five time our French teacher organised a video lesson online. It was really a strange experience to hear my teacher and my schoolmates’ voices. For me quarantine weeks passed quickly ; I didn’t feel bored. However, I had a sad moment at the end of April; on the 23rd it was my birthday and it was a less joyful birthday than the other years. Usually my grandparents would come from Italy to celebrate my birthday. This year, because of the quarantine they couldn’t come, I spent this day at home, only with my parents and my brother, my mum prepared a chocolate cake but there were no presents for me. That day I started to think that quarantine was too long and I started to miss my ordinary life. At the end of April, the president announced on tv that the lockdown would be ended on  May 11, that our school would be open from May 18, but only for the lower classes. After May, 11, during this first week of freedom, I went out several times : I went to the dentist, I hanged out with two friends. I had to wear the mask to go out and it was not comfortable. I hope to come to school in June to find all my classmates, but I think that with all the new rules it won’t be funny. I feel a little worried about this virus, because many people die everyday in the hospitals and I think that we’ll have to be very careful for the next months.

Thomas V.