I take college classes back home, which, fortunately for me, happens to be a Hawaiian island mostly untouched by the virus. In fact, the only thing that distinguished my time back home from any other was the two week quarantine I had to go under upon arrival.

However, being under what basically amounts to house arrest for half a month has allowed me to work towards a degree in literal paradise. Seems like a decent trade.

Of course, Zoom university isn’t perfect. It has some fundamental problems that aren’t going anywhere. There are uncomfortable silences and a weird game of chicken in determining who will speak next. More importantly, virtual meetings are tough to sit through and they make it hard to sincerely connect with peers or teachers. Simply put, forming new significant relationships online is basically impossible. It’s simply too awkward and clunky. The classic college bonding experience, namely suffering over assignments together, isn’t the same over Zoom. That lack of comradeship stings, but online school also has some unique benefits that would simply not be possible during normal on campus schooling.

Being back home means that the plights of dorm life are no longer; no more dorm food or waiting for the clothes washer/dryers to free up or fear of finding someone’s spent party fuel in the shared restrooms. Instead, I now get to study from the comfort of my own room without roommates and with home cooked meals.

Class being wherever you have your laptop and wifi is also super convenient. There’s no commute so no worries about being late. There’s the option to roll right out of bed and into class (although I wouldn’t do it, of course). And with Hawaii being behind everyone timewise, classes are usually done by noon and, so, the rest of the day could be spent enjoying the outdoors. I’ve taken this opportunity to learn how to surf. The fact that having class on a beach is even a possibility, in my view, probably makes me one of the few people whose quality of life has actually bettered as a result of COVID. In fact, my mental health has improved since the pandemic.

As such, I understand that in being able to complain about Zoom class and talk up the benefits of life in Hawaii, I am incredibly privileged. Even my gripes about Zoom class aren’t true problems; they are merely side effects from an incredible learning opportunity out of reach for most people. Moreover, living on an island where the economy relies entirely on tourists during a time of decimated travel numbers is a sobering experience. People may be going to the beach more often and spending more time with their family and friends, but it’s not the same when it’s the only option you have because you got laid off.

Living on the island and improving myself through university has been bittersweet, Kauai’s beauty being the perfect ironic background for a time of mass economic hardship and an actual pandemic. I find this simultaneous encounter with profound and widespread suffering and great personal development to be humbling and motivating. I am grateful for this experience as much as I am unsettled by it.

As an American university student, 2020 has been a year of unprecedented weirdness. It’s brought upon a good deal of comfort and stark realizations for me. To sum it all up, life in quarantine hasn’t been bad at all. It’s certainly been a transformative time and, as a young adult, it’s come to represent the transition to adulthood for me. It’s provided some amazing experiences, beautiful sights and increased freedoms, but quarantine has also brought a sharp awareness of how privileged I am, my duty to get the most out of this once in a lifetime opportunity, and the responsibility to give back to the community and place that made my idyllic life possible.

[submitted on 11/17/2020]