By Hania Farooq (YES 2018-2019, Pakistan, hosted by AFS-USA in Evanston, IL)

I was at attending a wedding of a dear family member the night the lockdown was announced in Punjab, Pakistan. I felt a mixture of confusion and fear. Many of us have never seen a pandemic before. It is a new experience. It is unpleasant and scary, especially since COVID-19 has spread everywhere so fast. In these dark times, precautions are an absolute necessity. Especially the ones about social distancing. My family and I have been practicing social distancing very strictly.

Human beings are social creatures and staying at home can get boring really fast. There is a limit to which you can watch Netflix or engage in your usual hobbies. So like almost everyone else, I have been taking part in new activities to spend my time better and make the most of it.

I am particularly fond of food but I have never been much of a cook. It never interested me that much but nowadays, I have been trying out new recipes with my father. It has been a fun activity and it gives my father and I a chance to effectively communicate and strengthen the father-daughter bond even more.

My father is a botanist while I am a student of biology, so we both have similar interests. I tend to read a lot of articles online about new discoveries in science, especially the ones related to the environment and I share those with him. He then tells me stories about his experiences on the field. It is both informative and interesting.

I have also started catching up with my reading list. I have been reading Urdu as well as English literature. It is so much fun reading a good book that satisfies you yet leaves you wanting more so you have to search up another good book and start that. It is a chain reaction. I also have the Wattpad app which is full of some real masterpieces. I have so many recommendations if anybody wants some.

One of the newest things that I have tried is drawing. I don’t have a particular talent for art but I have been trying with some simple designs. Perfection is not and should not always be the goal. Sometimes, it is good to try things out for fun even though you are not the best at it. That was one of the important lessons my exchange year taught me.

I also am a writer. I have been writing a lot. I was busy balancing my studies and my extra-curricular activities that I lost track of writing and didn’t write for months. But now I have some free time and I am back at it. I have been writing poems, I wrote this piece below and I am working on some stuff for a magazine. Writing is a fun thing and it helps me sort out my thoughts and dreams.

I am going to start working on hairstyles. My sister is going to be my experimental subject and I will search up tutorials and maybe gain some experience. I might even end being good at it. It is all about taking chances.

This is a list of things I have been doing along with preparation for my Intermediate (Junior year) exams. It can be hard to be locked in a house with people who are much older than you. I miss my friends. We call constantly, send each other memes and stay connected, because the love we have cannot be diminished by some distance. Many of my poems are inspired by my friends. I love them. This quarantine has made me more aware and thankful of the bond I have with my friends. We constantly check up on each other. I am also in contact with my friends and family in the U.S. and my Pakistani friends from YES. I am very grateful for the love and light my friends bring in my life even if it is through a phone screen. It can be a reaction to some picture of mine they like or some meme I posted and they found it particularly funny. Small things matter. This quarantine and pandemic is teaching me that. It has taught me how much of life I took for granted. Now, I am more aware. 

I hope we all come out of this pandemic, whole and healthy. I hope human beings on the whole learn to appreciate life and love openly and fully. Because...the first hug after this pandemic ends, is truly going to be magical. Best wishes to all of you out there. Stay home. Stay safe. Discover new things about yourself. This is your chance.