On March 16 2020, the governor of Pennsylvania issued a state-wide stay at home order in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Up until this point, most businesses had closed. The Grove was one of the last schools still open. Sadly, with this order from the governor, the school was finally forced to close and move to online classes. However, there were those of us that could not go home for one reason or another. The 30 or so of us still on campus nicknamed ourselves “The Remnant.” During my time with The Remnant, I journaled about what it was like for me on campus.
In my last journal entry, The Remnant had our first game night. It was an absolute blast, despite how much I got crushed playing ping-pong with some seniors. It is now Sunday, the last day before online classes begin.
March 22, 2020
Today I woke up around eight o’clock with visions of great productivity and study time. However, while my mind loved this prospect, my body had other ideas. For the past few days, despite getting plenty of sleep I’ve been feeling tired and draggy throughout the late morning and afternoon. I took short naps here and there but they didn’t seem to help. Today at around 10 I decided to lay down for a nap and just see how long I would sleep. I ended up sleeping all the way until 2pm. Apparently 13 hours of sleep was the solution to my dragginess. Throughout the rest of today I felt energetic and motivated. At one point I got up from my desk, did 20 jumping jacks, sprinted up and down the length of my building around five times, did 20 push ups, and ran up and down several flights of stairs. It felt good to get moving and blow off some steam. From two until three I knocked out almost all of the test practice sheets. At three thirty I joined my church back home for a virtual service via live stream. After the service, I finished up the worksheets and studied for another few hours. Once I felt I had studied enough I played games with some friends and went to bed. Overall a great day and I’m feeling confident about my test tomorrow morning. -Jacob
It is not often that I feel as motivated as I was that afternoon. I am inclined to believe that the abundance of sleep and the panic of a test the next morning combined to make the perfect adrenaline rush. This also marked the first time I sprinted around my building. I lived in Memorial Hall at the time, which is a giant L shape with very long hallways. Given that I was the only one on my floor, I effectively had my own personal indoor track. Any time I needed to burn off steam or re-energize myself, I simply took off sprinting up and down the halls. While I do not necessarily recommend doing this in the dorms while they are occupied, getting outside and getting some activity can help settle your mind and makes for an excellent study break.
Stay tuned for further installments of The Remnant!
