Since we’re halfway through 2020, I decided to give a little life update here on the blog. Obviously due to the coronavirus, this first half of the year didn’t go at all as I thought it would.

When the pandemic hit in the United States, I was finishing up my midterms week and preparing to go to the Grand Canyon for spring break with my parents. Looking back on that week, it seems funny to think how stressed out I was about midterms when bigger problems were about to completely change all our lives. Due to the coronavirus, my family and I didn’t go to the Grand Canyon and I began life fully at home.

College

Transitioning from going to school full time at my university to full time online school was a BIG adjustment for me. I took a couple online classes back in high school and I learned back then that I struggle with online learning. Staring at a computer all day long was not very engaging for me and I don’t feel like I learned very much in the virtual half of the semester. As this was my first semester as a declared journalism major, I felt a little sad that I missed out on the in person learning experience of something I actually wanted to study.

By the end of the semester, I felt pretty depressed doing online classes all day, every day. Because I really struggled with online learning, I decided not to take any classes this summer and give myself a much needed break. My university hasn’t decided if classes will be in person or online in the fall semester, but I will definitely take classes then because I would feel really frustrated if I wasn’t making progress on earning my degree until next January.

Life With My Boyfriend

After midterms week, my boyfriend, Cullen, went on a trip to Hawaii with his family. He was gone for a week and a half and then he self quarantined for two weeks just in case he picked up the virus while traveling. Being apart from him for three and a half weeks (almost a month) was really hard! I obviously missed him while he was in Hawaii, but it felt so strange when he was back in our city and we couldn’t see each other. We’ve never been away from each other for that long before.

After he was done with his fourteen days of quarantine, I’ve been temporarily living with him ever since. My parents are in their 60’s and Cullen has had to work and risk exposure this whole time so we decided it would be best if I came to live with him for a little while. I was really nervous about the adjustment at first, especially since his apartment is very small, but it’s been going really well!

We have a daily routine where we go for walks everyday, he goes to work and I do blog and social media stuff while he’s gone, and then we hang out in the evenings. Even though we’ve been together for almost three years, we have gotten a lot closer while temporarily living together. We have had so much fun watching Avatar the Last Airbender especially since we both watched the show as kids. I feel like we’re making up for the time we lost while he was traveling/quarantining. It’s also been nice to be able to spend so much time with him because both of us were so busy prior to the pandemic and our free time together was not abundant.

Unemployment

Since I quit my tutoring job before the pandemic and my second job was in retail, I haven’t worked since March. This has been both a blessing and a curse. I am an introverted person so talking to random people and selling things isn’t exactly my cup of tea. Because I didn’t really like my retail job very much, I’ve loved not being in the store or working an inconsistent schedule every week.

While I love not working, it’s anxiety provoking to not earn any money when I have to pay for my next semester of college. I decided not to take summer classes because I hate online classes, but I also wanted to wait until the fall before having to pay thousands again. I hadn’t gotten any money from unemployment until literally last night! I was shocked! Even though I applied for unemployment months ago, I didn’t get any money until yesterday and I’m hoping that I’ll get more money for the other nine weeks that I was unemployed. 

I know a lot of other people who have struggled getting money from unemployment. I’ve spent several mornings trying to call the office without being able to talk to a single person. I literally called 300 times on Tuesday. I don’t know why the money finally showed up, but if you haven’t seen any money from unemployment, I encourage you not to give up hope and keep calling until you can talk to a real person! I think they hope people will give up calling so they don’t have to pay up, but don’t let them win!

Moving Forward

I just learned on Monday that I will be going back to work at my retail job this coming Tuesday. I am not looking forward to going back to work given that things have been so pleasant in my life right now, but I obviously can’t not work forever. I’m scared of being exposed to the virus at work, but all I can do to control that is make sure I’m washing my hands well and wearing a mask. 

Having all this time to reflect on my retail job, I’ve decided I’m going to start searching for a new job. I hated working in retail during the holidays and if it can be avoided, I never want to work the holidays in retail again! People were so mean!

I was going to plan a trip to Banff, Canada for Cullen and I this summer, but we’ve postponed the trip indefinitely until we can go at a safer time. For now, we’ll just have fun at Tahoe which is a short drive away for us 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this life update! I’d love to know what’s new with you and how quarantine life (or back to work life) is going for you.

Outfit Details

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Similar earrings ($7)