Quarantine, Activism, and Change

The last blog post I wrote was back in January, when COVID had just broken the news and I was preparing for my final college semester. It's crazy how much and how quickly life has changed since then. Since so much has changed, I thought it would be good to catch you all up on what I have been up to the past few months.

Flashback to March 🛫📚

As spring break approached my family and I were getting increasingly worried about the travel restrictions getting imposed. We made the decision that I would fly home for Spring break, instead of staying in the UK as planned to avoid potentially catching COVID on my flights. I packed up my flat, said goodbyes to friends, and two days later I left town at 4 am with two huge suitcases for my flight back to the USA. That day barely anyone was traveling and less than 25% of people were wearing masks. I was extra careful with a mask, glove, and hand sanitizer and when I landed in Newark, passport control was the emptiest I had ever seen it. A day later the UK to US travel ban went in place and I sat at home looking on my phone at the terrifying photos of huge crowds of people in airports trying to get out before the ban went in place, all shoved in next to each other with less than 6 inches between them, let alone 6 feet. I was so relieved that I decided to fly home despite my University not cancelling school yet (which they did a few days later).

I continued my courses online after flying home and submitted my dissertation in April and all my coursework by the end of May. I put so much energy into finishing my last semester strong, as a form of escapism from the weird new situation this pandemic has put us in. After finishing my coursework, I was struck by the realization that college is well and truly over. It's so strange that this is how my last semester of college ended, I imagined many different endings but definitely not this one! Our graduation (like many others) has been cancelled and rescheduled to 2021, and I'm wishfully hoping that by then the virus won't be as bad as it is now. To anyone else whose graduation has been cancelled, and didn't get any closure over the end of college - we're in the same boat. I hope someday we all get a real graduation to celebrate our years of hard work!

Present Day 👩🏻‍🌾👩🏻‍💻

I'm lucky and privileged that my family lives in the country with some land, so although we've been quarantined at home for just over 3 months now, it doesn't feel like I'm trapped. We have taken some small hikes on our land, been tending to our veggie garden, and sitting on the back porch to watch the sunset. I took a brief break from coding after finishing all my assignments and focused on some hobbies that have fallen to the wayside during uni including sewing, painting, baking, and reading! However, after less than a month I do miss coding so I've started drawing up some wireframes for an app I'm making with my sister @justacoderthing so keep an eye out for some sneak peaks of that on my IG 👀👀!

Activism

I can't talk about current updates without talking about the movement for racial justice. As an American especially, I am outraged at the systemic racism and injustice that exists in our country and the failure of our system that has led to the unfair targeting, incarceration, and murder of black people. One of the most relevant quotes about this movement to me, is from Martin Luther King Jr.:

"There comes a time when silence is betrayal." - MLKJ

As an Asian-American woman, I have experienced racism countless times both in the UK and the US. Those racist encounters made me feel terrible and it baffles me how anyone who's experienced a modicum of racism doesn't support #blacklivesmatter. If you don't know how you can support the black lives matter movement, this is a fantastic resource compilation: blacklivesmatters.carrd.co. Donate money, use your platform and voice to spread the word, have difficult conversations in your own homes, and perhaps most importantly, look within. We all have prejudices, and it is our responsibility to fix that.

"No matter how open-minded, socially conscious, anti-racist I think I am, I still have old, learned hidden biases that I need to examine. It is my responsibility to check myself daily for my stereotypes, prejudice and ultimately, discrimination." @shes_mightymighty

Quote from Maite's IG

Future 🎓👩🏻‍💻

Right now, it's pretty hard to say what the future will hold. Life pre-virus will most likely never exist again which perhaps is for the best. My graduation would have been in late June so I might have a small celebration with my family (who I'm quarantined with). My job is still planned to start in August although none of the logistics have been worked out yet. It can be stressful when nothing is definite, but as my sister told me today, we just have to take it one day at a time.

Now that uni is over I have more free time and energy to put into this blog so I'll be writing more posts in the future! If you have anything you'd like me to write about - career, starting a new job, etc. - please drop a comment with a suggestion down below. Stay safe! 💚