ruby, 25

How are you?

Hi! I’m hanging in there. I’ve been trying to stay busy but it’s hard because I keep running out of ideas! I’m feeling lucky that classes start again Monday because I know that will keep me really busy.

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

I’ve been working for Healthline most of the week, which I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve been setting up a little desk on my treadmill to walk while working for an hour or so each day, which has been helping me feel a little less lazy and trapped in the house. 

After work, I’ll do some kind of workout too. I’ve also been baking a bit. On days I’m not working, I’ll walk my dogs or go to the grocery store or do things for my parents to make sure they’re not leaving the house. 

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level during quarantine?

I’ve been trying all kinds of workouts. I usually like to go to Pilates classes to help get some stress relief, but ever since they closed I’ve been finding different at-home workouts to try. It’s been fun to try out new kinds of workouts and it has definitely been helping me find some peace everyday! 

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What do you miss the most? (Or what’s the first thing you want to do when this ends?)

I miss seeing my friends the most. It’s been fun to do virtual hang outs and stuff but it’s not the same. I miss being in a room full of people laughing and listening to music or playing games. There’s just something about actually being near people that is so much more fulfilling than talking or playing games over a video chat. 

Photo: “Here’s me working with Lucy!”

mark, 27

How are you?

I’m okay! Obviously getting a little stir-crazy, but I think mentally I’m starting to adjust. Creating a schedule and trying to stick to it has been one of my ongoing challenges, because I think it’s critical for my mental health.

Physically I’ve kept up by running and doing home workouts, but it’s the lack of mental stimulation that has proven the most challenging. 

I completed all the projects I had set aside for time in quarantine, so now I feel like I’m just aimlessly killing time; of course, the fact that the shelter-in-place deadline keeps getting extended makes that feel more and more challenging.

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Where are you staying at?

My apartment with my roommate, in Lakeview

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

Try and wake up at 9, make coffee, read, shower and get dressed. Eat lunch, go for a walk, come home, read, watch television. Go for another walk, get groceries, cook dinner, read then watch more television.

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level during quarantine?

Running and working out, as well as conversations with friends and family. I met a girl on Hinge, and she and I are talking all the time, planning for after quarantine, and the pseudo-fantasy of finally getting to hang out normally after quarantine has been a helpful bit of distraction.

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What do you miss the most? (Or what’s the first thing you want to do when this ends?)

I miss the energy of a crowded place! I will honestly just want to sit in a restaurant or bar and hear the buzz of people talking around me. I also miss going to the gym, going to classes and touching my face.

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Any books you read/ movies you watched / foods you cooked you want to recommend or talk about?

I’ve read a number of books, but nothing quite to write home about. “Uncanny Valley” by Anna Wiener has been the best thing I’ve read in a while, but technically that was just pre-quar.

I’ve been following news coverage about how Covid is affecting the journalism industry, which has been as fascinating as watching a slow-motion car wreck.

I’m currently reading “The Memory Police” by Yoko Ogawa, and am working through both Sally Rooney novels with my book club. One interesting trend is that I’m much more attracted to fiction than normal, the motivation for which is probably quite apparent.

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In terms of movies, I’ve finally finished watching almost all the best picture nominees (“1917” is my final hold-out), but nothing has been fantastic. I watched “Boogie Nights” recently and enjoyed that quite a bit.

I’ve found myself gravitating toward television and movies that take place outdoors, or in other countries, or that happen in urban areas, and I think the energy of that imagery helps me feel vicariously a little less trapped. “Tiger King” on Netflix was a great distraction, but I’ve mostly been watching “Frasier” reruns.

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Foods, yes! Made a gentrified hamburger helper, which was a fun thought experiment. I love this vegetarian curry, and have generally been rotating through a handful of hearty, mostly vegetarian recipes, as I’m trying to eat a little healthier given my newly sedentary lifestyle. I will be making this Thai-inspired meatball soup tonight!

Photo: “Been spending so much time in my room that my mirror finally broke just to get away from me” lol

sonia, 23

How are you?

I’m fine! I mean, it is what it is
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Where are you staying at?

I’m holed up in good ole’ Evanston, IL

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

Lmao. I really don’t have one to be honest. Those who know me know that I don’t have the greatest sleep schedule and currently it’s become just lets take another nap from my side. I’ve given myself a mental holiday for  2 weeks. Eat sleep eat repeat. Wish I could say that I’m being productive or have taken up a hobby. 

Just want all of it to go back to normal and for those who’ve gotten sick to recover. Knock on wood everyone who’s healthy remains healthy

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level during quarantine?

Reminding myself that if you’ve think you’ve got it bad, there’s always someone who has got it worse. Talking to people who’re close to me and knowing that they’re okay is great

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What do you miss the most? (Or what’s the first thing you want to do when this ends?)

Lmao big parties. A big party is what I’m going to be attending. Dancing and drinking

Photo: The view out of my window aka the path to 7-eleven

elena, 26

How are you?

Oh man, yeah I’m okay. I think the first week was the worst for me emotionally, but it’s been slowly getting better. My family and friends are all safe and healthy and staying home, so I’m really happy about that.

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Where are you staying at?

I’m in Chicago! In an apartment

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

Lol good question. Even though it’s my spring break right now, I’m trying to keep my days and especially my mornings routined. I’ve been doing yoga after I wake up and then I get to work with this or that until lunch and then keep going.

I keep a schedule of what I want to get done each day, like freelancing or applying for fellowships. Or just reading.

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level during quarantine?

Definitely yoga helps, going on walks when it’s not crowded. Literally just sitting on my back porch and getting air.

Calling my family or my friends at night or in the morning. I also live with someone who is great and often brings my anxiety down.

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What do you miss the most? (Or what’s the first thing you want to do when this ends?)

Oh wow, I miss so much, but recently I’ve been thinking a lot about this coffee shop I like to go to with my friends and how nice that always is.

When this ends, I’m immediately going out dancing until 5am for a whole week and then going to see my family.

Photo: A cup of tea on my back porch! I’ve been drinking like 5000 gallons of tea a day lol

lucia, 25

How are you?

I’m…existing! I’d say overall I’m doing ok but I definitely experience a rollercoaster of emotions throughout each day that ranges from sadness and stress to relief and happiness (reading the news vs facetiming with my friends)

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omg me too! i sometimes feel like i’m losing my mind. and i feel like i’m forgetting how to talk to people haha

Right! I really need to limit my news and social media intake or it feels like too much! But it’s a double edged sword because as much as I want to limit social media, I want to stay connected to everyone I love!

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Where are you staying at?

I’m in Forest Park (right outside Chicago) and I’m with my dad and stepmom. I’m in a two flat with them so I have my own apartment but still interact with them, which is nice because if I was fully living alone I think I would fully lose my mind right now!

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

It’ll probably change once I’m off spring break and have more of a schedule, but right now the thing I do every single day without fail when I wake up is breathing exercises and meditation. Then usually some version of scrolling through my phone and panicking, eating, going for walks, facetiming, watching movies, reading, meditating in the afternoon, doing yoga and then watching Netflix until my eyes burn off and I lose all sense of reality.

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level during quarantine?

I meditate everyday, and if I didn’t do that I don’t think I would be able to function right now. Also going out for walks and exercise in general has helped me get out of my head. Playing my guitar definitely helps. I’ve noticed that facetiming my boyfriend and really anyone instantly reduces my anxiety. But if I’m being real, I’ve fully sold my soul to Arrested Development and am currently binging every season because it’s the funniest thing in existence and I forget everything when I’m laughing that hard.

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What do you miss the most? (Or what’s the first thing you want to do when this ends?)

I miss performing stand up comedy so badly – I miss being on stage and all of my comedy friends and basing my entire sense of self-worth on the validation of an audience of complete strangers (wait..). I miss not being scared when I go to the grocery store! And I miss HUGS! When this is done I’m going to hug EVERYONE until the NEXT quarantine is announced because everyone went outside and hugged!

Photo: “This is my new weighted blanket and its gender is male”

meredith, 26

How are you?

I’m good! Right now I’m waiting for my tea water to boil. 

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Where are you staying at?

I am at my apartment in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. I live here with my boyfriend. It’s small but cozy and we aren’t on top of each other, which is nice. 

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

Today was a bit different but I usually get up, eat breakfast, work on freelance work for BestReviews in the morning. Then I have lunch around 1 with my boyfriend and then I apply to jobs in the afternoon. When I need break I watch Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix and knit. I’m knitting a blanket.

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level?

At first, I was listening to the Daily in the morning and that really stressed me out. I would need to go on walks to walk off the stress. I’ve since switched from the Daily to Up First and WBEZ in the morning and then NPR’s Coronavirus Daily in the afternoon. I found that the straight news was a lot less anxiety inducing for me. Checking in with family and making sure they’re also taking precautions has been helpful.

One of the most stressful things for me is not being able to go to the store – grocery store, cvs, etc. I have a heart defect and need to reduce my chances of exposure so my boyfriend’s been doing all the shopping. I love grocery shopping and picked out all the things I want to cook. It’s a small thing but it feels like my independence is curtailed a bit.

As silly as this is, it’s been helpful for me to give my boyfriend really detailed lists and instructions for his shopping trips. I get to visualize what I would do, which gives me a little control back. Max and I also go on walks when we can. 

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What do you miss the most? (Or what’s the first thing you want to do when this ends?)

 I miss going on long walks and wandering around my neighborhood. Technically, I still do that now but I’d like to do it without being hyper aware of everting I touch and staying 6 feet away from everyone I see. And I’d like to see my friends! 

When we were in school last quarter my favorite thing was running around the city for classes or interviews. I saw so many parts of the city I’d never been to. I can’t wait to go exploring again. Even if that means taking the CTA 3 stops into the Loop.

Photo: Balls of yarn needed to make a blanket, a quarantine blanket 🙂 

andrew, 27

How are you?

I am good, but been better. 

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Where are you staying at?

In my Lakeview apartment in Chicago. 

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

Wake up, eat breakfast, drink coffee, starting working for Berkelyside or covering COVID in my hometown, checking email, etc., eating throughout the day, maybe leave the house for groceries, do laundry on occasion, call my family, eat dinner, watch tv, drink, then sleep! 

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level?

Good question. Probably leaving the house once and a while for a short amount of time. I just started doing yoga. Trying not to drink too much. Calling to check in on people I care about. 

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What do you miss the most? (Or what’s the first thing you want to do when this ends?)

Play basketball and drink beer in a bar! 

Photo: The two steps of self quarantine. 

camille, 25

How are you?

At this moment, im good! Eating banana bread 😋 I’ve been feeling grumpy & weird lately though.

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

Well, i usually hit the snooze several times. It’s always been hard for me to get up if I don’t have somewhere outside to be. My best days are when i take a walk outside after breakfast and shower and before work.

I work for a few hours, eat lunch, work a little bit more, and then usually do a youtube workout! Sometimes I go outside again. My boyfriend and I usually make dinner and then do something together in the evening…lately we’ve been watching Tiger King on Netflix 🐯

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level?

The best thing to lower my stress level has been walking outside. And, cuddling ☺️

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What do you miss the most? (Or what’s the first thing you want to do when this ends?)

The first thing I want to do is go a bar and have a beer with friends!! And is it dumb if I say riding the train?

Photo:  Now that im home all the time, i move my plant around the house to follow the light ☺️ since we’ve been quarentined Planty (his name) has grown 3 new fronds on the top arm!!

avery, 25

How are you?

Hey! i’m doing well

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Where are you staying at?

I am staying with my boyfriend, Liam, at ella baker cooperative house in ann arbor, michigan

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What does your daily routine look like in quarantine?

So I wake up around 10am or whenever Liam has to get up to get ready for class. I eat a small breakfast and either do some house chores or do some freelance work for BestReviews for a few hours.

Then in the afternoon I go out and in-line skate for an hour, and then after that I go in and look for jobs until dinner. then after dinner I watch tv with Liam and other people in the house until I go to sleep

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What has been helpful to lower your stress level?

My stress level has been pretty low or manageable! The things that stress me out are thinking about the economy and my job prospects, but it’s nice to have all the house members around to talk to about that since most of them are students as well

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What do you miss the most? 

Right now I miss my school friends and my life in chicago, but being here in ann arbor is both familiar and different enough that I haven’t thought too much about what’s been going on in chicago. When this is over I want to go thrifting or hang out with my friends!

Photo: “Quarantined with 15+ people”