Now that We’re Back: A Deep Breath
By Angela Zhang ‘23
As I’m writing this, I have been back on campus for exactly a week. It has been a long and tireless week, with so much happening at once that I am writing this mostly to organize and collect my own thoughts, some that the rest of the community may also relate with. Consider this something of a journal. You may relate with parts, you may not. And that’s okay. Perhaps this is just a space to breathe.
For me, at least, it has been incredibly comforting to return and see familiar and new faces along the paths of Exeter. After all, seven months spent in quarantine, especially as an only child, is long and isolating, so it’s refreshing for me to see everyone again. It feels like no time has passed at all, in some ways. People pick up right where they left off, reconnecting with close friends and forming relationships with newcomers. During the day, students spread out on blankets across the quads, soaking in the sunshine that illuminates their skin, enjoying the outdoors. And, at night, students watch the sunset together and gaze at the stars, engaged in deep conversation. It’s one of the more positive outcomes of the pandemic—and a lovely sight to see.
And even though the rules all feel normal to me now, when I take a step back and consider the circumstances we are in right now, I laugh. I laugh at how absurd our world would seem if I went back in time and told younger Angela where she would find herself this year. That I would be going to school and learning from a dorm room, never seeing someone’s unmasked face in real life unless they were eating at least six feet away from me. That I would have to adhere to designated bathroom times in my dorm, or sign up for time slots to practice my instrument in the music building, rather than walking in whenever I wanted. Or that the outdoors would be filled with people sitting in distanced circles, with at least six feet of space between each person.
For the most part, at least. There are still people who are within six feet of each other, even when there’s more than ample space to socially distance. I see and hear about students ignoring rules and protocols far too frequently. I admit it is difficult to social distance at times, particularly when walking along the paths, but we should be trying our best to keep social distancing at the front of our minds at all times. There is no need to be hugging people right now, no need to be sitting so close with one another that you’re breathing on each other, no need to have your mask dangling below your chin. And there is absolutely no justification whatsoever for talking back to or mocking people who ask you to respect the rules.
We are in the middle of a pandemic. Everyone’s heard that phrase a thousand times by now, but it bears repeating—we’re living in a pandemic. Now is not the time to be immature and think you can have things go your way without any consequences.
Uppers and seniors have been trying their best to social distance for weeks now—it would be incredibly disrespectful for the people who just arrived on campus to forget that and risk all of us being removed from campus in the situation that there is an outbreak. It’s not fair to anyone.
It’s especially unfair to people who haven’t even been able to return to campus yet—and for seniors who may not be able to come back to campus again if Exeter needs to close for the rest of the year. Right now, we need more empathy than ever. If you are an October arrival, imagine you have been on campus since September, devoutly following all protocols so that one day restrictions could be lightened up. You surely would not want some careless October arrivals to undermine all of the work you have done. Or imagine you are someone who hasn’t been able to come back, and you go onto social media to find people blatantly breaking the rules. How do you feel about that plan to return in January? You’d be quite unhappy, to say the least. It should behoove us to follow the rules so we can be a safer community day by day. Let’s try harder to be more thoughtful and respectful of the rules and each other.
Other than that, everything seems to be going quite smoothly on campus. Classes are running, sports teams are practicing, clubs are about to be in full swing and students are getting accustomed to the new ways of life at Exeter. We’re doing it! We’re back! I am more than delighted to be back and see so many people enjoying campus again. The only way we can keep enjoying campus and keep things going as well as (or even better than) they are right now is by continuing to follow and respect all the rules, and I have faith that each and every one of us has the ability to do so. I really do.
Here’s to a wonderful rest of the term!