Returning to school during a global pandemic has been a bit of a challenge, but my housemates and I all gathered in our living room on the first night back and discussed everything we felt uncomfortable about regarding our house at Moravian. 

There are five of us living under one roof, our townhouse consisting of two double rooms, one single room, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. 

Our question: In the Age of Coronavirus, how do we stay safe inside all this shared space?

We came up with a plan. 

Typically we don’t wear our masks in our rooms unless one of us asks, but we do wear them in the living room and kitchen if there are more than two of us downstairs at one time. 

When it comes to visitors, we have not allowed anyone to enter our house based on Moravian’s phase A guidelines. We do, however, have people over to hang out on our front porch. When we do this we wear our masks to respect not only one another but also those living in the houses on either side of ours.

We spend most of our time outside or in one of the larger bedrooms when multiples of us want to hang out at once. This is achievable even in the dark days of COVID. 

Outside is the easiest location to physically distance ourselves from each other, but there are nights where we all just want to sit around in one of our rooms in our pj’s and chat and laugh about our stressful yet eventful school days. We wear masks, which can be a nuisance but one that’s hardly noticeable when you’re enjoying the company you’re with. 

My favorite way to hang out with my housemates is on the porch in the morning because it is still cool outside before the sun makes the air too toasty and we can all enjoy breakfast or a cup of coffee together before our school days begin.

The six of us have found that it’s still possible to enjoy ourselves while both wearing masks and physically-distancing from other individuals.

We are living through stranger times than anyone ever thought possible, but we are all doing so together. 

It’s times like this when we realize just how much we need each other, and I’m sure many other students are in the same boat. We all need strong support systems, and the only way to build that is to connect with the people surrounding you each and every day.