Let me tell you that attending Zoom University is TOUGH. After campus was shut down due to COVID-19 and I had to return to my home in Pittsburgh, I was keeping a positive attitude. I was honestly excited to see my friends who I've known since grade school. I was excited to be back home where I could meet up with friends to study at Starbucks together. I kept thinking that it wouldn't be too bad, just a little different. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I only see my friends occasionally on Zoom, but we're all bogged down with assignment after assignment. Somehow it seems that our workload has doubled from what it would be on a normal day without a global pandemic. This has honestly been the most painful month and a half of my life that has actually felt like a decade. I basically sit in my bed all day, but somehow I'm still exhausted. With the start of dead week, I'm on my laptop 24/7 writing papers, finishing projects, and studying for my finals. I am a pretty active student on campus under normal circumstances, so being stuck at home with only schoolwork is slowly driving me insane. I miss attending my meetings in the evening. I miss volunteering at the children's hospital. I miss hanging out with my friends watching Disney+ until 3 am. I miss Keeneland and cheering on my Cats in the E Zone. I even miss going to Willy T to study for hours on end.

When all you have is time to stress about your grades, you can go a little crazy. I calculate and recalculate my grades over and over even when nothing has changed. With the pass/fail option, most students feel a little less pressure. Somehow, I feel more pressure. I am a pre-med student, so taking pass/fail is not an ideal option for me. I've debated taking pass/fail for organic chemistry which is the bane of my current existence. For some reason, I would need to make that decision BEFORE I even take the final. What's the point of having a pass/fail option if you are forced to take a final after you make the decision? My organic chemistry final will literally determine if I get a C or a B in the class, so I have to risk it for the biscuit.

So in conclusion, online classes are kicking my butt. For everyone out there who is struggling, just know that you are not alone. Well, you technically are alone but as all the ads say, we're alone together. Try to stay positive, and hopefully, after this semester we'll never have to use Zoom again.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk; I'll see you next time. ;)