WEBVTT 00:00:01.070 --> 00:00:02.460 Okay we are recording. 00:00:02.826 --> 00:00:07.183 Hi, my name is Scott Galloway. Today is January 25, 2021, and I am 00:00:07.183 --> 00:00:09.053 interviewing Isabella Hernandez. 00:00:09.802 --> 00:00:13.936 Hi, my name is Isabella Hernandez, and I am a junior and 00:00:13.936 --> 00:00:15.676 my major is political science. 00:00:17.001 --> 00:00:18.481 Alright thank you, Isabella. 00:00:19.251 --> 00:00:23.594 So why don’t you tell me about your Spring semester prior to the COVID-19 00:00:23.594 --> 00:00:24.894 related changes? 00:00:26.370 --> 00:00:30.397 Um, Spring 2019? Spring 2019? 00:00:30.397 --> 00:00:31.768 Oh, I’m sorry, 2020. 00:00:32.597 --> 00:00:35.137 Okay, so Spring 2020. 00:00:35.762 --> 00:00:40.632 I, I was in Miami at the time, and 00:00:41.870 --> 00:00:43.430 I want to say like 00:00:44.436 --> 00:00:47.860 it was the week of that week of March, I don’t remember the day exactly. 00:00:47.860 --> 00:00:50.290 I was at work, and 00:00:50.895 --> 00:00:54.360 we had the news all over the TVs because I work at a restaurant, 00:00:54.360 --> 00:00:57.850 so TVs were all on like CNN, NBC, 00:00:58.623 --> 00:01:02.253 ABC, all the news channels saying like everything is going to get shut down, 00:01:02.253 --> 00:01:04.123 everything is going to get shut down. 00:01:04.942 --> 00:01:08.579 The mayors were all getting together saying what’s going to happen to the 00:01:08.579 --> 00:01:13.292 restaurants because I work in the restaurant industry and that day was the 00:01:13.292 --> 00:01:14.962 last day I wanted to work. 00:01:15.375 --> 00:01:22.065 I got “furloughed”, fired the next day and everything just went everything got 00:01:22.065 --> 00:01:23.845 shut down and 00:01:24.811 --> 00:01:28.731 I didn’t go to school for like four weeks so 00:01:30.341 --> 00:01:34.981 even though everything transferred online my school just decided to stop classes 00:01:34.981 --> 00:01:35.683 completely 00:01:36.243 --> 00:01:37.286 and 00:01:39.386 --> 00:01:41.336 that made me like, 00:01:42.501 --> 00:01:47.079 I, very personal, it made me hit rock bottom like I have never 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:52.854 experienced something like that ever in my life like not being able to go out, 00:01:52.854 --> 00:01:57.043 not being able to like see my, my customers, at work, not being able to just 00:01:57.043 --> 00:02:02.193 talk to other people and just be secluded in my house and in my boyfriend’s house 00:02:02.411 --> 00:02:06.301 like it drove me crazy for those like four months that I wasn’t working. 00:02:06.812 --> 00:02:07.882 And 00:02:09.672 --> 00:02:13.332 I got like very depressed my 00:02:14.053 --> 00:02:16.313 my anxiety was like through the roof 00:02:17.908 --> 00:02:20.098 I had extreme paranoia, I couldn’t sleep 00:02:23.729 --> 00:02:28.432 and to this day it affects me somehow like if they say 00:02:28.432 --> 00:02:32.202 "oh the numbers are going up, there’s another, there’s another lockdown” like 00:02:32.202 --> 00:02:37.210 that that makes me go insane like I can’t, I can’t imagine being home again on 00:02:37.210 --> 00:02:39.530 lockdown like I think I would go crazy. 00:02:40.493 --> 00:02:44.941 And especially now that I have to pay for rent, and I have bills to pay like I 00:02:44.941 --> 00:02:48.761 I don’t think I can afford four months being at home locked up. 00:02:49.088 --> 00:02:52.498 I can’t even be home locked up for two weeks anymore. 00:02:53.951 --> 00:02:56.423 So, um maybe we can backtrack a bit. 00:02:56.423 --> 00:03:00.978 So why don’t you tell me a bit about prior to COVID this is like in January of the 00:03:00.978 --> 00:03:03.908 of 2020, you said you were working correct? 00:03:03.908 --> 00:03:06.668 As in the, the food industry? 00:03:07.028 --> 00:03:11.188 Yeah so, I’m a server and in 00:03:11.856 --> 00:03:14.286 my previous job I was working at a sports bar. 00:03:15.381 --> 00:03:16.221 So, 00:03:17.217 --> 00:03:19.367 it’s called Sports World in south Miami, 00:03:20.547 --> 00:03:24.547 and I was there for two and a half years, 00:03:24.992 --> 00:03:25.952 and 00:03:27.629 --> 00:03:31.199 this was, so prior before COVID hit, 00:03:32.072 --> 00:03:35.299 this was like the first case was discovered 00:03:35.299 --> 00:03:39.452 in January and at that time that it was discovered, and it was in the news 00:03:39.452 --> 00:03:41.911 I was in Orlando at Disney 00:03:42.500 --> 00:03:43.520 and 00:03:44.122 --> 00:03:46.142 as soon as we got back, I got sick. 00:03:47.287 --> 00:03:52.088 I got- I had like a fever, but it wasn’t really a bad fever I didn’t have like the 00:03:52.088 --> 00:03:55.898 “COVID symptoms” I just had the normal fever it was flu season. 00:03:57.364 --> 00:03:58.174 So, 00:03:58.837 --> 00:04:01.427 I was at Disney and as soon as we got back from Disney 00:04:02.077 --> 00:04:06.519 my birthday passed, and then that first week of March like there were these 00:04:06.519 --> 00:04:08.829 speculations of COVID and 00:04:10.681 --> 00:04:12.381 that’s when like everything went 00:04:13.134 --> 00:04:15.654 to shit basically. Everything went to shit. 00:04:19.343 --> 00:04:24.413 Prior to January and this was like December of 2020. I- 00:04:24.823 --> 00:04:29.183 I was like I was at school full time, I had, that was like my last- 00:04:29.183 --> 00:04:30.163 2019, correct? 00:04:30.251 --> 00:04:31.271 Yeah 2019 sorry. 00:04:31.910 --> 00:04:35.622 In the Summer of 2019, I was like full time at school I was almost done with 00:04:35.622 --> 00:04:42.678 my AA at the community college I was at, and I was really excited for my 00:04:42.678 --> 00:04:47.098 last two classes being at school because I chose my, my two favorite semesters, 00:04:47.098 --> 00:04:50.008 my two favorite, favorite professors for that exact reason. 00:04:50.654 --> 00:04:55.444 And I chose them at school so when everything went- everything went online, 00:04:55.444 --> 00:04:59.914 I got extremely angry I was like "why no, no, no I chose these professors 00:04:59.914 --> 00:05:01.494 for a reason no". 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:07.240 And those professors they were-they were at that age where they don’t understand 00:05:08.229 --> 00:05:09.239 the internet- 00:05:09.457 --> 00:05:10.177 Yeah. 00:05:10.686 --> 00:05:15.594 or Canvas, so it was really really frustrating on how they set up the classes 00:05:15.594 --> 00:05:16.594 like we had like 00:05:16.857 --> 00:05:21.477 one, one exam and that was basically our whole grade which was extremely annoying. 00:05:22.601 --> 00:05:23.361 So, 00:05:23.551 --> 00:05:24.311 that 00:05:25.256 --> 00:05:29.990 that made me, even more, angrier now and I wasn’t focused on schoolwork like 00:05:29.990 --> 00:05:35.731 I just did not want to do schoolwork at all I just wanted that semester over with 00:05:35.731 --> 00:05:39.731 basically like I just decided that I hated that semester, I still do. 00:05:40.442 --> 00:05:45.612 What, just out of curiosity what college were you attending? Community college? 00:05:46.249 --> 00:05:50.142 I was at Miami-Dade College and then I transferred over to Florida International 00:05:50.142 --> 00:05:55.374 University for the Summer and the Fall and then now, I’m here in Orlando at UCF. 00:05:56.094 --> 00:05:56.814 Okay. 00:05:56.814 --> 00:06:02.724 I was supposed to be at UCF in the Fall but to move and those financial expenses 00:06:02.724 --> 00:06:05.954 that I had to make prior to, 00:06:06.943 --> 00:06:11.183 prior to August like it wasn’t, it was not going to happen. 00:06:11.859 --> 00:06:14.499 So, I had to push back a semester to come here. 00:06:14.676 --> 00:06:15.396 Okay. 00:06:16.049 --> 00:06:20.769 And you were talking about your studying in AA during Spring, 00:06:21.423 --> 00:06:22.903 were you just getting your AA? 00:06:22.903 --> 00:06:24.851 Was there any particular specialization? 00:06:24.851 --> 00:06:29.601 I know some people like to take their AA and have like a few CS courses, 00:06:29.601 --> 00:06:33.601 computer science courses ready and tailor it for their bachelor’s degree, 00:06:33.601 --> 00:06:37.011 were you looking at a particular major? 00:06:38.208 --> 00:06:45.878 So, I started off my, my time with with my AA as an International Relations major 00:06:46.107 --> 00:06:50.896 and it got to a point I think it was like my third semester at Miami-Dade that 00:06:50.896 --> 00:06:55.146 I just I didn’t want to focus on international politics and, 00:06:56.016 --> 00:07:00.574 and foreign domestic policies and all that stuff so I switched my major over to 00:07:00.574 --> 00:07:05.395 Political Science and I wanted to focus on just like diplomatic, like not 00:07:05.395 --> 00:07:09.195 diplomatic but like national government and American politics. 00:07:09.605 --> 00:07:10.305 I, 00:07:11.081 --> 00:07:13.131 I then added my history minor 00:07:14.602 --> 00:07:16.042 because I have like 00:07:16.777 --> 00:07:20.057 a fond interest for history ,I’ve always been a history nerd 00:07:21.377 --> 00:07:24.827 like I can talk about history all day and people would look at me like 00:07:25.168 --> 00:07:27.148 ‘what the hell are you talking about’? 00:07:28.080 --> 00:07:28.840 So 00:07:30.164 --> 00:07:34.446 even with my Political Science American Politics track, I have to take 00:07:34.446 --> 00:07:39.600 international nations courses which is fine because I would- I emphasize my 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:40.960 classes in, 00:07:41.943 --> 00:07:42.673 in like 00:07:43.416 --> 00:07:45.416 the EU and the UN, 00:07:47.171 --> 00:07:48.661 and UN courses 00:07:49.213 --> 00:07:54.863 because I know that the United States is like a good ally to the EU so focusing 00:07:54.863 --> 00:07:59.386 on just those twenty-seven EU member states is like extremely important 00:07:59.386 --> 00:08:00.596 to know later on. 00:08:01.302 --> 00:08:04.002 Were you and because of the background, you know going 00:08:04.701 --> 00:08:09.421 International Relations were you looking a lot during COVID to how the U.S. was 00:08:09.421 --> 00:08:13.101 conducting itself with the, the pandemic? 00:08:15.146 --> 00:08:16.586 I, I wanted, 00:08:17.103 --> 00:08:21.103 I was really interested in what the president wanted to do and 00:08:21.103 --> 00:08:23.443 like how he was going to like, 00:08:24.099 --> 00:08:27.919 like contribute to the country since everything just shut down 00:08:27.919 --> 00:08:32.687 and only certain jobs were available so I wanted to see what his plans were NOTE Paragraph 00:08:32.687 --> 00:08:36.515 and they weren’t the best per se the only thing that like helped 00:08:37.343 --> 00:08:40.473 was the stimulus check but I wish there was like, 00:08:41.853 --> 00:08:45.853 I wish President Trump gave more than what he offered 00:08:46.482 --> 00:08:52.942 and I wanted to see what- if he got any of his ideas from like the UK, 00:08:53.321 --> 00:08:58.271 the EU and how the, the EU like contributed to their- 00:08:58.550 --> 00:09:03.538 to their states because obviously since it’s a big organization they had to like 00:09:03.538 --> 00:09:06.318 go out of their way to help all those states because 00:09:07.456 --> 00:09:14.006 the majority of the EU gets their money from like the EU organizations, so. 00:09:15.190 --> 00:09:20.720 I just wish that he got like some of his ideas from there but whatever, and- 00:09:22.085 --> 00:09:26.055 there’s nothing more I can say about that. -Did you know anyone outside of the U.S. 00:09:26.055 --> 00:09:29.555 that was dealing with the pandemic or were you more you know kind of tied 00:09:29.555 --> 00:09:30.515 to just the U.S.? 00:09:30.709 --> 00:09:35.031 I had family in Columbia, so I was on the phone a lot with my family to see 00:09:35.031 --> 00:09:39.581 what the president of Columbia was trying to do and what his ideas were. 00:09:39.809 --> 00:09:43.050 They were just on a lockdown, and everyone lost their jobs. 00:09:43.050 --> 00:09:44.240 There wasn’t that much 00:09:45.280 --> 00:09:48.500 help going, going toward the, the citizens, 00:09:49.162 --> 00:09:51.552 but I basically like watched 00:09:52.498 --> 00:09:56.355 a lot of YouTube videos and a lot of like Instagram stories from the people that 00:09:56.355 --> 00:09:57.815 I follow in the EU 00:09:58.781 --> 00:10:01.841 and how those countries are helping them out. 00:10:02.660 --> 00:10:07.690 I want to switch over to your classes just from the Spring of 2019, 00:10:08.429 --> 00:10:09.579 I’m sorry 2020. 00:10:10.155 --> 00:10:14.075 When you switched the modality, you said you had a little bit of, of difficulty. 00:10:14.117 --> 00:10:17.927 Did you ever experience any issues with the technology you were given 00:10:17.927 --> 00:10:23.003 i.e., laptops you now have a laptop or your computer, or you just didn’t have 00:10:23.003 --> 00:10:26.483 the correct internet to access the courses that were online? 00:10:27.850 --> 00:10:33.470 No, I-I personally really like taking online classes it just depends on 00:10:33.470 --> 00:10:37.465 like the amount of time that like I’m given on assignments if I have the 00:10:37.465 --> 00:10:41.754 availability to do so and if it can go around my work schedule. 00:10:43.154 --> 00:10:47.874 But since everything got moved over in the Spring of 2020 and 00:10:48.504 --> 00:10:53.256 my professors weren’t really going, like that really going out of their way 00:10:53.256 --> 00:10:58.726 to keep us engaged, I just like- I just wasn’t interested anymore I just. 00:10:59.522 --> 00:11:04.368 The week of when finals were due, I just did my assignment the night before 00:11:04.368 --> 00:11:05.460 and just like 00:11:06.674 --> 00:11:08.004 “Christmas tree’d” it 00:11:08.549 --> 00:11:12.369 and I got an- I got an A somehow, I don’t know 00:11:12.369 --> 00:11:16.523 I've, I've, I’ve noticed that when I cram my papers, I always do good somehow, 00:11:16.523 --> 00:11:17.433 I don’t know how 00:11:18.936 --> 00:11:19.636 but- 00:11:21.161 --> 00:11:26.275 but other than that no technical difficulties like thankfully 00:11:26.275 --> 00:11:28.375 my parents have like a good Wi-Fi system. 00:11:28.484 --> 00:11:34.464 I got a new computer like in December of 2019, so I was, I was set for, 00:11:35.906 --> 00:11:38.216 I was basically set for all of that. 00:11:39.160 --> 00:11:44.710 So, when you were switched to online did your academic routines kind of change, 00:11:44.710 --> 00:11:47.940 kind of mold differently to be suited to the quarantine? 00:11:50.934 --> 00:11:55.319 Like for example sleeping in late, not doing- I have had a few people say they 00:11:55.319 --> 00:12:00.149 procrastinated until the last day where they felt like they were less productive. 00:12:01.136 --> 00:12:07.396 So, I woke up late every single day I was waking up as soon as my alarm went off 00:12:07.396 --> 00:12:08.396 at twelve o’clock. 00:12:09.171 --> 00:12:13.071 I woke up when my alarm went off, I would turn it off and go back to sleep. 00:12:13.791 --> 00:12:17.091 And I would basically wake up when I was hungry. 00:12:17.602 --> 00:12:18.352 And 00:12:19.680 --> 00:12:23.010 like I said before I procrastinated everything until the last second. 00:12:23.249 --> 00:12:26.639 I was not- I was not interested to touch school at the time 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.161 like I- my mental health was not there so obviously with, with my mental health, 00:12:31.161 --> 00:12:36.291 not 100% I did not want to work on school and have-and just think 00:12:36.981 --> 00:12:40.641 as much as you have to think when doing these school assignments so 00:12:40.641 --> 00:12:45.891 I’m honestly surprised that my grade and my GPA weren’t affected but 00:12:46.541 --> 00:12:53.306 I just wish that like, like the professors did like Zoom calls or they did like some 00:12:53.306 --> 00:12:57.226 lectures or they did like a PowerPoint that we can look over because everything 00:12:57.226 --> 00:13:02.273 that they did was just like, for example, one of my final papers was explain how 00:13:02.273 --> 00:13:03.513 COVID affected you 00:13:03.851 --> 00:13:07.851 and it was like a three to four paragraph essay on how COVID had affected you 00:13:07.851 --> 00:13:09.311 and what you wish, 00:13:11.377 --> 00:13:15.227 no not why I wish, but how just COVID affected us and 00:13:15.844 --> 00:13:18.814 COVID affected us personally and academically. 00:13:21.517 --> 00:13:25.957 How else did COVID, you know, affect your life outside of academics? 00:13:29.489 --> 00:13:33.579 Well since I lost my job I was very dependent on the unemployment 00:13:34.133 --> 00:13:35.063 and 00:13:36.275 --> 00:13:38.315 it got to the point where 00:13:40.884 --> 00:13:45.074 it got- since I was living at home or wasn’t really that worried about 00:13:46.475 --> 00:13:52.037 like rent or anything like that but as soon as my mom kind of lost her job, 00:13:52.037 --> 00:13:55.138 she didn’t lose her job but she was at home and she’s a teacher, 00:13:55.138 --> 00:14:01.114 so she teaches pre-school kids, so the transition from her- from in-person to 00:14:01.114 --> 00:14:06.775 like doing Zoom calls at 10:30 in the morning she, she, she got affected as well 00:14:06.775 --> 00:14:09.035 so the both of us were affected mentally. 00:14:09.445 --> 00:14:13.775 And thankfully she didn’t lose her job and I was able to help 00:14:14.157 --> 00:14:18.227 as little as I can because I couldn’t spend that much money 00:14:20.002 --> 00:14:21.012 so 00:14:21.558 --> 00:14:25.408 financial-wise, we were okay, mentally no. 00:14:26.692 --> 00:14:30.925 It got to a point like I remember waking up and my mom had this serious breakdown 00:14:30.925 --> 00:14:32.925 because her boss was treating her like a, 00:14:33.239 --> 00:14:36.979 like a piece of shit and I got so mad I was like, 00:14:37.084 --> 00:14:41.084 "why is this lady treating you like crap, why is she calling you at 7 o’clock in the 00:14:41.084 --> 00:14:45.446 morning screaming like that’s not okay like we’re all affected your boss 00:14:45.446 --> 00:14:49.216 shouldn’t treat you like that because she’s losing her money". 00:14:50.078 --> 00:14:52.428 Like her boss only cares about the money and, 00:14:53.372 --> 00:14:57.372 and how the parents of the private school would pay for the tuition for 00:14:57.372 --> 00:14:59.742 that month even though everything was online. 00:14:59.926 --> 00:15:00.626 So, 00:15:00.989 --> 00:15:06.309 it took a toll on her, and that, that negativity like came over to me, 00:15:06.981 --> 00:15:11.581 so it was like more pressure added on the negativity, so. 00:15:12.968 --> 00:15:15.308 I’m sorry you had to, to go through that. 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:16.919 It’s okay. 00:15:17.004 --> 00:15:21.004 So, what did you do to kind of you know cope, stay sane you know kind of help 00:15:21.454 --> 00:15:24.304 yourself with the, the mental stresses of COVID? 00:15:24.481 --> 00:15:29.151 Did you have like a hobby that you picked up? Kind of watch more shows or films? 00:15:30.419 --> 00:15:32.689 I, I had a horse at the time, 00:15:33.365 --> 00:15:35.595 so I went like horseback riding a lot. 00:15:35.595 --> 00:15:41.107 My- one of my good friends has a farm so I was at her house a lot just like riding in 00:15:41.107 --> 00:15:45.107 homestead which is just like a rural area or just a bunch of land. 00:15:45.511 --> 00:15:49.511 So, we were- I was at her house a lot since I had my horse down the street from 00:15:49.511 --> 00:15:53.271 my house, I was there a lot of the time and then I was also at my boyfriend’s 00:15:53.271 --> 00:15:55.311 house and every week 00:15:55.826 --> 00:16:01.370 we- every week like on a, on a Monday or Tuesday when everyone was home, 00:16:01.370 --> 00:16:03.800 we would cook like dinner from a different country. 00:16:04.745 --> 00:16:08.025 So, so that lasted until we went back to work around April, 00:16:08.447 --> 00:16:13.671 so like for example from what I remember we did, we did Mexico, we did Columbia, 00:16:13.671 --> 00:16:14.841 we did 00:16:15.015 --> 00:16:19.375 like the U.S., we did like some- I think like a Spanish dish, 00:16:21.739 --> 00:16:26.758 I don’t remember what else but we tried to like implement making dinner 00:16:26.758 --> 00:16:31.671 for everyone at least once a week and since this happened right after 00:16:31.671 --> 00:16:35.381 December his mom bought- got an air fryer for Christmas 00:16:35.381 --> 00:16:40.451 so we tried to focus everything that was made, made for dinner on the air fryer 00:16:40.762 --> 00:16:43.322 so that was like- that was really fun to do. 00:16:44.152 --> 00:16:49.442 Was there, like any worries, you said you were going often to your friend’s house 00:16:49.442 --> 00:16:53.442 you also were with your boyfriend, was there any worry, you know, 00:16:53.442 --> 00:16:57.292 that he would- that they were going to contract it and it might pass on to you? 00:16:57.292 --> 00:17:00.002 Were you guys very safe when you were meeting together? 00:17:00.591 --> 00:17:01.391 Well, 00:17:01.620 --> 00:17:05.620 at my boyfriend’s house both of his parents were working from home, 00:17:05.620 --> 00:17:07.340 so they were not going out as much. 00:17:07.553 --> 00:17:12.683 They transitioned from- to getting their groceries delivered, their siblings 00:17:12.903 --> 00:17:16.473 were just like locked in their rooms because they don’t like going outside 00:17:16.697 --> 00:17:20.497 so I wasn’t, I wasn't really that- so worried about going to their house. 00:17:21.629 --> 00:17:25.299 My, my friend that lives- that has her horses 00:17:25.804 --> 00:17:30.142 she, she teaches horseback riding, so she canceled her- like her school for 00:17:30.142 --> 00:17:33.242 like those three months that we were all like out of business. 00:17:33.490 --> 00:17:37.245 So, I wasn’t really worried about that either all she really did was visit her 00:17:37.245 --> 00:17:39.165 boyfriend which is fine to me 00:17:40.632 --> 00:17:43.262 like as long as I- I would ask them have you gone out? 00:17:43.262 --> 00:17:45.412 Have you like seen anyone else? 00:17:45.575 --> 00:17:48.765 Then if they like- if II didn’t like their answer, then I just say, 00:17:48.765 --> 00:17:50.265 ‘oh I’ll see you another day’. 00:17:50.431 --> 00:17:51.151 Okay. 00:17:52.485 --> 00:17:54.775 That’s funny I, I just got an air fryer myself, 00:17:54.775 --> 00:17:57.655 so I’ve been doing the same, the same thing. 00:17:58.102 --> 00:18:02.282 So, when you were going out to buy the things, you know air fryer or even back 00:18:02.282 --> 00:18:05.332 you know the beginning of March and then April 00:18:06.191 --> 00:18:10.231 did you experience a lot of shortages on groceries or goods? 00:18:10.231 --> 00:18:12.771 For example, I know a common one is toilet paper. 00:18:12.771 --> 00:18:13.711 Toilet paper. 00:18:13.711 --> 00:18:14.591 -Yeah. -Yeah. 00:18:14.591 --> 00:18:16.361 So, did you experience any shortages? 00:18:18.469 --> 00:18:22.503 One was toilet paper 100% and that day- remember that day 00:18:22.503 --> 00:18:26.503 when I went out to the store, I needed, I was in big need of toilet paper. 00:18:26.845 --> 00:18:28.052 What, what day was this? 00:18:28.052 --> 00:18:28.792 We had.... 00:18:28.792 --> 00:18:29.752 Was this in March? 00:18:29.940 --> 00:18:32.125 This was like the beginning of April. 00:18:32.125 --> 00:18:32.840 Okay. 00:18:33.068 --> 00:18:36.115 So, like the first week of April, my mom was like "we only have 00:18:36.115 --> 00:18:37.595 one roll of toilet paper 00:18:38.950 --> 00:18:41.680 you need to start asking your friends for toilet paper". 00:18:42.007 --> 00:18:46.007 And I’m like okay well crap, okay so I’m like texting all my friends that live 00:18:46.007 --> 00:18:49.287 around me like "hey do you have like an extra thing of toilet paper 00:18:49.287 --> 00:18:51.227 if you do can you please let me know". 00:18:51.503 --> 00:18:55.263 I had a good friend that works at Publix, so I texted her immediately I'm like 00:18:55.263 --> 00:18:58.273 "hey do you guys have toilet paper at Publix? 00:18:58.595 --> 00:19:00.545 Do you have any toilet paper at home?" 00:19:00.668 --> 00:19:04.498 And luckily, she did and thankfully she lives, 00:19:04.865 --> 00:19:08.428 she lives down the street from my house, like this would be my house and 00:19:08.428 --> 00:19:10.406 like this would be her house. 00:19:10.946 --> 00:19:14.118 So I just walked to her house and I got my toilet paper, 00:19:14.118 --> 00:19:19.265 I, I like caught up on her with- she’s like two years younger than me we went 00:19:19.265 --> 00:19:23.145 to the same high school, so we just like caught up and we talked about the 00:19:23.145 --> 00:19:27.735 shortages of toilet paper and how she’s doing at work and 00:19:28.883 --> 00:19:31.033 that that I think roll of- that... 00:19:32.282 --> 00:19:35.482 like eight pack of toilet paper lasted us a good while 00:19:36.175 --> 00:19:41.265 so thankfully we had that and I think another thing we were- there was- 00:19:41.265 --> 00:19:43.845 I noticed there was a shortage on was eggs. 00:19:44.543 --> 00:19:47.223 Eggs, bread, like deli meat. 00:19:51.478 --> 00:19:55.164 Anything like unexpected that you kind of looked at and were like ‘really, 00:19:55.164 --> 00:19:56.328 they’re out of that’? 00:19:58.116 --> 00:20:03.786 No, but what like kind of got me like surprised was the meats went up a lot 00:20:04.252 --> 00:20:08.071 in my area, the meats went up a lot so I was like "yeah, I can’t afford twenty 00:20:08.071 --> 00:20:14.451 dollars of meat or chicken", so I wasn’t, I think me and my mom were just making 00:20:14.451 --> 00:20:18.161 a bunch of rice and like canned beans and 00:20:20.104 --> 00:20:23.554 any meat that we had in the freezer we would use that and like pasta. 00:20:23.890 --> 00:20:25.080 -Okay. -That's 00:20:25.950 --> 00:20:27.540 -what we lived off of. -So, 00:20:27.592 --> 00:20:32.209 so, you were finishing your AA and then you were in the Summer, 00:20:32.209 --> 00:20:35.372 and I think in the Fall you were at another college, and then you 00:20:35.372 --> 00:20:38.162 -transferred to UCF in the Spring semester -Yeah 00:20:38.575 --> 00:20:39.275 So, 00:20:39.797 --> 00:20:44.109 were you always looking at UCF going ‘yeah, I want to do it but COVID is 00:20:44.109 --> 00:20:48.345 kind of there and I’m not quite sure’, was there kind of this nervousness 00:20:48.345 --> 00:20:51.165 to going to UCF or was it, you know, well 00:20:51.847 --> 00:20:54.587 you know it’s finally time it’s been a year since COVID? 00:20:55.727 --> 00:20:56.507 Well, 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:00.079 when I was doing my applications in the Spring of 2020, 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.639 I had, I had, had it set that I wanted to go to UCF. 00:21:03.904 --> 00:21:06.524 I also applied to FSU but 00:21:08.664 --> 00:21:11.244 from Miami to Tallahassee is like an eight-hour drive 00:21:11.244 --> 00:21:15.093 so I was like I don’t want to be that far away from my parents I kind of want to 00:21:15.093 --> 00:21:17.953 be closer to home so UCF is in the middle, 00:21:19.166 --> 00:21:23.603 I have friends in Orlando that moved like a couple- a year before so we 00:21:23.603 --> 00:21:27.603 weren’t “that lonely” per se and 00:21:28.642 --> 00:21:31.652 my dad works from home now so I just saw him like on Monday, 00:21:32.083 --> 00:21:37.103 last Monday so it’s like it’s great that I chose UCF um 00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:42.289 I’m very happy that they accepted me in like that, I think it was April, April 00:21:42.289 --> 00:21:45.749 fifteenth I woke up and they didn’t even send me an email 00:21:45.749 --> 00:21:49.559 saying your application was updated I just like woke up and I started screaming. 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:51.179 I was like “Oh my God!”. 00:21:51.496 --> 00:21:53.956 My mom was like ‘why the hell are you screaming?’, 00:21:53.956 --> 00:21:56.586 like Spanish Hispanic, ‘why are you screaming’? 00:21:56.988 --> 00:22:01.403 And I’m like ‘mom I got accepted to UCF’ and she was like great I knew you were 00:22:01.403 --> 00:22:04.773 going to get accepted and I’m like thanks for the enthusiasm like 00:22:04.990 --> 00:22:08.210 I, I worked, I worked my ass off to get good grades thank you. 00:22:09.525 --> 00:22:14.145 But when I applied it was for the Fall of 2020 and 00:22:15.386 --> 00:22:16.826 a couple of days after 00:22:17.493 --> 00:22:19.203 I got my acceptance letter, 00:22:21.203 --> 00:22:24.773 like I made the decision that I couldn’t afford the move 00:22:24.969 --> 00:22:28.869 and I wasn’t looking towards like student housing, I- ‘cause since I was bringing 00:22:28.869 --> 00:22:32.309 my boyfriend up here we needed like an apartment- an apartment elsewhere 00:22:32.648 --> 00:22:33.438 so, 00:22:35.551 --> 00:22:41.621 so we- I pushed it back to the Spring of 2020 and I’m very happy that 00:22:42.501 --> 00:22:45.433 UCF like, like accepted my reason why. 00:22:45.433 --> 00:22:49.740 I’m assuming they obviously would accept a COVID reason and financial reasons 00:22:49.740 --> 00:22:52.870 why you can’t make the move and losing your job, so 00:22:53.924 --> 00:22:58.384 You gave them the reason say you know, ‘Oh I’m, I’m happy you accepted me 00:22:58.384 --> 00:23:03.142 for the Fall, but I can’t do this because of financial reasons so I’ll be doing it 00:23:03.142 --> 00:23:04.072 in the Spring’? 00:23:04.345 --> 00:23:10.300 Yeah so, they- like on, on the application or like once you accept it, they give you 00:23:10.300 --> 00:23:12.810 like a- you reapply basically 00:23:13.981 --> 00:23:19.041 and, in the reapplication, it says- or in the reapp- reapplication it says "did you 00:23:19.041 --> 00:23:21.111 already get accepted for a term". 00:23:21.111 --> 00:23:25.951 Like I put- like I checked the yes; I was accepted for Fall 2020 and then 00:23:25.951 --> 00:23:29.271 they give you that box that says please tell us why. 00:23:29.948 --> 00:23:34.676 So, it was like a paragraph long, I explained why I lost my job, I didn’t have 00:23:34.676 --> 00:23:40.458 that much money, I can’t afford a whole move like I can’t afford any of this and 00:23:40.458 --> 00:23:41.938 groceries and all that stuff. 00:23:41.938 --> 00:23:43.388 -Like a big reason why- -Yeah. 00:23:43.388 --> 00:23:46.298 and they, they didn’t, they didn't even get back to me saying 00:23:46.298 --> 00:23:48.418 "your reapplication was accepted". 00:23:49.592 --> 00:23:52.832 They just like took it and then it got to a point where I was like, 00:23:54.090 --> 00:23:57.150 it was like August /September and I haven’t heard back from UCF, 00:23:57.366 --> 00:24:03.049 so I was like making all these phone calls I was like ‘hi look I need to know by this 00:24:03.049 --> 00:24:06.926 time if I’m going to get accepted or not’ and they were, and they were like very 00:24:06.926 --> 00:24:10.003 rude about it like ‘we don’t do that like you have to wait’ and 00:24:10.003 --> 00:24:15.743 I’m like well I can’t wait because if I, if I find out in November then it’s going 00:24:15.743 --> 00:24:18.403 to be too late because I need to move by November. 00:24:19.548 --> 00:24:20.258 So, 00:24:21.486 --> 00:24:25.026 so that was the only sucky part about the like whole waiting process on 00:24:25.026 --> 00:24:26.129 the reapplication. 00:24:26.851 --> 00:24:29.491 Were- now let’s say, you know, COVID 00:24:30.218 --> 00:24:35.028 poofed, you know it didn’t really exist, would you have gone to UCF in Fall 2020? 00:24:35.028 --> 00:24:39.018 Was that the biggest contributor- like the biggest reason why 00:24:39.370 --> 00:24:41.812 you weren’t going to UCF was because of COVID? 00:24:42.162 --> 00:24:42.862 Yeah, 00:24:43.052 --> 00:24:48.032 100% if COVID didn’t exist I would be up here- I would’ve been up here since the 00:24:48.032 --> 00:24:49.452 Summer of 2020. 00:24:50.036 --> 00:24:50.746 Okay, 00:24:51.217 --> 00:24:54.567 so how do you feel about the Spring semester so far? 00:24:54.567 --> 00:24:58.426 You know, you’ve kind of transitioned from the period of 2020 and you know there 00:24:58.426 --> 00:25:01.318 was some professors' kind of having issues with technology, 00:25:02.622 --> 00:25:05.102 so how do you feel about this semester so far? 00:25:06.159 --> 00:25:09.039 Well for starters I’m very happy that I’m back on campus, 00:25:10.908 --> 00:25:14.648 it kind of sucks though because it- there’s it’s pros and cons. 00:25:14.648 --> 00:25:16.498 The pros are I’m back at school 00:25:18.387 --> 00:25:22.387 and like I get to like take notes and talk to people. 00:25:23.269 --> 00:25:27.088 The only sucky part is that since- I think, this is for every transfer ever 00:25:27.088 --> 00:25:31.844 like every freshman like you’re at a new school you don’t know anyone and I- 00:25:33.059 --> 00:25:37.509 I like to talk, I'm- if you met me like two years ago I would just be like “hi”, 00:25:37.638 --> 00:25:38.358 “hi”, 00:25:39.644 --> 00:25:40.434 "hi", 00:25:41.283 --> 00:25:46.713 but now I like- love to talk I really like to expand my group of friends 00:25:46.861 --> 00:25:50.565 so the sucky part about being on campus now is that like I don’t really 00:25:50.565 --> 00:25:54.782 have that many people to talk to and since I love UCF, 00:25:54.782 --> 00:26:00.108 I would like to make some more friends so I wish that like more people would talk 00:26:00.108 --> 00:26:03.728 to me, they would actually like consider the fact of talking to me as 00:26:03.728 --> 00:26:04.988 like be my friend. 00:26:05.782 --> 00:26:09.592 But not like pressuring them like ‘you need to be my friend’ but like just hear 00:26:09.592 --> 00:26:10.692 me out. 00:26:10.692 --> 00:26:11.412 Yeah. 00:26:13.434 --> 00:26:17.944 How many classes are you taking that are in-person versus online? 00:26:17.944 --> 00:26:21.664 And Is that a big change from your classes in the Spring? 00:26:23.564 --> 00:26:26.214 So, I’m taking two classes in-person and two online, 00:26:28.099 --> 00:26:30.919 but my two online classes are through Zoom, 00:26:31.459 --> 00:26:32.349 so, 00:26:33.241 --> 00:26:36.524 so I don’t want to say they’re- I don't want to say they're “online”, 00:26:36.524 --> 00:26:37.971 but they are basically. 00:26:39.379 --> 00:26:43.379 But they're- I start classes from 10:30 in the morning and I finish at 6:00 and 00:26:43.379 --> 00:26:49.196 my second Zoom class I have to be on- campus because it ends at 2:45 and 00:26:49.196 --> 00:26:54.448 I have my 3 o’clock class so I wish like- it would- it sucks that I have to like 00:26:54.448 --> 00:26:56.796 go to school, find somewhere to sit, 00:26:57.881 --> 00:27:01.881 hopefully, my air pods work because if not I’m doomed because I have 00:27:01.881 --> 00:27:06.142 those headphones that work for my iPhone, iPhone 12 so I can’t plug 00:27:06.142 --> 00:27:11.235 them into my computer, so I wish my classes weren’t so back to 00:27:11.235 --> 00:27:14.505 back but they are and I’m okay with it 00:27:15.031 --> 00:27:20.041 somehow and I’m very, very fortunate of the professors that I chose because 00:27:21.071 --> 00:27:24.751 their workload is, their workload is okay for me. 00:27:25.041 --> 00:27:26.907 It’s a lot of reading which is fine. 00:27:26.907 --> 00:27:31.261 I chose an English- reading major for that specific reason, I don’t want to do math 00:27:31.261 --> 00:27:32.301 or science 00:27:32.642 --> 00:27:34.142 so the reading is okay, 00:27:34.938 --> 00:27:36.358 the quizzes are okay, 00:27:38.783 --> 00:27:40.173 the papers are fine 00:27:40.492 --> 00:27:44.492 it’s just the back to back classes are a little bit hectic coming from the 00:27:44.492 --> 00:27:49.785 Spring, and the - Spring, Summer, Fall all those three semesters were online so 00:27:50.380 --> 00:27:51.750 doing the transition 00:27:52.443 --> 00:27:56.443 back to school was a little bit hard at first especially the first day 00:27:56.443 --> 00:27:59.173 waking up in the morning I was like “oh god”. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:01.529 So. 00:28:02.146 --> 00:28:02.906 What- 00:28:03.363 --> 00:28:08.289 Have you been looking at student organizations or clubs to interact or 00:28:08.289 --> 00:28:12.148 were you kind of still being a little cautious with how these clubs and 00:28:12.148 --> 00:28:14.539 organizations meet, meet together? 00:28:15.095 --> 00:28:17.595 Well, I would like to join a club. 00:28:17.899 --> 00:28:23.979 I know since I have a background in equestrianism and horseback riding, 00:28:24.149 --> 00:28:28.682 I would like to join UCF’s equestrian team, but they did their tryouts in 00:28:28.682 --> 00:28:32.003 August, and I have already sent them an email that I have not gotten 00:28:32.003 --> 00:28:36.960 a response to saying if I can register for their team, but I guess I’m just going 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:39.940 to have to wait until my last semester. 00:28:41.775 --> 00:28:50.383 So, and then, and then I know that in CB2 there’s like a wall filled with fliers and 00:28:50.563 --> 00:28:54.543 I just- like it's- there’s just so many fliers and 00:28:55.176 --> 00:28:57.506 there’s like not, there's like not one that has 00:28:57.506 --> 00:29:00.294 given me like an interest to like go and sign up for. 00:29:01.374 --> 00:29:02.854 I know that UCF has like, 00:29:04.324 --> 00:29:09.654 like an executive branch and like a legislative and judicial, 00:29:09.869 --> 00:29:14.939 that would be cool like, to like try to get into one of those, 00:29:15.234 --> 00:29:19.787 but I think I’m too late for that, I guess- I feel like I’m too late for that 00:29:19.787 --> 00:29:20.487 but 00:29:21.247 --> 00:29:22.008 maybe 00:29:22.718 --> 00:29:26.532 when they do like Fall recruitment for fraternities or sororities, 00:29:26.532 --> 00:29:32.832 I could probably hop into one that’s like a political science honor society 00:29:34.523 --> 00:29:35.923 so hopefully, I can do that. 00:29:36.360 --> 00:29:37.070 So, 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:43.170 how would you- were you ever looking at all at UCF’s response back in the Spring 00:29:43.418 --> 00:29:47.418 during COVID, or was that like out of your mind even though you did apply? 00:29:48.673 --> 00:29:53.553 I was, I was not focused on, on what the schools were, were planning to do. 00:29:53.908 --> 00:29:54.968 I just know that 00:29:56.063 --> 00:30:01.623 all the schools just transition online I was not expecting to be back at school 00:30:02.689 --> 00:30:05.749 like now I was expecting to be back at home 00:30:07.059 --> 00:30:08.389 again but 00:30:09.145 --> 00:30:12.445 once I realized like, when I was choosing my classes it said like, 00:30:13.124 --> 00:30:17.017 like BA1 and CB2 and I was like, 'okay these are buildings, so I’m assuming 00:30:17.017 --> 00:30:21.097 I’m going back to school okay great, well crap I haven’t been to school 00:30:21.097 --> 00:30:23.747 since January or since March of 2020'. 00:30:24.095 --> 00:30:25.295 So 00:30:25.518 --> 00:30:30.027 that made me like 'oh god like socialization, social people, 00:30:30.027 --> 00:30:32.859 people anxiety, social anxiety. Great, yay. 00:30:34.198 --> 00:30:36.339 Which leads to my next question now, you know. 00:30:36.339 --> 00:30:39.935 What, what seemed normal back in early 2020 that seems 00:30:39.935 --> 00:30:41.365 kind of strange to you now? 00:30:42.739 --> 00:30:47.781 The one thing for sure is when I walked into my first in-person class. 00:30:47.781 --> 00:30:49.909 So, it will be like with Professor Murphree 00:30:50.651 --> 00:30:55.001 that auditorium could sit like 80 people, 80-90 people and there’s like 00:30:55.597 --> 00:31:00.357 15 people in that class, so- and, and I remember Professor Murphree said 00:31:00.493 --> 00:31:08.568 ‘why would they cut that, cut that room size by like almost 70%’ and having 15 00:31:08.568 --> 00:31:12.388 people when this auditorium could sit this many people and, 00:31:14.281 --> 00:31:16.261 and then the mask situation. 00:31:16.261 --> 00:31:18.986 Every professor said if you decide to take off your mask, 00:31:18.986 --> 00:31:24.274 I’m going to have to kick you out and just all these rules on your mask and COVID 00:31:24.274 --> 00:31:27.226 and you have to do your self-check before you get on-campus, 00:31:27.226 --> 00:31:31.126 getting to the George Washington Center there’s like these people coming up to me 00:31:31.126 --> 00:31:35.176 like, like with, like with their, with their pamphlets saying ‘did you, do you 00:31:35.176 --> 00:31:39.956 sign- did you do your COVID check?’ And I’m just like with my headphones like. 00:31:43.297 --> 00:31:44.017 So 00:31:45.311 --> 00:31:49.091 that’s the only thing that, that sucks is that classrooms got cut in half 00:31:50.021 --> 00:31:52.351 by almost 70-80%, 00:31:53.090 --> 00:31:58.282 but my last class is with- is Contemporary Democratic Theory class 00:31:58.282 --> 00:32:04.292 with Professor Labedz and that class is also in an auditorium in CB2 and 00:32:04.292 --> 00:32:07.572 there is like 50 people in that class which is surprising. 00:32:07.628 --> 00:32:11.138 50 people, like in, in, in-person? 00:32:11.923 --> 00:32:15.833 Mhm, it’s a, it's a bigger auditorium compared to Professor Murphree’s class and 00:32:15.833 --> 00:32:20.943 since the auditorium is bigger the, the rows could sit like 2 or 3 people 00:32:21.361 --> 00:32:25.231 so I guess that’s why they allowed that many people in that class. 00:32:26.196 --> 00:32:28.386 And Professor Labedz 00:32:29.726 --> 00:32:33.666 he’s very talkative which there’s it’s pros and cons 00:32:33.882 --> 00:32:37.092 however since it's a Democratic Theory class 00:32:37.334 --> 00:32:41.444 I’m assuming we’re going to do a lot of debate and discussions and 00:32:41.444 --> 00:32:46.006 I’m the one to talk when it comes to like democratic-democratic theories 00:32:46.006 --> 00:32:52.346 and like democratic societies and all of that and like it gets me out of my chair 00:32:52.346 --> 00:32:55.706 so I’m very happy I chose that class for that reason. 00:32:56.005 --> 00:33:00.415 You mentioned Professor Murphree, I know who Professor Murphree is, but 00:33:00.415 --> 00:33:03.508 for those who are kind of looking at this they might not know, 00:33:03.508 --> 00:33:06.978 so do you know- do you think you could give me a little more information 00:33:06.978 --> 00:33:08.128 on who Dr. Murphree is? 00:33:09.443 --> 00:33:14.146 So this is my first class with Professor Murphree, but Professor Murphree is a, 00:33:14.146 --> 00:33:18.464 a history professor and he spec- like I want to assume he specializes in 00:33:18.464 --> 00:33:20.114 North American Indians 00:33:21.883 --> 00:33:23.613 and that’s pretty much all I know. 00:33:23.613 --> 00:33:28.413 I really like his engagement in the history of North American Indians 00:33:28.643 --> 00:33:34.013 and how they contrib- and like, like the history with like the Seven Year War 00:33:34.198 --> 00:33:39.318 and all the tribes and what happened to them and like why the U.S. like. 00:33:39.430 --> 00:33:44.350 put them in these small like, what are they called, reservations 00:33:44.466 --> 00:33:45.346 and, 00:33:45.837 --> 00:33:46.567 and, 00:33:47.629 --> 00:33:51.863 and their culture and how each tribe is different and why they’re different 00:33:52.863 --> 00:33:53.593 and 00:33:54.723 --> 00:33:57.473 why did these, why did these tribes 00:33:59.053 --> 00:34:02.283 side with the French or the Spanish or the British. 00:34:03.075 --> 00:34:03.935 Ouch, 00:34:04.614 --> 00:34:06.074 my computer- sorry. 00:34:07.860 --> 00:34:12.165 But yeah. He's a really cool- from, from his personality he seems like a really 00:34:12.165 --> 00:34:17.013 professor. And he’s very caring because he said that, I remember he said that 00:34:17.013 --> 00:34:20.453 you can start your essay, like your research paper now 00:34:20.843 --> 00:34:26.205 and that he would be more than happy to pre, pre-edit, or like peer review it and 00:34:26.205 --> 00:34:26.943 give you 00:34:27.583 --> 00:34:30.463 like obviously his opinion on what needs to be changed and 00:34:30.463 --> 00:34:35.323 what shouldn’t and he, and he emphasized a lot on citation 00:34:36.008 --> 00:34:39.981 and like plagiarism and all that stuff and that, that gave me a worry when 00:34:39.981 --> 00:34:44.268 he said like his papers are specifically in Chicago style because 00:34:45.860 --> 00:34:52.327 in the Fall semester I did a very, very, very good paper on John Locke, 00:34:52.327 --> 00:34:55.256 and for those who don’t know who John Locke is he is a, 00:34:55.995 --> 00:34:57.604 a, a philosopher, 00:34:59.113 --> 00:35:02.673 like a, like a I want to say a political philosopher or like a 00:35:03.733 --> 00:35:07.133 very good, well philosopher I can’t really think much about him anymore 00:35:07.133 --> 00:35:10.213 because I worked so hard on that guy and 00:35:10.675 --> 00:35:16.866 I did this really good paper on him and I was- when I did my paper that week 00:35:16.866 --> 00:35:21.218 I was working back to back shifts at work, and this was in, this was in obviously 00:35:21.218 --> 00:35:25.238 in Miami, so I was working back to back shifts at work and 00:35:26.290 --> 00:35:30.580 that week I missed that paper and I missed another paper for my 00:35:31.861 --> 00:35:37.021 Modern Germany class and my Modern Germany professor was so kind enough 00:35:37.021 --> 00:35:37.872 to let me, 00:35:38.937 --> 00:35:42.756 it was due on a Sunday, I emailed him on Sunday freaking out. I was like 00:35:42.756 --> 00:35:46.269 ‘oh my god I’m so sorry this is not how I am as you know 00:35:46.269 --> 00:35:47.701 I turn my papers in on time 00:35:48.372 --> 00:35:52.062 I did not realize this paper was due today I thought it was due next Sunday’, 00:35:52.205 --> 00:35:55.537 and he was so kind enough and said like "why don’t you turn it into me 00:35:55.537 --> 00:35:57.713 in- like four days from now. 00:35:58.528 --> 00:36:02.188 I obviously didn’t take four days to do it, I got home from work that day and 00:36:02.188 --> 00:36:03.428 finished it in two hours 00:36:04.020 --> 00:36:08.855 and that professor with the John Locke paper; it was for an Intro to Political 00:36:08.855 --> 00:36:09.853 Theory class 00:36:09.967 --> 00:36:10.857 and 00:36:11.575 --> 00:36:15.783 he just like interrogated me like ‘why did- why, why are you asking for 00:36:15.783 --> 00:36:18.383 a late submission? Did you have an emergency? 00:36:18.383 --> 00:36:22.273 Did you have a COVID-related issue? Were you affected somehow at work’? 00:36:22.504 --> 00:36:24.884 All these questions and like that week 00:36:25.393 --> 00:36:30.913 that happened it was just work, the week before I had to call emergency services 00:36:30.913 --> 00:36:35.783 on my dad because he- I've- he had this really really bad panic attack 00:36:35.783 --> 00:36:39.223 but the way he had his this panic attack it looked like he was having 00:36:39.223 --> 00:36:43.813 a heart attack and that’s obviously like what I’ve noticed 00:36:43.813 --> 00:36:48.253 and what I’ve read more about is that a panic attack can sort of look like a heart 00:36:48.253 --> 00:36:52.262 attack and my dad, my dad’s family has heart issues 00:36:52.262 --> 00:36:55.602 so that was my main reason why I was like freaking out because 00:36:57.188 --> 00:37:01.038 my grandpa did have a heart attack, my grandma has diabetes 00:37:01.225 --> 00:37:02.035 so 00:37:02.839 --> 00:37:09.799 that made me extremely like paranoid I was like- I, I did not go into work that day, 00:37:09.799 --> 00:37:15.509 so I think that as soon as that happened it like sidetracked me completely for that 00:37:15.509 --> 00:37:16.539 week after 00:37:17.316 --> 00:37:21.786 so for the fact that my professor was like questioning me and all that stuff I 00:37:21.786 --> 00:37:27.948 end up- did submitting that paper, however I got a zero on it which it pissed me off 00:37:27.948 --> 00:37:33.288 completely because I got a zero on it because I did it in Chicago style which- 00:37:34.206 --> 00:37:37.036 for me Chicago style is the easiest way I can 00:37:37.854 --> 00:37:42.724 format the paper and like- and the way you you do your intext citations. 00:37:43.001 --> 00:37:43.721 Yeah. 00:37:43.721 --> 00:37:48.190 From what I- from what I’ve been told, is you just put the, the footnote and you 00:37:48.190 --> 00:37:52.010 cite correctly to the T on your footnotes and your 00:37:53.272 --> 00:37:59.492 works cited page at the end and he- his, his teaching assistant graded my paper 00:37:59.842 --> 00:38:03.172 and I’m like ‘why haven’t you guys graded my paper it’s been a month’ 00:38:03.432 --> 00:38:09.222 and he said because I had like a 34% in plagiarism and I’m like 'okay, 00:38:09.737 --> 00:38:10.710 I cited' 00:38:11.860 --> 00:38:14.860 and I had to get on a Zoom call with my professor and he said 00:38:14.860 --> 00:38:18.243 I plagiarized. He's like 'you have two options you can take the zero 00:38:18.243 --> 00:38:23.883 or you can- I can report you to academic services and you can get- and you can 00:38:23.883 --> 00:38:27.093 like sit with the Dean and explain why you plagiarized. 00:38:27.093 --> 00:38:30.263 And I was crying hysterically I was like ' why, why". 00:38:30.308 --> 00:38:35.298 I didn’t plagiarize this is all my info, the two sentences that you’re accusing 00:38:35.298 --> 00:38:38.758 me of plagiarism is the definition of John Locke’s 00:38:39.551 --> 00:38:41.241 meaning of the Natural Law. 00:38:41.701 --> 00:38:45.911 He was like 'yeah, I'm sorry I can’t take this’, and I was like 'you know whatever 00:38:46.092 --> 00:38:47.302 I can care less anymore. 00:38:47.927 --> 00:38:49.057 I- I- 00:38:49.057 --> 00:38:52.395 my grade went from an 89 to an F 00:38:52.835 --> 00:38:53.545 for, 00:38:53.943 --> 00:38:56.913 for like a good month or so and 00:38:57.628 --> 00:39:00.673 after that paper, I had my final paper that I had to talk about 00:39:00.673 --> 00:39:03.161 all the four philosophers that we had learned about 00:39:03.432 --> 00:39:06.362 and their relation to a democratic society. 00:39:06.802 --> 00:39:09.852 So, I wrote about John Locke, I wrote about- 00:39:11.857 --> 00:39:15.307 I wrote about like three out of the four philosophers we learned about, 00:39:15.430 --> 00:39:18.620 and I went out of my way to talk about philosophers that I learned 00:39:18.620 --> 00:39:21.820 in my 3000-level course the semester prior. 00:39:22.624 --> 00:39:23.554 They liked it 00:39:24.744 --> 00:39:30.670 but the fact that I didn’t talk about Plato I got a 45 out of 60 00:39:30.670 --> 00:39:34.800 which I’m assuming is a B from what I remember, I don’t know math. 00:39:36.007 --> 00:39:36.837 So, 00:39:37.960 --> 00:39:43.546 I got a B on it I was, I was striving for a 95 so I had high expectations 00:39:43.546 --> 00:39:46.896 on that paper, I needed a 95 to finish with a B-. 00:39:47.424 --> 00:39:52.904 I did not get a B- I had like a 75% in the class and I couldn’t afford a C. 00:39:53.878 --> 00:39:58.764 I was crying hysterically in my room, why I can’t finish with a C, 00:39:58.764 --> 00:40:01.748 I cannot finish with a C, this is going drop my GPA by a lot, 00:40:01.895 --> 00:40:05.605 this is going to drop my GPA when all my grades get transferred over to UCF. 00:40:05.605 --> 00:40:06.565 I wasn’t happy 00:40:06.820 --> 00:40:07.540 and 00:40:09.539 --> 00:40:13.463 I this- I sent like a very strong email to my professor saying like 00:40:13.463 --> 00:40:18.358 ‘your TA, I don’t think your TA graded my my paper correctly 00:40:18.438 --> 00:40:22.872 like I worked so- I worked to the T on this paper, I spent- I did a bunch of 00:40:22.872 --> 00:40:25.828 all-nighters working on this paper, you need to read it’. 00:40:26.285 --> 00:40:30.475 He, he was like 'attend my special office hours; I was like 'yeah whatever okay'. 00:40:31.314 --> 00:40:33.464 I could not attend the special office hours, 00:40:34.581 --> 00:40:37.293 “special, special office hours”, to talk about my grade 00:40:37.562 --> 00:40:41.328 and I woke up that morning and his office hours were at like 1 o’clock, 00:40:41.328 --> 00:40:47.002 I woke up at 10 and my grade changed on my Locke, my Locke paper to an A, 00:40:47.002 --> 00:40:51.877 so I got a 10 out of 10 on, on that paper and I was like, I was like crying like 00:40:51.877 --> 00:40:56.785 ‘yes thank you god like thank you, thank you’ and I sent him this like kind 00:40:56.785 --> 00:41:03.824 email saying like 'thank you so much have a good whatever' some bullshit 00:41:03.824 --> 00:41:08.094 email saying, you’re awesome whatever and he never responded back 00:41:08.352 --> 00:41:13.082 but I feel like he gave me that A because I don’t know if UCF does, 00:41:13.974 --> 00:41:14.944 does these, 00:41:15.835 --> 00:41:17.355 what are they called, like? 00:41:17.493 --> 00:41:21.323 At FIU they’re called “SPOTs” which you like you evaluate your professors, 00:41:21.323 --> 00:41:23.073 -I don’t know if UCF does that. -Yes. 00:41:23.073 --> 00:41:25.693 we, we do- yes, UCF does do 00:41:26.817 --> 00:41:31.707 end of- end of term evaluations, but yes students do evaluate. 00:41:32.514 --> 00:41:36.796 So, I wrote a very, very negative review on my professor, 00:41:36.796 --> 00:41:40.796 and I feel like I don’t know if they show it to the professors at the end, 00:41:40.796 --> 00:41:44.796 but I feel like he would have known that one of those negative papers were, 00:41:44.796 --> 00:41:46.776 one of those negative reviews was mine. 00:41:47.162 --> 00:41:48.812 Because I specifically wrote 00:41:49.486 --> 00:41:50.836 ‘Your TA sucks’. 00:41:51.944 --> 00:41:57.489 So, it’s definitely been a far cry from that professor to Daniel Murphree 00:41:57.959 --> 00:41:59.809 at UCF that’s been like fully- 00:42:00.800 --> 00:42:02.220 Yeah completely 180. 00:42:02.237 --> 00:42:03.447 Yeah complete 180. 00:42:03.657 --> 00:42:05.587 And it helps too because you know, that 00:42:06.222 --> 00:42:08.117 going through a pandemic, 00:42:08.117 --> 00:42:12.962 still going through the aftereffects of it I imagine that going and researching 00:42:12.962 --> 00:42:17.161 and writing these papers in that Fall could have been an immense amount 00:42:17.161 --> 00:42:22.360 of stress that you had to be put through, so it really is sad to hear when a 00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:27.350 professor and it seemed the TA as well really wasn’t giving you any breaks. 00:42:27.683 --> 00:42:28.453 -So, -Yeah. 00:42:28.453 --> 00:42:31.143 I give two more questions, and then I’ll let you go, 00:42:31.143 --> 00:42:32.583 I know you’re probably busy. 00:42:34.067 --> 00:42:38.017 What is the most significant impact that COVID has had on your life? 00:42:38.080 --> 00:42:40.760 Whether that be academic or personal. 00:42:46.026 --> 00:42:50.306 I would say personal. I want to say personal because 00:42:51.493 --> 00:42:54.913 academic wise I’m, I'm doing a lot better academically, 00:42:56.317 --> 00:42:59.167 I want to say personal because now I have to deal, 00:42:59.314 --> 00:43:04.592 now I understand the importance of mental health because I see it in myself and 00:43:04.592 --> 00:43:05.712 in my parents, 00:43:07.419 --> 00:43:12.574 I have never been one to experience like anxiety and like not 00:43:12.574 --> 00:43:17.464 being able to sleep and having this like insomnia that lasts forever 00:43:19.265 --> 00:43:20.115 and 00:43:20.870 --> 00:43:24.780 like I respect those that who do suffer from mental health now because 00:43:25.371 --> 00:43:27.161 the shit fucking sucks. 00:43:28.147 --> 00:43:35.207 Have you, and I imagine before COVID were you less focused on mental health? 00:43:35.207 --> 00:43:38.637 Was it really like a COVID really just brought it out of nowhere or 00:43:38.913 --> 00:43:41.493 did you kind of have issues with mental health before? 00:43:42.246 --> 00:43:42.946 Well, 00:43:44.383 --> 00:43:46.223 prior to COVID I, 00:43:47.120 --> 00:43:49.573 I didn’t really experience that much mental health 00:43:49.573 --> 00:43:53.678 I just knew I had- I put a lot of pressure on myself in regard, in regard to 00:43:53.678 --> 00:43:55.248 my academic standards. 00:43:57.532 --> 00:43:58.355 Standards... 00:43:58.507 --> 00:44:02.800 Basically, grades and how like I like, like talking in class and 00:44:03.050 --> 00:44:03.770 Yeah. 00:44:03.770 --> 00:44:04.910 just being engaged. 00:44:05.689 --> 00:44:09.884 And then when COVID hit like academically I was, I was just like everything was 00:44:09.884 --> 00:44:14.902 online so I didn’t put that much effort and I- and I- my, my mental health I just 00:44:14.902 --> 00:44:21.232 realized like wow, who knew that a pandemic would cause me to like, like 00:44:21.232 --> 00:44:23.632 take- like take a toll the way it did. 00:44:24.121 --> 00:44:24.921 And 00:44:25.483 --> 00:44:28.473 a lot of people were telling me that I should talk to someone, 00:44:28.473 --> 00:44:32.236 I should talk to someone, and I did do therapy when I was younger and 00:44:32.236 --> 00:44:34.245 for me personally, it doesn’t help. 00:44:34.245 --> 00:44:38.245 It doesn’t help me because I don’t like, I don't like talking about my feel- 00:44:39.550 --> 00:44:43.440 I don't like talking about my feelings especially like to my parents 00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:47.990 I don’t like talking- I don't like talking about my feelings, period. 00:44:48.006 --> 00:44:53.121 I- it takes a- it takes a lot for a person to get, to get me talking about my 00:44:53.121 --> 00:44:53.931 feelings, 00:44:54.129 --> 00:44:58.979 so I, I respect like the mental health field, I respect those that like- that do 00:44:58.979 --> 00:45:01.179 suffer on a daily basis because 00:45:02.523 --> 00:45:03.443 it sucks. 00:45:03.595 --> 00:45:04.335 Yep. 00:45:04.369 --> 00:45:05.319 Last question. 00:45:08.355 --> 00:45:11.495 Is there anything else that you would like people to know, people 00:45:11.495 --> 00:45:15.025 that are watching this interview, you know looking back on this interview, 00:45:15.025 --> 00:45:17.075 you know what's, what would you want them- 00:45:17.539 --> 00:45:21.304 what would you like them to know going through this pandemic, going through 00:45:23.338 --> 00:45:24.738 really a crappy year? 00:45:26.508 --> 00:45:30.058 I guess like for those who have been affected it is 00:45:30.641 --> 00:45:32.191 that you are not alone. 00:45:32.191 --> 00:45:35.901 You’re not alone because there's are many of us who have suffered and there's- 00:45:35.901 --> 00:45:39.019 probably your parents have suffered like you are not alone, 00:45:39.019 --> 00:45:40.400 we are all going through it. 00:45:40.400 --> 00:45:43.880 Again, for those that, that believe that they haven’t been affected 00:45:44.854 --> 00:45:50.152 trust me you’ve probably been affected somehow like it has affected everyone 00:45:50.152 --> 00:45:53.662 and like especially with like work and stuff so 00:45:54.197 --> 00:45:58.057 hopefully we can all get out of this and once this pandemic ends, 00:45:58.057 --> 00:46:02.389 like we appreciate life more, we appreciate like once- if you’re sick 00:46:02.389 --> 00:46:05.459 don’t go to school, like if you’re sick don’t go to work. 00:46:07.594 --> 00:46:12.334 Just, this, this has taught me to like see life in a different perspective. 00:46:12.567 --> 00:46:14.247 Okay, well thank you, Isabella. 00:46:14.607 --> 00:46:15.560 You’re welcome.