The QuaranTEENS

Since Saturday the parks have opened again. From today we can go more than 100 km away and in outdoor cafés or restaurants. Thus, life resumes a more normal course and we can progressively return to earlier habits. Since Saturday I have met a lot of friends of mine on docks or in parks. We can see that most Parisians are not afraid by coronavirus anymore. They appreciate to be free again. It could mean that the health crisis is over. Moreover, in some countries sport competition is back as it is the case for football matches in England, Germany, and Spain (resumed on 11 June). F1 will resume on July 5th with the Austrian Grand Prix. Cycling may be able to resume in August. So we can see that the sports programs will resume.

As of today, a mobile application called Stop-covid is available. This application should help to reduce the transmission of the virus but raises the question of medical confidentiality. Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe invites citizens to use it to protect themselves and others. This application could avoid a second wave of this pandemic if people are convinced to use it.

Air bridges between England and certain countries should be established. The British government is reportedly considering introducing air bridges with certain countries to avoid quarantine for travelers entering the country. Those arriving from Greece, Australia and Portugal could thus benefit from it.

Last week there was the launch of the Space X rocket by Elon Musk. It was broadcast live and it was nice to watch. This event proves that from now on a private entity can go into space. It means that independent undertakings can compete with member states monopolies in the space race. It also opens the way to affordability of spatial travel. So maybe (soon?) we can take the rocket in the same way that we take a plane?

Last week nothing really changed for me.

I continued to visit castles in Ile de France. On Sunday, I visited the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte. What a beautiful castle ! When I arrived in front of it, my first impression was to see a masterpiece.  As you need tickets (that you have to reserve by internet), few people have them and therefore there are not many people in the castle. Therefore, we had room and time to visit.

Otherwise I tried to go and see some friends, but it was not so easy because some of them were still afraid of coronavirus. When I was with friends, it was good because it has been a long time since we did not spend time together and we had a lot of things to share but we missed time to talk about everything.

Since a few days now, temperatures have significantly risen and it is really nice to go out except for doing sports because the heat becomes quickly painful. Moreover with the rise in temperatures the virus could disappear faster and normal life could be back soon! According to an article that I read, there is 75% chance that 2020 should be the warmest year during the last 140 years.

I have also met some of my family members and it was really nice because we could eat, talk and share nice moments all together. As many people, we talked a lot about series! I effectively think that everybody spent watching movies and series. I go out more and more but I am always careful and keep a safe distance. When I walk around, I stay far enough away from people and try to keep my hands clean as long as possible.

Since the post-quarantine, I have often gone for strolls. It gave me real pleasures to get some fresh air and to discover again the city of Paris. In the first days of post-quarantine, I thought there would be a lot of people outside but finally not so much. People were rather in car than on the streets. Then I went to the docks and I began to see a lot of people walking around or running. I was surprised to see that police was still present in the entire city. However exit certificate was no more need and police controls have consequently stopped. On the first week-end of the post-quarantine, I went to Fontainebleau. There were a lot of people to walk in the forest.

Since the beginning of the post-quarantine, I have found that each person stayed at home but during this first week-end my opinion changed a little bit. Nevertheless I find that the post-quarantine is globally well respected. Most of people wear masks outside and teenagers as well. I think mask is a good thing for confined spaces. It is also a reassuring measure for old or weak persons.

Last Thursday, I read an article in Le Figaro’ newspaper and Michel Blanquer was saying that he wanted that each student go back at school at least once before the end of May. In this article, we could also find the point of view of doctors and they were not in favor of reopening schools because children are, in short, healthy carriers and can very easily contaminate teachers and other employees. Will we go back to school before summer holidays? The answer should come in a few weeks . . .

Quarantine was far from easy especially in a social point of view. We were not allowed to go and see our relatives nor our friends. No strolls around the gardens were possible, no dinner in restaurant was allowed, and no birthday was organized although 2020 was the year of our 18th anniversary. All connections were done through phone or internet and via different applications such as Skype or Zoom.

From a cultural point of view, it was difficult therefore we have had to adapt. We could not go to the cinema and the theater, visit museum and use library neither. Therefore, we had to cope with what we had; it meant watching movies, television reports or reading books. There have been many initiatives from artists aimed at bringing culture to people. Theater plays, concerts, museum visits have been broadcasted in the visual media.

In terms of studies, we have had to find and test different ways of learning such as video-conferencing with teachers, online teachings, or educational videos on internet. Quarantine was an excellent period to develop our aptitudes to self-learning. This was not an easy task because it completely changed our working habits. We learned to manage on our own. We improved also attendance and performance in virtual school because we had fewer courses with our teachers. Finally, we have learnt how to learn. For the rest, quarantine has had positive impact. I could sleep for a long time and I was able to be more physically active and to work more efficiently during the day. When I was awake, I accomplished more in one hour than when I was at school. No transport, no time to go to school as your school is at home. I loved the experience of managing my own time. Stress and nervous tensions were less. I felt really rested. I was more effective in my homework. When I needed to go deeper into complex issues, I could do it immediately in internet. No need to wait to be at home. I was already at home. I used also time to cook, play board games and run.

Since the beginning of the lockdown, I have been watching the news to see how this situation is evolving. In most countries, people stay at home and do not move or rarely move and I was really interested in the benefits made by this global containment.

First of all, let us look at Italy, which was the first European country seriously affected by the Coronavirus. As shown in this picture, marine animals regain their rightful place in the waters of the Mediterranean. In Sardinia, where 30 million goods usually pass through every year, dolphins are once again approaching the now desert shores because of the drop in cargo traffic.

Venice, the well-known city for its canals has also found “its beauty” back thanks to the comeback of the fishes, swans . . . with clearer waters.

In the French capital, the evolutions are also present with different animals taking their place. Spotted in the streets of Paris, the ducks also take back their rights. With sidewalks deserted by locals and millions of tourists a year, the birds take the time to stretch their legs.

In the South of France new animals also make their appearance with rorqual.

At the Hong Kong zoo, which has been closed to the public for the past two months, the two pandas, Ying Ying and Le Le, have mated and it is a first for these two animals who have been living together for ten years.

In many other countries, nature takes over these rights with: in Australia kangaroos walking the streets ; in Nepal, the rhinos that are in the city like in South Africa with the penguins that are on the sidewalks and so on.

In the pollution heat, the effect of containment is truly present with a level of fine particles that fell by 40% to 10% in April. It would have prevented 1,230 deaths in France (according to a European Research Center).

As a conclusion, we can say that nature is gradually taking back its rights with the global lockdown. It also reminds us that nature needs room and clean air to live and that we cannot damage earth permanently.

It is the first time I have spent two weeks holidays in Paris. I never thought I would have to do that. We should never say never!

Normally during these holidays I ride my bike and meet my family. Those holidays were not like the previous ones. First of all I have learned that the pop music festival in Normandy I used to go every year with my family (my cousins, my sister, my mother…) was cancelled. It did not make me happy because normally it takes place at the beginning of July just after the end of school and it makes me starting my summer holidays with a lot of fun and great moments. It is a great family and musical moment. Moreover, the setting of the festival is beautiful because it is located at in the grounds of a castle.

After this announcement, I continued to do my homework slowly but surely. Then came Easter! Every year I go on an egg hunt in my grand-parents country house .This time my “country house” was in Paris and it was my home. So I went to look for the eggs in my family flat, which kept me busy anyway. I received eggs from my grandmother, which made me happy because I was not expecting that at all. After searching for these eggs a second week of “vacations” began.

This week was the fastest week of my lockdown. Everything went by very quickly and yet I felt like I did nothing. Instead, I changed my habits, watched videos and read articles especially on sports to find out how to get back on track without getting injured. So I was able to see how the triathletes had changed their habits and how they were planning to start again. And I am already looking forward to it! I am thinking about my next holidays even if it seems to be quite difficult to know more about the healthy crisis but I would definitely doing a lot of sports such as my favorite ones : windsurfing, running, cycling, hiking and swimming.

This confinement is getting longer and longer. So to keep myself busy, I have taken up several activities that make my time busier. First of all, I read more and more game rules, which then allows me to play with the people I am confined to.

I had received a lot of games for Christmas and this confinement allows me to read the notices and thus not to waste my time. So I have played at the mastermind, at Carcassonne, and so on. I have also played a childhood game called Kapla! I have built beautiful constructions!

One of my other activities was to sort through my photos, which took me a considerable amount of time. It is something I rarely do and I should do it much more often given the number of pictures I had. However, I had really enjoyed this activity because it allowed me to see what I had been doing for the last six months. So it got me out of lockdown somehow. I then decided to look at my photos when I was a little boy in my parents’ arms. It was really cool because I am still amazed at how I and my parents have changed. To conclude this, I decided to do more photography and more activities with my family because time goes faster and faster and we forget that we only have one life, so we have to make the most of it.

We have been confined for over four weeks now. I smiled the first time I heard the news because for me, I was going to be able to sleep more, to have a rest, to do sports, to play games, to have time to do school work and extra-work and I had deduced that I would therefore be more active during the day. Also, I would take care of my family, to be closer to her and this would allow me to hear news from all my relatives.

But now that it has been four weeks, I have changed my mind. I wish I could go back to class, work normally, go to the pool and go rock climbing. So I would like to see my friends, my family in real life again. I terribly miss all this but we are all in the same situation and I think the best thing is to stay at home, continue to talk with relatives and friends. I also think it is a good time to reconnect with people I have not talked to in a long time. For my part, it allowed me to know what was happening to my friends. First of all I have got in touch with a friend I have not seen since primary school, he now lives right next door to me! He told me about these plans for the next few years and they are exciting. I am really looking forward to seeing him again. I also learned that someone close to me had caught the coronavirus and was really not feeling well. He had to go to the hospital and luckily now he is better. At the same time, I learned that a friend of mine might be spending the summer holidays in the same place as me! This special time allows us to take news from close people and that improves everyone’s morals, which is important during this period of lockdown.

For everyone’s sake I hope that we will soon see the end of this period which is beginning to be long.

My second week was not fun as the first one . The lockdown is more and more painful but we have to respect it. When we go out, we may encounter policemen and they can ask us about the paper (“attestation”) that allows us to go out. It is a bit stressful time. It is difficult because you have the uncomfortable feeling that police is always watching you. Definitely we have to stay at home and to think about new activities inside. I try to keep myself busy by watching series, movies, playing chess or board games. I have improved my games and now I am a chess master! I have also had to do a lot to finalize my “Parcoursup” profile. I have also discovered an old game called: the “jokari”

We play with a ball and a racket but the specificity is that the ball is linked to a small box by an elastic cord. Then you can play alone but I prefer with two players.

What is really missing for me is the lack of freedom. I cannot do what I want to do. I feel like in jail. I miss my family a lot especially my cousins with whom I really like to share time and play games. I suffer from the lack of outside activities such as cinema, theater, bowling, escape games, playing football and so on..

Finally I would have preferred to leave Paris during the lockdown because I could have been with my family and take advantage of this time to be more with them.

We have been in lockdown for more than one week … On Monday 16, the French president said that we must stay at home and get out only for first needs. It meant our exits would be restricted for buying food in supermarket or drogues in pharmacy. All news said the same message: ” stay at home”.

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At the beginning of the lockdown, I did not really realize how my life would be change and how the containment would be set up. So all day long, I run in Paris Bois de Boulogne as those woods are close to my home.

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Some days after the start of the lockdown, I went to the supermarket and I met an old friend (he had protective gloves and a mask). I moved closer to speak with him but he stopped me immediately and said: “Please my friend, don’t make other step towards me because I have caught the coronavirus”. I was absolutely shocked. I could not say anything. Suddenly my face changed. I moved two meters away and I took some news because I had not seen him for three years. I asked him how he knew that he had the coronavirus and he answered to me that he had made a test and he was positive. He also explained to me the symptoms. He just had some fever (39°C) and some headaches but when he made the test he believed that he did not have it. He was then confident that he did not have but the test said something else. During one hour I was shocked. I was thinking then about the numbers of people who had the covid-19 and I realized that everyone could catch it. After that I have really listened to speeches of the French President and his Prime minister and I have realize that I can catch it because if my friend got it why not me? Moreover I realized that many people have it because my friend lives just one street behind my home. We know that the spread of this virus is fast so I deduce that people maybe in my building have it. Now I look with another view all information related to the spread of the coronavirus.

Although the world is at a complete standstill, Financial markets still work despite the high volatility due to the pandemia and some banks now hope that they will close soon. Thanks to the Covid19 I keep informed about outbreak and I read some articles on Twitter or on BBC waves.

Although the Coronavirus shuts down the world, there are however some benefits. We have time to run and spend quality time. We can spend more time with family. We have time for different home activities such as cooking: 

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As a conclusion, I can say that my life has changed since I met my old friend. From now on I pay a great attention to the covid19. I am still a bit anxious but I stay positive in front of this global epidemic.