The QuaranTEENS

Yes, we’re already done with quarantine, for now. However, many measures remain the same, and do not intend to change at this time. Until when will the mask be mandatory? What about borders? And the classes?
For the moment, and in the month until the start of the school year, nothing will return to “normality”, and perhaps it never will return.
In fact, several of these measures settle for certain people or companies. For example, stores that sell the masks at an exorbitant price, or more expensive telephone plans but which allow to make fluid video calls. Many are trying to take advantage of the situation.

And the list goes on, some markets selling antibacterial gels per liter, expensive tests, disinfectants that sell much more expensive because they “eradicate” the virus, etc.

But it’s not just the stores that are taking advantage of the situation. I have come across many more police officers than usual, who watch every action of people. I don’t want to attack the government, but I find it scandalous that the police jump on people, at the slightest error, like raptors, in order to steal their 135 euros.

in the busier streets, I met a ton of police at each street crossing, who fined cyclists, drivers, and others who did not respect the law. I mean, that’s their role, but especially I see too many people taking fines for things that, before the forties, we did without fear.

In short, today, the problem is no longer based on the virus, but on the actions that the government, businesses, and the rest of the world are taking in response to this situation, and it is not surprising that people are trying to take advantage of the situation.

I recently heard that, after the “déconfinement”, a large part of the population ran towards two things: Zara and MacDonalds. I mean, seriously?

I crossed groups of dozens of people to meet this Monday in open spaces, I understand that people are in a hurry to meet again after two long months, but I am afraid that the quarantine was not enough to do that. So, we will know the results in a week (average time of onset of symptoms), I hope the curve goes down, but seeing so carefree, I’m really not sure that we will quickly end up with this virus issue.

The “déconfinement” did not impress me very much, most of the places are still closed, and even if I am able to go out more freely, I feel that the atmosphere is not really “deconfined”, but I think that it arranges things , as with the Cold War, it’s by being afraid that we can prepare for the worst, even if it’s surely not the best solution.

I believe that many people really do not understand what the virus is, there are many who worry too much, and others who don’t care at all.

The only way to overcome a virus, from what I understood from my biology lessons, is to catch it and wait for the immune system to get rid of it. Whether catching it or getting vaccinated, the process is the same. We mostly confine ourselves so that hospitals are not overcrowded, but it is not a matter of life and death for most people either. A flu does much more damage and we don’t even talk about it! Knowing this should be imperative for everyone on the planet.

But hey, I prefer that people are too afraid rather than they underestimate the virus too much. Finally, all of this was to say that the population is not interested enough in the current situation and just suffers the consequences.

Well, we’ll see the evolution of the pandemic in the coming weeks, we will see in my next post if I got it right or if I was too pessimistic.

Yesterday, during my daily walk, I noticed the large number of people on the street, there were as many (or more) people as when we were not in quarantine. Today, the government is speaking, and unfortunately, I expect an extension.

Before being locked on, I used to think of all the things I could do in a month if I didn’t have classes, but I didn’t expect “these” months, which make us less and less productive. I’ve never lost so much time, but at the same time we don’t have much choice, I wonder how prisoners should feel, who are locked up for months or even years. I feel that when “déconfinement”-day will come, we’ll all be zombies, we’ll be Homer Simpson’s, we’ll work less efficiently because we will be used to working less, and this ‘sloth society’ scares me more than the virus.

We can still say that confinement has helped people who are not often at home, to find themselves, to discover what they like or not, what they want/need and what they don’t. Many people discover passions, music, cooking, art.

On the other hand, living in tense periods, locked up with other people, causes a lot of disagreement; here, 1 in 10 couples will distance themselves after confinement, many doctors, and other medical workers, are about to be expelled from their homes because of the fear of neighbors. Some restaurants open with restrictions that seem absurd, society changes, and in the wrong direction.

It’s nobody’s fault, but at the same time, i think there are better ways to act in the face of such a health crisis. Even if the virus disappears, these actions will remain in people’s mind, it’ll be a real crisis, not sanitary, but mental, of society, and it is not the best time for that, it never is.

Good evening, here I am, again.

It seems that the president read my last post because the Bac exams are, finally, officially canceled. However, I do not agree with the “contrôle continu”. Even if we are not sure of going back in June, if we are “bombarded” by checks, canceling the Bac will have been useless. I am glad that the teachers continue to give notes, even during the quarantine, they allow me to know where I am in my studies, and inform other people which are their issues, but I think that it would be better to make catch-up sessions instead of the controls that await us. Personally I don’t mind but I know there are a lot of people with learning difficulties (go check my last post if u wanna know more about my opinion).

Apart from that, I’m finally able to work, i can say that I missed my 2 weeks of vacation because I was sick from the first to the last day, but hey, it’s not like I could have done many things during this unpleasant confinement. Last week, the weather was wonderful to go out, but now with the rain, this quarantine is really depressing.

However, this large amount of time wasted allowed me to discover activities that I didn’t know I would really enjoy: cooking. It is true that when you do more than pasta, all meals seem so complicated, but in reality it’s not. I made a kind of Top Chef solo version, and frankly, I like that, Couscous, Lasagne, Chicken Curry, stuffed tomatoes, nothing escapes my hand (as long as there is a tutorial on the internet). Maybe I’ll give up the idea of going to Polytechnique to become a kitchen engineer, or something like that.

Well, see you next week. (I have no idea how to end this xD)

We still have a month to go back to our usual days, but will everything be the same as before? (Spoiler alert: no)

Today I’m going to talk about the repercussions of the “confinement” due to COVID-19 disease, that we’ll normally get next month, specifically in the topic of ​​studies, because this is the area we are the most concerned.

(I wanted to talk about political affairs at this moment in the world, but I didn’t want to be captured by the Chinese government)

We know very well that the 15 million students (schools, colleges, high schools, higher education) will not progress at the same pace, it depends on the nature of work of oneself: there are some who cannot work at home and are used to going to libraries (for the concentration, atmosphere, etc.), others cannot work without the presence of a teacher, while others are “favored” by the habit of working in home. On the other hand, this disease is real ! There are many students (myself included) who are affected by the disease and can no longer work effectively, this can go from simple fatigue to a real weight to carry (in my case I’m always sleepy and basically I can’t work on scientific subjects), not to mention the most dramatic cases (many people who lose their relatives end up upset). However, I think that the online classes system puts in disadvantage mostly the families at the bottom of the pyramid (having economic issues) and the large families: Let’s take an hypothetical case where there is only one computer in a house when there are 5 children who are supposed to be logged in regularly on the school’s website, and even write homework written on the machine,how can they manage to work properly in these conditions? The lack of lessons in a real physical class will further deepen the students studying differences. There will be many late, and many in advance, but unfortunately the day of the return we’ll all be “in the same bathtub”, and those who have been too late will have less than 2 months to catch up with the others, without forgetting the big amount of tests we will have at the back to school.

That’s why I, by the way, am of opinion that the Bac should be done in continuous control, and not in a fixed test, because there would be too many inequalities. Let’s take a simple example: The subject of the “Bac de philo” is entitled “Happiness”. Class A broached this topic at the beginning of the year so they haven’t got too many problems during the control, but class B approached it during time of “confinement”, so generally the chapter was more complicated to understand, and more precisely, let’s take the case of a student X, to whom his computer broke down and cannot read his texts of philosophy on a small screen of telephone. The result is very obvious to understand. Even if we say that the correctors will be more “lenient” when they will note the test, they will be lenient with every student so there will be not really any rebalancing. This is the problem in this year’s bac exams, and there is nothing we can do to make it more balanced unless, I think, we do it in continuous assessment.

Well, I hope the government will find a better solution to this issue.

Grazie e arrivederci.