The QuaranTEENS

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.

After two weeks of confinement, I still have the impression that some people in my neighborhood still do not understand the measure taken by the government (the famous skater kid is now gone). For my part, I see that my sleep schedule is totally messed up, as confirmed by these random naps from 9 PM to 11 PM.

To go back to more important topics, I’m disappointed that the Minister of National Education is so vague on the subject of the bac and gives such really useless informations. We should have a decision by the end of the week.

I’m also amazed to see that fake news still affects so many people. We are used to it, we see millions of them a day but many people (on Twitter for example) continue to believe it (drinking hand sanitizer to kill the virus, guys?) That’s all for this second article, see you next week!

Sources: https://me.me/i/hows-your-sleeping-schedule-1808581 / https://thumbs.gfycat.com/EmotionalMinorEyra-size_restricted.gif

Hello everybody. I hope you are fine.

It has been already two weeks that the confinement started. Sometimes I feel like time is going really slowly but I’m finally getting used to it. So, this week was more productive than the 1^st week because we had a lot of work to do and sent it to our professors. We had also our first audio-class , it was  it was a little weird for me because I was home and I heard the voice of our math teacher and my classmates, also I was happy to find my friends, we were face-time during the lesson, I had the impression of going back to class. It still made me feel like I miss them (more than I thought) even if we talk every day😭😥. It put me in a little depression. Oh, if we could teleport to our friends like Doctor Strange or go so fast like Flash, so as not to pay the fine of 135 euros😂😂😂.

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One evening when I was bored, I came across a quiz: What confinement you are? So you can see my result.

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I’m really disappointed with my result, it’s really wrong. I am not as depressed and anxtious, I am the only person in the family who does not panic. I just want to see my friends again and see my dear cousins with whom I spend a lot of time (Sasha and Ivan, I will take my revenge when the confinement will be finished😈😈😈. I will never forget my mono-eyebrow that you designed when I slept the last time).

It’s all.

Have a nice day.

PS: I’m still at war with my neighbour from below, now he’s singing his 70s songs at 5 a.m🤬🤬🤬. The whole building can hear it.

More than a week that we are all confined to our home now. My feelings about this situation: what’s happening is worrying and we must take it seriously but honestly, I live it well, my life is not upset, except that I can’t go out anymore (pretty obvious I know), I am only worried when my mother goes out to do food shopping (according to her I am not «strong» enough to do it…) and for the Bac, otherwise everything is fine. In terms of the changes that I’ve seen , my screen time has tripled, I don’t have the same rhythm as before ( I get up at 3 p.m. and go to bed around 4/5 a.m, not every day of course), I have now a lot of time to play piano, play sports even if my equipment is not incredible but above all I can finally finish my series. Despite this I’m informing myself, I have the annoying habit of looking at the number of deaths and cases related to the coronavirus on Twitter. At the beginning of contaiment (and even now) I felt like everyone didn’t care about the danger, they do what they want but it’s sad for the doctors who tell us to stay at home, it is just selfish to endanger the lives of others… 2020 is crazy and the year has just started. I hope that everything will be back to normal and that we can meet again in class.

This week, as the others, I stayed at home with my parents. I think that this period allows us to be more complicit. Indeed, we do sport, we cook together… However, I also understand that a lot of people don’t respect the containment: they go outside all the time and  that will only extend this period since there will be more contaminated cases.  

But to be honest, spending this time at home is difficult. Even if I do sports and do some activities, I know I can’t go oustide where I want nor when I want. Therefore, we have less freedom and that is the hardest part.

So, I will give you some tips to help you during your quarantine :

• Have toilet paper ( very hard to find right now)  

• Take some Vitamin D to strengthen your immune system (Beatriz mom’s advice) 

• Watch movies and series  

• Have hair and show the world your creativity 

I hope I helped you 🙂 See you next week !

Not having been out since the beginning of the quarantine, I realize how lucky we were to be free, that’s what I miss the most, my freedom. In spite of our duties, we have a lot of rights, and one of it, the most valuable in my opinion, is our freedom, the freedom of movement.

I really feel like a caged animal. Like everybody, I’d say that I miss my friends, I miss going out and having fun. Nevertheless, what I miss the most is doing usual things. I didn’t think that I would miss it, going out to buy baguette, taking the bus, seeing the Eiffel tower every morning when I take the metro in order to go to school. But I think, that’s the lack of social interaction, which is vital for us as human being, that we miss the most. It’s vital, not seeing anybody for weeks, not talking to anyone, it can drives us crazy.

Indeed, the lack of freedom and social interaction can be dangerous. It leads us to feel useless and that’s the most frustrating for me. We can’t really contribute to anything. I know that staying at home can save lives, but I need to feel useful as an active person in my case. So, to fill this lack of objectives, I advise you to set yourself goals, something to achieve. For instance, if you are a book reader, think of a number of books you could read in a short time, if you are a musician , think of a song you’ll learn until the end of the quarantine. You’ll feel more useful, and you’ll really have this feeling that you are doing something during this dark period.

I’m hopeful about the future, I’m pretty sure that when it’s over, we will see all the good points. The governments will invest more money in our healthcare systems. Everybody is going to realize how lucky and important is our freedom. Jacques Bainville once said ” C’est quand les hommes commencent à se sentir sûrs du lendemain que la liberté commence aussi à avoir du prix pour eux“.

Alexandre Mansour

1- Know how to get information on official websites to learn more about the virus or containment for the good of all. (https://www.gouvernement.fr/info-coronavirus)

2- Keep in touch with your family and friends (by internet of course), and respect the limit of the number of people for the sake of your mental health.

3- Go shopping by buying the essentials and have the certificate for the good of your bank account.

4-Put a padlock on your cupboard so that you don’t eat every 5 minutes for the sake of your physical health and try to do sports (yes, sports, you read that right).

5- Try to respect the usual working hours for the sake of your intelligence.

If you respect all these instructions you will be able to live quietly your confinement. Good confinement to all!

Sean lives alone in a very isolated part of Northern Ireland. He lost his wife 4 years ago. Here is a letter found in a thick book.

“I don’t really know what to say…Actually, I don’t have much time. I just have been procrastinating all week…and last week too by the way… so right now I have a lot of work to do, I really hoped I could finish all the work I have for this week to catch up a little but… I’m up since 8 a.m. and have already seen the Sun rise high up, and he’s already gone.

I am starting to wonder why I’m writing this, it seems so pathetic, but it’s been almost three months since we’re in lockdown. If you haven’t heard of the “Crownvirus” as I call it (or Coronavirus as sociable people say), even if you were born (or will be born) in 2050, you literally live under a rock. Even I live right behind a hill, no one can see where I live but I still manage to get the newspaper. I don’t know why I even bought this small sheet of paper. I guess I was just worried of having no one to talk to.
I haven’t been out for 3 weeks already but I do have what I need to live. I am worried about my son and his wife, they haven’t been calling for a month… They must have forgotten about me, but I prefer to think that they did, rather than thinking they caught it. In 64 years of career, I’ve never stopped working, I’ve always been really invested in what I do. But I just can’t do it anymore, I am getting a bit tired… It might be, being a civil engineer, because I was always out to see how the foundations and orientation of the buildings I designed were respected.

I’ve been listening to a lot of classical music lately. As I lost the ability to speak when I was 20 years old and music was the only thing I wanted to communicate with when I was with my wife. For now, my love is resting elsewhere, I hope to see her smile again soon enough. I used to talk to her through the beats and rithms of music. She used to answer with a waltz in the garden, it would always make me feel lighter than the thin breeze that went through her hair. I can still smell the sweet almond lotion she always used.

As I said, I don’t have much time, to join my wife.”

Had the man been “crowned”?

A couple of hours later, Sean would finally talk…to a dusty and fragile chair:

I’m sorry, if only I had called you once…

Tell Mum I love her.

Love you Dad.

Brahms

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.

The Coronavirus has grown significantly from it start. It’s been nine days that people are locked down in their houses for at least five weeks, I’m in my apartment with my parents, my sister isn’t with us she is with a friend out of Paris and I think it’s for the better. In the city, streets are empty and everything is quiet I’ve never seen Paris like that. I spend my day in my room working for school and scrawling on social media for news and the daily life of my friends but all I see is people being outside videotaping it and posting it on their account to show others how being outside is cool but it’s only dangerous and irresponsible. But I’m not going to be the one that says that coronavirus is only something that make dead people because it’s not true this is what the media want us to know, they don’t show enough how people are recovering from this disease even the oldest one. Anyway, life is boring when you stay at home all day long four weeks left ,this is gonna be really hard.