Hello, I would like to start this assignment by introducing myself. My name is Raihana Mahira, I’m a senior at the Gunadarma University. My Purpose for writing this assignment during this global pandemic is to provide a personal perspective of my experience throughout this historical event.
To
begin, the first time I heard about the COVID-19 virus was towards the end of January
2020, I didn’t care that much about it because I thought it was going to be a similar situation like Ebola and H5N1, where you had government officials making
statements about the threat of this virus but nothing drastically changed asides
from the learning to wear a mask when meeting others. Most of the news coverage was
focused on the impact the virus had on the city of Wuhan, China. News about the
quickness of the spread of the virus in Depok, Indonesia began to circulate on Indonesian
news shows. And then mid-March came, and it completely changed the way things
used to be, to say the least. During the second week of March, UG announced the
transition from in-person classes to online classes, this transition took place
during week 2 of the UG academic calendar year. However, at the time I guess
there was this sentiment that things would go back to normal in a short manner
by the things that were being said at the time. March 14 was the date UG made
the official announcement. However, the sequence of events that took place in
the following days after this announcement completely changed the landscape of
the world around me as I once knew it.
At the time, I was studying and preparing for my third-year research. I guess the
two words that best describe how I felt during this moment were uncertainty and
panic. Uncertainty because I didn’t know what to expect from this whole
situation and panic cause I’m an assistant laboratory have a deadline to change
offline system to online system in 3 days together with another assistant. But now
it’s done and I start getting used to it.
On
March 15 Mayor Depok of West Java Mohammad Idris announced the implementation
of the “Dirumah Saja” order. I have to be honest; I was petrified to go outside
for the next two weeks. I tried to learn more about the virus and how to not be
exposed to them, but I am very annoyed when many people in Indonesia underestimate
Covid-19 and think the virus does not exist.
By the middle of August, I had
completely adapted to our new living conditions. The word "Social
distance" has been ingrained in every member of our society at this point.
In all honesty, I think it would be okay with me if we kept some of the social
distancing rules. I understand that everyone wants things to go back to normal,
but I'm okay with sacrificing our liberties for the benefit of our society.
At this particular moment, I think situations like the one we are living in bring out
the worst and the best of human interactions. As someone who has lived in Depok,
Indonesia for the majority of my life, I loved the less traffic the city
experienced which caused less pollution in the air quality. I believe nature
has benefited from a decline in actions that hurt our environment. This
experience has also taught me to enjoy the little thing in life that we take
for granted. I learned that adapting is the best form of survival, I cannot
predict the future but I’m certain whatever it would be, I would do my
best to enjoy every single minute of it. I am a strong believer the human
spirit is capable of creating positive change and I’m sure we will overcome
this situation.
- How is your feeling about switching from attending traditional class into online study at home?
In the first two weeks,
I'm not really happy about switching from attending traditional classes to
online study at home cause my lecturer just gave us material or quiz without
explanation, but since that we suggestion class on google meet I’m really happy
cause I can ask my lecturer like real life and I’m happy cause, I don't have to wake up
really early and get ready for the campus. and I'm really grateful for the
campus staff to handle everything quickly when I have a problem or everything
related to campus I don't have to go to campus cause everything goes online.
- How do you deal with the difficulty in learning at home?
when I'm getting difficulty in learning
at home thankfully I have support system which is my family and my friends that
help me to solve my problem and gave me the advice to deal with difficulty in
learning at home.
- Do you have any idea to make learning at home a lot of fun and make it easier to learn?
during online class in google meet,
I can make a note in Microsoft OneNote, and it was fun cause I don't need paper
and colored markers (good for environmentally) because there is a tool in
Microsoft OneNote which is can screen capture, so I do not have to rewrite
slide and they have markers too so can make a point if it's important. This is
effective, I can focus to hear my lecturer's presentation without distraction
to write notes.
Reference: https://history.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/wt/kevin_aleman.pdf
