Day Four: This Quarantine Needs to End

Day Four – March 30, 2020
Global cases: 779,596; Deaths: 37,538
Egypt cases: 656; Deaths: 41

I Need Some Sun
Marwa Mustafa
Psychology and Music junior

I just woke up at 2:40pm.

Ahead: Zoom course meetings in bed, in my pajamas, with the WhatsApp desktop working in the background.

Nearly two hours later, and we’re still at it. When will it end?

If I mute my mic and have lunch, will anyone notice? This is killing me, I’m always sleepy and I miss being outside.

4:48pm: Hmm, time to nap till God knows when. I’d say 9pm sounds fine.

Twelve minutes later, and I am still awake. It’s either I’m sleeping too much, or not sleeping at all.

But, on a different note, the best thing about this quarantine thing, that around 6pm, the streets are so quiet and empty. I live in front of the Maadi Metro station, so this certainly is a welcomed change.

Right now, you can still hear the honking of cars outside, but it’s peaceful bliss after 6pm. Something I wait for every single night. It’s just better this way.

I am going to go to sleep now. I am tired. This quarantine thing is getting to my sleep schedule, or lack thereof at this point. I stay up all night, and sleep at 10 am. If I have a class at 10, I just wait it out and then sleep after.

This quarantine thing needs to end. I need some oxygen that isn’t coming from my room. 

I need some sun; I feel like my skin needs some sun.

10:30pm: I just woke up again, and it’s dark. What the actual hell? Well, here goes my attempt at fixing my sleep schedule.

But panic quickly sets in when I remember I should be doing my assignment due at midnight. Yippie! This workload is killing me. I wish I was back to normal university dynamics. 

I need a drink or 7.

The assignment’s done. The sun is coming up and I begin to fall asleep.

Losing Track of My Days
Ahmed Mustafa
Construction Engineering junior

I go to bed at 4am and wake up nine hours later. First thing I do is scroll through my phone for a bit. An endless pit of social media posts, that suck you in more and more every time. 

Two hours later, I made and ate breakfast, I made some eggs and foul. 

After breakfast, I find something to do. If not assignments, I chill with my family, play video games or call my girlfriend.

My assignments are piling up and they’re killing me. The lack of schedule is driving me insane. 

6:00 pm: My family always calls for lunch, we eat together, which is rare. I chill with them till I get bored or tired of their existence. 

It’s five hours later and I’ve secluded myself again playing video games or talking to my girlfriend till 4am.

This quarantine is putting me under a lot of pressure, I want to go out, see my girlfriends but I’m not allowed to. Sunday becomes Monday, Monday becomes Tuesday, I am losing track of my days. I’m bored to death, but I can’t do anything about it.

 

Not Getting Hit on in the Street is Great
Reem Aly
Political Science and Law junior

I woke up around 2pm today, something that is odd to me, considering that I am an early riser. Or in better terms, I am forced to be an early riser because I wake up for university classes early every day.

I make myself a cup of coffee to begin tolerating human interaction.

Around 3pm, I go for a walk in a weirdly empty neighborhood. I live in Maadi, very close to Road 9, and this is odd yet satisfying. I say hi to the dog that lives across the street from me; I love her to death.

At 4pm, my uncle invites me and mom over for dinner, or lunch in proper terms. We hang out till around 6, and we go home before the time of the curfew.

A 7pm curfew for a city like Cairo is way too early because this city is just too big and populated to get anything done quickly. Secondly, closing cafes and restaurants completely has made me really sad because there’s really nothing to do and it robs people of their livelihoods.

I do appreciate the option of walking down the street and not getting hit on at all. I know this is a public space, and it doesn’t belong to me alone but It’s a nice feeling.

Around 7, I sit and watch Netflix with my mom.

9pm: I get some work done and text my boyfriend. I do miss him a lot, since it’s hard for us to meet up these days.

This situation with the COVID-19 is putting a lot of strain on my family. My father lives in the US and wants us to come back home so he can make sure we’re safe. He’s a doctor and I worry about him a lot. I would rather be there, than here in Cairo. Problem is, AUC may open its doors again on April 16, and this vagueness with the decisions is keeping me here. I can’t travel when I’m not sure I can make it back here in April.

Around midnight, I go to sleep.

مذكرات العزل: اليوم الثالث علينا ان ننتصر
Day Two: Of Loneliness and Silent Prayers
Day One: Documenting AUC Life Under Confinement