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CAMERON: Today in my conversation with a freshman student at CU Boulder, we're going to cover the ways the pandemic has affected them and different ways they've tried to reduce their screen time because of the increased use online schooling has caused, and then they're going to share an anecdote about what they feel sums up their COVID experience,

CAMERON: Thanks for speaking with me today! So first, if you just want to introduce yourself um you can just let us know what your major is, what year you are, anything that you feel comfortable sharing.

STUDENT: Um I'm a Freshman, I'm 18, and I'm an international affairs major with a philosophy minor.

CAMERON: Okay cool, so first did you have any way particularly that you spent your free time last year that you do not spend it this year, or how has your free time changed?

STUDENT: Um last year I spent a lot more time going out and doing things with friends, like going to the movies and such, plus I also had a lot of extracurricular activities that I cannot do anymore.

CAMERON: In your school experience, so if you want to maybe describe like a normal school day last year versus I know this is your first year in college but maybe how um you maybe expected your first year in college to go, but here's how it's actually going.

STUDENT: Um well last year I was in high school so I was in school for seven hours a day, in one building um. But it was all in person and like face to face with people and now it is well, it's online which started partway through my senior year, but it's fully online and very different than what I was expecting because I was expecting, you know...football games, big lecture halls, and stuff like that. 

CAMERON: So how has um this online schooling this year having basically all of your classes online, or how exactly is it? 

STUDENT: All of my classes are online last semester, I had two uh classes that were supposed to be in person but then partway through the semester went fully online.

CAMERON: Yeah, and do you feel how has this affected your mental health, physical health, or even like um your grades if you feel comfortable sharing that?

STUDENT: Um, both my mental and physical health have kind of tanked.

CAMERON: Yeah.

STUDENT: You know, kind of hit rock bottom. My grades are doing fine, I am at a solid 3.0, um so I'm doing okay in my classes.

CAMERON: And how do you feel you've been most affected by the pandemic? 

STUDENT: Um, well I'm usually a very social person and I like going out and spending time with a lot of people, which has been very difficult because you kind of aren't supposed to do that with the pandemic. So that's what's been most difficult for me. 

CAMERON: Is there anything that came out of the pandemic that you would not have expected? Like did you pick up any new hobbies or anything like?

STUDENT: Um, well I've... I've made a lot more friends especially at college which is something I wasn't expecting because I was expecting it to be a lot harder for me to make friends at college especially with the pandemic and not being able to see people face to face, so I'm happy that I was able to make new friends.

CAMERON: With all of the changes that you've been forced to endure, have you um done any...have you picked up any coping methods or anything to help you work through them?

STUDENT: I meditate...

CAMERON: Oh, really? That's really cool! 

STUDENT: Yeah I do, I meditate quite a bit um usually at least once a day I try for five to fifteen minutes and focus specifically on breathing which helps a lot with stress.

CAMERON: Okay, awesome! And then have you reduced your have you tried to reduce your screen time in any way or have you really only seen it go...go up based on...

STUDENT: Naw it's just gone off. It skyrocketed. 

CAMERON: Yeah no, because I know um sometimes I'll try to not use my computer after eight hours of being on my computer for class, and then I use it anyway so...

STUDENT: Yeah.

CAMERON: I'm glad to hear that's a common experience; I'm not alone there. Is there any particular anecdotes or anything that really will...any...any story or any day that you kind of went through that really was like... hit hard like "Wow, I'm in a pandemic.” like, you know “This is the new normal?"

STUDENT: Um, I think it's...it's actually been pretty recently, because I usually don't watch a lot of TV, and I've started watching a lot more TV shows recently that aren't like animated or cartoons or anything. Um, and it's been really weird because i always get super uncomfortable as watching these shows actually now, because they're people and they're going out, going to school, going out in public, going to hospitals, and they're not wearing masks, and I get like physically uncomfortable with it.

CAMERON: You mentioned that your screen time has gone up, have you tried to reduce it at all and looked into it?

STUDENT: So I haven't really tried reducing it, but I meant I got a monitor, which is um a bigger screen so it reduces eye strain.

CAMERON: Oh, that's really cool! That's really smart! And then the last thing I wanted to ask is that anything you're looking forward to when your school experience maybe mirrors that of a more normal quote-unquote experience? 

STUDENT: I want to...I just want to meet more people. 

CAMERON: Yeah.

STUDENT: Because I...most of my friends are people specifically in my dorm room, or my dorm hall. and I want to meet people outside of my dorm following people outside of my major.

CAMERON: I totally understand. Well, thank you so much for talking with me today, and I hope that um your dream comes true when uh the pandemic ends.