Item
Claire and AJ Oral History, 2021/09/18
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Claire and AJ Oral History, 2021/09/18
Description (Dublin Core)
Explains our experiences within the COVID-19 high school years, our two years of upperclassmen experience. It's important to us because it happened to us during the most formative years of our lives, and we're reflecting back on it.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
Audio Interview
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
Collection (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
09/18/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
09/29/2021
10/06/2021
05/09/2022
05/28/2022
07/13/2022
12/29/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
09/18/2021
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Claire
AJ
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Claire
AJ
Format (Dublin Core)
audio
Coverage (Dublin Core)
2020
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:06:51
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
Claire and AJ take turns interviewing each other. Both discuss their own risk factors or concerns about contracting COVID-19.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Claire 00:00
Hi, my name is Claire. I'm going to be interviewing AJ today. He's a first year business major at Northeastern University. We're taking the history of global pandemics class together. Do I have your consent to be recorded?
AJ 00:14
Yes.
Claire 00:15
And can you state the date and the time right now?
AJ 00:18
It is September 18, 3:25pm.
Claire 00:21
Thank you. Thanks. So my first question is, what was your biggest struggle in lockdown?
AJ 00:29
Well, I'm definitely an outdoorsy guy. So being cooped up in the house was definitely something new to me. Definitely some tension between the family like yeah, like we'd love each other and all but in a closed space for such a long time, we definitely had a lot of fights. But it definitely brought us closer together. So yeah, that's a good thing.
Claire 00:50
How would you say you overcame all of that, like, being used to going outside all the time? Was there anything that you found helpful?
AJ 00:59
We definitely tried. Even though we really couldn't. We did after tried to get out. We went for car rides, just like get out of the house, spend time with each other. did everything we could to make the best of a bad situation.
Claire 01:12
And would you say there's anything in the lockdown where you find is your silver lining?
AJ 01:18
Not having to go to school?
Claire 01:20
Yeah. Definitely less of a commitment.
AJ 01:23
Yeah. So I mean, I wake up five minutes before class. Go right back to sleep after class. So-
Claire 01:30
Yeah.
AJ 01:31
-not having to go to school was definitely, definitely something that was nice. And I was still able to see friends, which was good. So we would hang out and go to school from each other's houses. Which
Claire 01:41
Were you guys completely, like locked down like? Or was was it like a hybrid situation for school?
AJ 01:47
We were completely locked down. So everyone was doomed.
Claire 01:49
Where are you from by the way?
AJ 01:50
Connecticut.
Claire 01:51
Connecticut. Okay.
AJ 01:52
So yeah, we were completely zoomed. We would go to people's houses, and just-
Claire 01:57
Yeah, that's nice.
AJ 01:57
-we'd hang out with friends go to class together. So yeah.
Claire 02:03
How are you personally affected by the threat of the virus over locked down?
AJ 02:08
So [REDACTED], we got it pretty much at the beginning. Because me and [REDACTED], we both had hockey and we traveled so we ended up bringing it back to [REDACTED]. When we were all asymptomatic, except for [REDACTED]. The other thing that happened to her was she lost her taste smell. And [REDACTED] had like a slight cough for like, a day, but it was nothing serious. So after that, we kind of weren't as scared of it.
Claire 02:33
Right?
AJ 02:33
As we probably should have been. But yeah,
Claire 02:36
Yeah. So you were saying that like being infected already. You're kind of like I've faced the worst-
AJ 02:42
Yeah.
Claire 02:42
-there was nothing else that can happen to me.
AJ 02:44
Yeah. Actually, the symptoms were bad for us. So we viewed it as it's okay to like start trying to get out more-
Claire 02:51
Yeah.
AJ 02:51
-not be as locked out.
Claire 02:53
And did that affect your perspective on whether or not to get vaccinated or not?
AJ 02:58
Now, we still all just there because we also like with the whole quarantine thing. So now even if you're in contact, I think like you don't have the quarantine for as long and you've actually go to places and they show you're vaccinated. So it was definitely worth it. So we just saw still still got our vaccine.
Claire 03:16
So I know that a lot of people their mental health really suffered during the pandemic, has it impacted you in any way?
AJ 03:22
Not really, I'd say me and my family probably, it was just another thing that we've overcome together didn't really affect their health too much.
Claire 03:30
All right. Well, thank you for answering my questions.
AJ 03:33
Thank you for the interview. [Both laugh] Hi, my name is AJ. I'm going to be interviewing Claire. She's a first year health science major at Northeastern. And do I have your consent to interview?
Claire 03:47
Yeah of course.
AJ 03:47
And what's the date and time?
Claire 03:49
It is currently September 18, And it's 3:26pm.
AJ 03:53
Okay, so what about the lockdown with the COVID 19 pandemic affected you the most?
Claire 04:00
I would definitely say that a lot of people have had really negative experiences. But mine kind of differs from that. I was on the road to burning myself out in high school just doing way too much biting off more than I can chew. So being forced to just slow down and just stop everything was really good for me and my mental health kind of made me reconsider what I wanted to do in life where I wanted to go with my career path as well since I was going into like the college application process. And it really helped me appreciate like my circumstances in my family.
AJ 04:34
So saying, like you took a lot on and you actually enjoyed the pandemic just like get some space. How did it affect your social life?
Claire 04:44
Right. So at the time, I thought I had a lot of friends who ended up just, I would say, abandoned me during the pandemic, so it really helped me find out who in my circle was really there for me when I needed it. And also with family and things, most of my family's from China. So only my immediate family is here in the US with me. So it's really hard to see their situation back in China. Being that it was a little bit more difficult it was the virus wasn't really rampid over there at the time.
AJ 05:18
So having a family in China during this, which is obviously probably one of the worst areas-
Claire 05:23
Yeah, for sure.
AJ 05:24
-whole pandemic. How did it was it a big scare in your household here?
Claire 05:28
Yeah, it was actually a big scare, because both me and [REDACTED] kind of are under that gray area of like, being susceptible to autoimmune disease. So we're kind of like middle to high risk. So it's kind of scary for the both of us. But it was really interesting because we had different perspectives on how restrictive we wanted to be with going out and everything. I still wanted to go out and have a job earn my own money, whereas he thought it was in my best interest to just lay low for a while. And now looking back on it was kind of selfish of me. But yeah, it was just a tough time for us.
AJ 06:05
Yeah but, knowing you're susceptible, did you definitely like change things like your everyday life that kind of make a little more safer, like wash your hands more things like that?
Claire 06:14
Yeah, I definitely carry around like wet wipes with me now. And it feels a little bit weird to like be in a public space without a mask on it just feels unsafe. And I definitely realized that I'm more conscious of other people's like sick sounds and everything I noticed in a lecture, someone was literally coughing a lung up the other day, and it got me really scared. And a little bit of hypochondriac showing up because every symptom, quote unquote, that I have, I'm kind of paranoid about know.
AJ 06:46
Thank you for the interview.
Claire 06:47
Thank you for interviewing me.
Hi, my name is Claire. I'm going to be interviewing AJ today. He's a first year business major at Northeastern University. We're taking the history of global pandemics class together. Do I have your consent to be recorded?
AJ 00:14
Yes.
Claire 00:15
And can you state the date and the time right now?
AJ 00:18
It is September 18, 3:25pm.
Claire 00:21
Thank you. Thanks. So my first question is, what was your biggest struggle in lockdown?
AJ 00:29
Well, I'm definitely an outdoorsy guy. So being cooped up in the house was definitely something new to me. Definitely some tension between the family like yeah, like we'd love each other and all but in a closed space for such a long time, we definitely had a lot of fights. But it definitely brought us closer together. So yeah, that's a good thing.
Claire 00:50
How would you say you overcame all of that, like, being used to going outside all the time? Was there anything that you found helpful?
AJ 00:59
We definitely tried. Even though we really couldn't. We did after tried to get out. We went for car rides, just like get out of the house, spend time with each other. did everything we could to make the best of a bad situation.
Claire 01:12
And would you say there's anything in the lockdown where you find is your silver lining?
AJ 01:18
Not having to go to school?
Claire 01:20
Yeah. Definitely less of a commitment.
AJ 01:23
Yeah. So I mean, I wake up five minutes before class. Go right back to sleep after class. So-
Claire 01:30
Yeah.
AJ 01:31
-not having to go to school was definitely, definitely something that was nice. And I was still able to see friends, which was good. So we would hang out and go to school from each other's houses. Which
Claire 01:41
Were you guys completely, like locked down like? Or was was it like a hybrid situation for school?
AJ 01:47
We were completely locked down. So everyone was doomed.
Claire 01:49
Where are you from by the way?
AJ 01:50
Connecticut.
Claire 01:51
Connecticut. Okay.
AJ 01:52
So yeah, we were completely zoomed. We would go to people's houses, and just-
Claire 01:57
Yeah, that's nice.
AJ 01:57
-we'd hang out with friends go to class together. So yeah.
Claire 02:03
How are you personally affected by the threat of the virus over locked down?
AJ 02:08
So [REDACTED], we got it pretty much at the beginning. Because me and [REDACTED], we both had hockey and we traveled so we ended up bringing it back to [REDACTED]. When we were all asymptomatic, except for [REDACTED]. The other thing that happened to her was she lost her taste smell. And [REDACTED] had like a slight cough for like, a day, but it was nothing serious. So after that, we kind of weren't as scared of it.
Claire 02:33
Right?
AJ 02:33
As we probably should have been. But yeah,
Claire 02:36
Yeah. So you were saying that like being infected already. You're kind of like I've faced the worst-
AJ 02:42
Yeah.
Claire 02:42
-there was nothing else that can happen to me.
AJ 02:44
Yeah. Actually, the symptoms were bad for us. So we viewed it as it's okay to like start trying to get out more-
Claire 02:51
Yeah.
AJ 02:51
-not be as locked out.
Claire 02:53
And did that affect your perspective on whether or not to get vaccinated or not?
AJ 02:58
Now, we still all just there because we also like with the whole quarantine thing. So now even if you're in contact, I think like you don't have the quarantine for as long and you've actually go to places and they show you're vaccinated. So it was definitely worth it. So we just saw still still got our vaccine.
Claire 03:16
So I know that a lot of people their mental health really suffered during the pandemic, has it impacted you in any way?
AJ 03:22
Not really, I'd say me and my family probably, it was just another thing that we've overcome together didn't really affect their health too much.
Claire 03:30
All right. Well, thank you for answering my questions.
AJ 03:33
Thank you for the interview. [Both laugh] Hi, my name is AJ. I'm going to be interviewing Claire. She's a first year health science major at Northeastern. And do I have your consent to interview?
Claire 03:47
Yeah of course.
AJ 03:47
And what's the date and time?
Claire 03:49
It is currently September 18, And it's 3:26pm.
AJ 03:53
Okay, so what about the lockdown with the COVID 19 pandemic affected you the most?
Claire 04:00
I would definitely say that a lot of people have had really negative experiences. But mine kind of differs from that. I was on the road to burning myself out in high school just doing way too much biting off more than I can chew. So being forced to just slow down and just stop everything was really good for me and my mental health kind of made me reconsider what I wanted to do in life where I wanted to go with my career path as well since I was going into like the college application process. And it really helped me appreciate like my circumstances in my family.
AJ 04:34
So saying, like you took a lot on and you actually enjoyed the pandemic just like get some space. How did it affect your social life?
Claire 04:44
Right. So at the time, I thought I had a lot of friends who ended up just, I would say, abandoned me during the pandemic, so it really helped me find out who in my circle was really there for me when I needed it. And also with family and things, most of my family's from China. So only my immediate family is here in the US with me. So it's really hard to see their situation back in China. Being that it was a little bit more difficult it was the virus wasn't really rampid over there at the time.
AJ 05:18
So having a family in China during this, which is obviously probably one of the worst areas-
Claire 05:23
Yeah, for sure.
AJ 05:24
-whole pandemic. How did it was it a big scare in your household here?
Claire 05:28
Yeah, it was actually a big scare, because both me and [REDACTED] kind of are under that gray area of like, being susceptible to autoimmune disease. So we're kind of like middle to high risk. So it's kind of scary for the both of us. But it was really interesting because we had different perspectives on how restrictive we wanted to be with going out and everything. I still wanted to go out and have a job earn my own money, whereas he thought it was in my best interest to just lay low for a while. And now looking back on it was kind of selfish of me. But yeah, it was just a tough time for us.
AJ 06:05
Yeah but, knowing you're susceptible, did you definitely like change things like your everyday life that kind of make a little more safer, like wash your hands more things like that?
Claire 06:14
Yeah, I definitely carry around like wet wipes with me now. And it feels a little bit weird to like be in a public space without a mask on it just feels unsafe. And I definitely realized that I'm more conscious of other people's like sick sounds and everything I noticed in a lecture, someone was literally coughing a lung up the other day, and it got me really scared. And a little bit of hypochondriac showing up because every symptom, quote unquote, that I have, I'm kind of paranoid about know.
AJ 06:46
Thank you for the interview.
Claire 06:47
Thank you for interviewing me.
Item sets
This item was submitted on September 18, 2021 by Claire using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: http://mail.covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.