Quarantine diaries – the first three weeks

Week 1

“Everyone is overreacting… Sure, I will stay at home a few days until it all calms down.”

Important remarks: State of Emergency declared in Portugal.

Updates from the faculty: all state exams are postponed indefinitely.

Weather forecast: the sun is shinning outside. Warm days and cold nights.

Mood: in denial. Quite positive.

Heart rate and blood pressure: both within normal range.

Circadian rhythm: still intact (8 hours of sleep every night and waking up at around 10 a.m.)

Mental health: maintained.

Unrealistic expectations for the first week at home:

• Organising the bedroom closet
• Yoga classes in the morning
• High-intensity body training program
• Learning a new language online

Daily activities: sunbathing on the balcony for the entire day.

Skin care: none. Not a drop of sunscreen. Sunburned skin with weird-shaped tan lines.

Friendships: regular phone calls and text messages. Still making plans for next week.

Guilty pleasures: chinese dumplings and a Mcfish (UberEats).

Week 2

“Happy Covirthday to me…”

Important remarks:

• My first locked-in birthday
• Downloading Houseparty app on my iphone

Updates from the faculty: dead silence.

Weather forecast: grey skies with occasional annoying showers.

Mood: facing reality. Victimisation.

Heart rate and blood pressure: both insidiously dropping with sadness.

Circadian rhythm: staying up late every night. I blame Houseparty.

Mental health: imminent depression.

Unrealistic expectations for the second week at home:

• Organising my closet
• If not yoga…maybe zumba???
• At least a few squats so that my ass doesn’t look that bad in a bikini…
• Instead of learning a new language I will be ready for Internal Medicine exam by the end of the week!

Daily activities: sunbathing on the balcony when the sun comes out and spending the rest of the day in bed.

Skin care: none. Skin starts peeling off.

Friendships: tired of everyone I know. Furiously meeting random new people online.

Guilty pleasures: chinese dumplings (UberEats) and AfterEight mint chocolate.

Week 3

“I honestly don’t know which threat is more frightening… internet hackers or COVID-19”

Important remarks:

• Hacking threat to all Houseparty users
• Alarmingly uninstalling Houseparty app from my iphone after changing all my passwords and blocking all credit cards
• No more UberEats

Updates from the faculty: rumors say it might be possible to take final exams on skype. Dates and official information still missing.

Weather forecast: I see hot beach days from my locked window.

Mood: highly unstable. I go from generalised hate to loving my worst enemies in just a few seconds.

Heart rate and blood pressure: sweet occasional peaks of excitement, otherwise both low.

Circadian rhythm: all messed up. Inability to distinguish night and day.

Mental health: progressing to bipolar disorder. Euphoric peaks contradicting a baseline depression.

Unrealistic expectations for the third week at home:

• Organising the damn closet!
• Fuck yoga and zumba… Should I just watch interesting documentaries and talks in an attempt to cultivate my mind?
• 1 squat per day is more than enough (if I am lucky, quarantine is prolonged for the whole summer and my big fat ass doesn’t come to light this year)
• Keep studying Internal Medicine but at a more relaxed pace…. I have plenty of time, right?

Daily activities:

• Sunbathing on the balcony
• Studying a couple of Internal Medicine topics each day
• Walking to the river and being sent back home by the police

Skin care: none. The result is a weird mix of tanned skin, pale skin and stress-related acne.

Friendships: tired of everyone except a small group of old and new friends that have become my core people during quarantine. FaceTiming them every night even though we have nothing new to say to each other since we are all locked in.

Guilty pleasures: Drinking fresh orange juice as if it was water.