WEBVTT - Sandy's Pandemic Diaries 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:04.080 This is Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:09.360 Kurturre Latino USCA Latino Latino USA. I'm Maria Inojosa. We 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:12.800 bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to. 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:14.880 You, overlooked by the wrestler media. 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:16.760 And while the country is struggling to deal with these, 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.520 we listen to the stories of Black and Latino Studios 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:21.320 United Latino Front. 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.280 A cultural renaissance. 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:27.520 Organizing at the forefront of the movement. I'm Maria Inojosa, 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:34.120 nose Bayan, Hey, Latino USA listener, Here's a show from 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:35.120 our archives. 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:40.040 April first, twenty twenty one. I graduate in one month, 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.120 just one. It feels like, no matter how much I 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:45.320 say it, it's just not going to feel real until 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.000 it's time. I think I'm just at a point where 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.320 I'm just trying to figure out how I feel about everything. 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.760 I just need something now. I need it, I want it, 0:00:55.440 --> 0:01:02.360 but most importantly, I think I'm ready for it. 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.920 From Putromedia and PRX, It's Latino USA by Marieo Horosa. Today, 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.280 one student shares her story of lass and growth after 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:19.959 the pandemic her senior year of college upside down. Sandy 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:24.479 fleurimond A first generation Haitian American student at Temple University 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:28.520 in Philadelphia, was really looking forward to her senior year 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:35.880 of college. She had dreams of studying abroad, and she 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.160 had a vision of seeing herself graduating on a field 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:43.920 full of friends and family. But being a college student 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.280 in twenty twenty meant that a lot of these long 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:54.120 awaited milestones didn't go according to plan. In collaboration with 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:59.400 Philly Audiodiaries, an organization that trains young people in Philadelphia 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:03.280 to tell their own stories, Sandy takes a look back 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.160 on the things the pandemic took away from her in 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:10.000 such a pivotal year, but also the things that she 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.959 learned about herself, leading her to forge her own path 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:19.279 in a moment of a lot of uncertainty. Here's Sandy Plurimond. 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.760 I've always wanted to do something big for myself. Run 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.799 a marathon, write a book, go bungee jumping. However, as 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.520 a first generation kid to Haitian immigrants in New York City, 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.640 for a long time, doing something big just meant graduating 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.240 from college. It was everything my parents talked about. All 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.000 the struggles of attempting to achieve the American dream were 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:44.840 worth it. Once they got to see both of their 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.799 kids with degrees in hand. In twenty seventeen, I moved 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:53.440 to Philadelphia to study at Temple University. Definitely, the first 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:58.520 night and my dorm was really eye opening. I remember 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:05.440 just staying up for almost three hours, just crying and 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:10.440 feeling really overwhelmed with just like the emotion that I 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.600 was in a new place and I would never live 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:17.200 at home with my parents again. But I was really 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.880 excited too. Although I was by myself, my mom still 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.160 called me every single morning for the four years of 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:32.800 my undergrad him, Mamma, Hi, sorry I missed your call. Mama, 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:39.600 I'm good, I'm good. They were never long conversations, usually 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.000 no more than five minutes, and they were always about 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.760 the same thing. Had I eaten yet? What did I 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.360 eat last night? When's the next time I'm coming home? 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:50.720 Every day those three questions in some sort of rotation. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.920 My mom's worked in the kitchen at an Italian restaurant 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.680 for the past twenty nine years, so eating has always 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:59.200 been one of the most important things for her. On 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.240 the phone, we talk about a childhood memory or something 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.520 funny that happened to either of us the day before, 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.200 or maybe even some drama going on at her job, 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.240 but nothing more than that. My love life, my anxieties, 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.480 everything else outside of those things didn't exist in those 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:20.080 conversations with my mom. Something that I didn't mention in 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.400 these phone calls with my mom was that I had 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.599 decided to switch my major from journalism to media studies 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:30.719 in the spring of freshman year. I think, honestly, it 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.360 wasn't ever a sit down conversation where my parents were like, 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.440 you're going to college and this is what you're going 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.839 to study. But it was a lot of conversations and 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.919 passing that were like sharing with me that someone in 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.359 their family, their kids that were around my age, decided 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.359 to go to law school or decided to go to 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.440 med school, and so it was just like very much 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.240 understood that that is what they would have wanted me 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:00.120 to do. So I was always under the impression and 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:02.960 that like, if I wasn't going to do that, I 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.400 had to do something that I really really enjoyed doing, 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.600 and so that's definitely why I went with media studies. 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.720 The first hands on media class I ever took was 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.880 radio and podcast production. I interviewed my mom for one 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.760 of the projects, talking to her about the stigmatization of 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.680 menstruation that both she and I had grown up with. 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:27.000 Mom, how did you learn about periods? Who told you 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:27.480 about it? 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:28.480 Nobody? 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.880 Nobody told you about it? So how do you know? 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:43.640 Baisad six the eye? 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.479 My mom gave me the answer I expected her to 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.880 give me. No one told her about periods because everything 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.599 from sex to basic anatomy were kept absolutely hush hush 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.240 and haiti. Talking with her made me realize that there 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.160 was a large culture gap between the two of us. 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.520 During the course, my professor, Ann Hoffman let me know 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:04.160 that she believed I'd be a good addition to her program, 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.520 Philly Audio Diaries. It was a program that taught young 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.360 people from alternative high schools how to tell their stories 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.440 for broadcast, and asking me to work for her help 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.120 me realize that this was something much bigger than a class. 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:23.880 Declaring a media studies major was one of the first 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.560 big decisions I took for myself, and in the fall 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.000 of twenty nineteen, when I was a junior in college, 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:30.960 I was ready to take another big decision. 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:32.880 I wanted to study abroad. 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:36.880 It was definitely something I always wanted to do, but 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.559 I think one of the things that made it seem 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:41.239 so far. 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:45.600 Out of reach. Was well with my whole college process. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.440 I did it pretty much all on my own, like 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:53.480 applying to colleges and applying to financial aid and finding 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.440 out programs and stuff to do. I couldn't really get 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.240 help from my parents for that because they'd never done 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:03.200 it themselves, so it was up to me to figure 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:07.000 everything out and answer my own questions. Getting into college 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:10.680 had already been such a triumph for me because I 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.640 knew that I did it myself, that study abroad seemed 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:20.200 like a leap into like a much bigger pool. Studying 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.240 abroad had always just been a tiny dream in the 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.440 back of my mind, something I couldn't imagine myself doing 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:27.880 because it seemed like something reserved for people who had 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.440 a lot more money than I can fathom. It was 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.320 something that I often felt about a lot of other 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.680 things too, like going on family vacations or going out 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.840 for family dinners. It was something I was never surrounded 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:40.880 by growing up, so I put it all in a 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.880 box that I felt like I didn't have a place in. 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:47.000 One day, I let myself have the thought, what if 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.440 I did study abroad. I decided to read brochures about 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.080 it and visit the Study Abroad office. Once I did 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.520 my research, I discovered it was actually something that I 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.040 could do, and so I submitted an application for a 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:04.080 program in London. In London, it's kind of hard to describe, 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:10.480 but I just always felt a connection to It also 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.560 seemed like the perfect amount of different to New York, 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.320 and I think my whole life, I've been trying to 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.560 find something like that because New York is a really 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.080 big piece of me. It's my favorite city ever, It's 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.360 where I grew up. But I just wanted to find 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.600 something that gave me the same feeling that New York did, 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:34.000 but in a completely different way. And especially once I 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:38.040 talked to the Study of Broad program and read the 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.840 info packets, it just in my body felt like, Yeah, 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.319 I think this is the place that I really really 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:51.040 need to go to. In January of twenty twenty, I 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.440 was accepted into the Study of Broad program and I 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.800 paid the deposit. I had also gotten an internship through 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.040 the Study of Broad program that was going to involve 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:02.800 me writing and posting about different restaurants in London. Even 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.319 though my mom's a chef growing up, we never went 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.240 out to restaurants, and I discovered in my adulthood. It's 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.040 one of my greatest pleasures. I'd gone through the whole 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.720 process of applying all by myself without telling anybody, not 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.839 even my parents. When I got my passport in the 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.760 mail is when I told my parents because I had 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.559 never had a passport and I was so excited about it. 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.960 I'm pretty sure I like jumped for joy once I 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:32.520 got my passport because it was this like physical embodiment 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:34.840 of these dreams that I had and it felt like 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.040 it was coming true. So the day I got my 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.920 passport is the day that I called my mom and 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:44.280 my dad to let them know that I was pretty 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:48.840 certain that I was going to be going abroad. My 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:54.520 mom was like why, and my dad was also just like, 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:57.199 where is this coming from. 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.480 So I think I just had a honest conversation with. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:05.040 Them and was honest with the fact that I was 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.480 feeling also a bit stuck in Philly. I felt in 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.680 myself that I hadn't been doing enough to challenge myself 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.520 to seek out happiness for myself. That is when they 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.560 really became understanding and supportive of that, because I knew 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:21.880 that they wanted that for me. Too, but I had 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:28.120 never expressed that to them. Then life as we knew 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:34.800 it for everyone in the world changed COVID nineteen. It 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:38.040 was March nineteen, twenty twenty, and my girlfriend Aliana, who 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:40.640 had also planned on setting abroad in Italy that summer, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.280 got lunch with me on campus. Things weren't necessarily normal. 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.240 The hallways were filled with people talking about different theories 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.480 of what was to come, but it was the last 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.000 normal day we would experience. One moment, we were laughing 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.160 about stealing each other's food, and the next we both 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.319 received emails getting the crushing news that our summer plans 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:06.240 were no more. I went through probably the stages of 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:10.000 grief all within like five minutes. For the first time, 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.960 I had a bit of fear in my heart, like 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.560 if they were canceling London, Like what was COVID? What 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.480 did this really mean? I remember that night was just 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.000 a sad, sad night. We took the long way to 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:29.600 walk home and we just talked about it, and honestly, 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.200 it was really nice to have each other, I would 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:36.120 say in that moment, because we both were mourning these things. 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:41.280 But we both felt really scared, I think, and really 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.480 confused as COVID became worse, and it raged across the world. 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.880 My girlfriend and I watched from our tiny apartment in 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.280 North Philadelphia, disinfecting groceries and taking turns talking the other 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.160 down from believing that a doorknob we grazed earlier that 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.880 day may have given us the virus. As everything around 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.760 me seemed to be drastically changing, I held onto the 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:08.359 little bits of normalcy, like the daily calls with my mom. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:14.600 Hi, Ma, MOA, I and dummy. 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:19.080 Honestly, you wouldn't tell that COVID was happening during those 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.079 phone calls, which I think is interesting because my mom 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:24.720 would call every day and ask this same exact thing 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.560 that she always had. And so while I was worried 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.800 about her because my mom is kind of older and 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.600 she works a lot. So while I was worried about her, 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:39.240 and she was worried about me because I am away 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:41.040 from her and she doesn't really know what I'm doing 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.440 every day, we sort of put those worries to the 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.800 side and didn't confront each other about them to give 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.000 each other that bit of peace because we were having 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.000 these phone calls and being like, yeah, I'm doing good, 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.000 and I made this really yummy thing last night, and 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.240 I thought of you. In between the nagging fear of 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.600 the pandemic and the anxiety of the uncertainty of the future, 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:06.120 all I had were my journal and my voice. 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:07.000 Memo app. 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:13.559 April fourteenth, twenty twenty. It's the tenth day of quarantine 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.319 and its raining today. I'm not sure if this is 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:18.760 actually the tenth or the eleventh. Now that I think 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.320 of it, the rain makes it seem like the days 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:25.240 are even more blurrier than before. People online keep talking 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.800 about how they're going stir crazy, and I can't say 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.199 that I disagree with them, But more than anything, I'm 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:34.480 really confused, and I'm really scared. How was it that 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.480 eleven days ago we were all walking around and now 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.880 the thought of leaving our houses seems so scary beyond belief. 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.240 At that point, I was living in the smallest apartment 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.920 I had ever lived in, and so I had really 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.200 built a routine of not spending time in that apartment, 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.880 just doing things outside and doing things that I liked 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.040 to do, and just like really utilizing that as a 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.559 place to eat and sleep. So the first couple days 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.840 of lockdown quarantine were so difficult because I was spending 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.400 so much time in this enclosed space that I hadn't 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.120 even really considered home. It was only a couple of 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:18.600 weeks before we packed up all our stuff and headed 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:24.840 to my girlfriend's rural hometown, Williamsport, for ten weeks. May 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:28.280 twenty six, twenty twenty. I'm writing this in the middle 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.000 of the woods in suburban Pennsylvania. How ridiculous is it 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.280 that that's actually the least ridiculous thing to have happened 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.560 this summer. I've been in Williamsport for five weeks now. 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.880 Cases are still rising everywhere, and it feels like this 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.640 may be life forever. That thought feels too bleak, though, 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:47.760 so I'm writing it down and letting it go so 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:50.480 I don't think of it too much. I was supposed 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.160 to be in London. Now I can't help but wonder 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.600 what it would have been like. Would I be happy? Sad? 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:01.160 I've regretted it. All I know is that I'm healthy 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.120 and my family's healthy, and that's all that really matters 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.240 in the end. I guess I was used to the 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.000 chaos of the city, but more than ever, the sounds 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:16.200 of nature provided a much needed escape. For the first 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.080 time in my life, I was able to go on 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:21.520 these long walks in nature and just breathe. Whenever I 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:26.560 felt overwhelmed, angry, tired, sad, I could just have a 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:33.840 little escape. When the time came to finally leave, I 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.320 knew that coming back to Philadelphia in June of twenty 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:40.000 twenty meant confronting the reality of COVID again. In August 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.120 of twenty twenty, I was going into my last year 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.360 of college and it didn't feel like it at all. 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.160 I had just spent the last couple of months doing 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.240 online classes, and the days seemed to blur together more 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.440 often than not. For the first time, I wasn't working 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.960 in the service industry. I was doing online classes every day, 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.560 and the few times I was working was with Anne 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.440 and the Philly Diaries team remotely. I had always been 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.880 someone who worked better outside of the house, so when 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.160 COVID came, I didn't even have a desk to sit 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.840 at in my apartment. This led to me taking every 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.040 Zoom class from my bed and having more accidental naps 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.120 than ever before. It wasn't until COVID happened that I 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.000 realized how much I valued being in the actual classroom. 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.560 Life felt like it had become one big screen. I 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.600 remember my last final ever. I just submitted it online 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.600 on like a random Tuesday, and then it was just it. 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:36.760 Then I was just done with undergrad I'm about to 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:43.320 go pick up my down this morning. I can't believe it, right, 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:49.920 I graduate in a week. That is so ridiculous, but 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:54.720 I'm so excited. For months, everyone in my class waited 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:57.480 to know whether or not graduation would be happening online 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.400 or in person. When the news finally broke that I 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:02.400 was going to be in person, I felt a mix 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.520 of emotions. I was grateful and excited that I was 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.960 getting to have this shot at normalcy, but I was 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.119 quickly brought back to reality when I found out my 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.959 parents had to work that day and my visitors wouldn't 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.760 be allowed inside the ceremony. They would be able to 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:18.880 watch me on a livestream from home instead. These were 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:21.359 just moments that I had held in my heart for 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.639 a long time. Getting to hug them right after I 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.959 got my diploma, or getting to hear that they were 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.400 proud of me in person, or getting to see them 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.639 in the crowd. And so while I'm happy that they 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:36.159 saw me in this like hybrid kind of way there is. 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.639 It's just there's still a bit of sadness there that 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:41.600 they didn't get to do it in the way that 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:43.879 I had hoped for so long that they would. 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:55.320 Welcome to the spring twenty twenty one graduation ceremonies for 0:17:55.400 --> 0:18:00.560 the LU Client College of Media and Communication held in per. 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:05.520 We graduated in a field, and we were all still 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.119 socially distanced, and I think seeing the empty chairs that 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:13.800 graduation made me also think about the fact that I 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.199 was here. I was experiencing this moment that I had 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.280 been waiting for for so long, but I was seeing 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.879 the actual physical effects that COVID was still having on 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.080 these seemingly normal moments. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:33.320 Sandy Florimon, Congratulations graduates. 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:40.919 Later that night, as I celebrated with my friends in 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.600 my backyard, my parents called me to let me know 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:45.960 they were able to watch and how proud they were 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:46.159 of me. 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:49.760 May twenty one. 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.840 I'm officially a college graduate as of two days ago. 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:57.879 It was the most special day because I couldn't have 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.680 predicted any of it. To be so grateful for everything, 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.639 Because if there's anything this time has taught me is 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.160 that I can be all taken away in an instant. 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:09.960 I got to see my friends and celebrate in my 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.679 tiny backyard, and it felt perfect. I couldn't help but 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:14.960 think about how different it. 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:15.880 Felt last year. 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:18.920 A year ago, Aliana and I were hiding away in 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.880 willing Sport. A year later, I'm vaccinated, surrounded by people 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:30.760 who love me to celebrate my graduation. But soon doubts 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:35.520 started creeping in. At that point, everyone loves to ask 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.560 what you're doing after, and I just really couldn't. 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.119 I couldn't deal with that that question. 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.440 And I was just in my own head really nervous 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:49.480 because I think I just really wanted an answer to 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.640 that question for myself, and I didn't really have one. 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.560 I didn't have a huge job lined up or anything. 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.000 But of course with that nervousness, I was just really 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:02.440 excited to just start something knew. Two days after graduation, 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.920 in my room, all by myself, I made the decision 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.359 to take back one of the things that the pandemic 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:17.600 took from me. It's eleven PM and I just. 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:19.800 Bought some plane tickets to go to London. 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:24.320 Yeah. 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:30.160 I don't know what I'm doing, but I think I'm 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:35.439 going to go to London this summer. Like I was 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.080 seven hundred dollars of my own money. But I think 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:41.560 this is going to be good. I think this is 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.800 going to be real good. I had graduated college in 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.240 the middle of a global pandemic, and I was ready 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.439 for something big. I had worked and saved up throughout 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:54.240 lockdown and realized that I had this opportunity in front 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:56.679 of me. I just had to take it. Just like 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:59.720 a year ago, I waited until everything was already set. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.879 How my parents said I was going this time, I 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:07.840 wasn't asking them. May fifteenth, twenty twenty one. I'm going 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.280 to London. It's official. I bought the tickets and booked 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:14.240 my airbnb. It's all set, and I leave in less 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.000 than ten days. I don't know what it is, but 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:19.440 I just decided that the only thing that's stopping myself 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:28.840 was me. My dad is loading up a car right now, 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:33.800 and I'm in my childhood bedroom about to leave for 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:39.400 the airport. My flight is not for another five hours, 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:45.840 but I've never been anywhere before, so better safe than sorry. 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:47.919 Oh my god, Yeah, okay, I gotta go. 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:51.280 Before I left for the airport, my dad came into 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.760 my room and gave me a hug. I knew in 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:55.920 that moment he was saying more than he could ever 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:58.560 allow himself to say. He let me know that he 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:00.439 would miss me and that he would be thinking of 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:03.480 me every day. The hug also felt like all the 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:05.520 hugs we weren't able to have over the year we 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.280 weren't able to see each other. He packed my stuff 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.040 into the car and we drove to JFK in silence. 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:14.560 We got to the airport, had one last hug, and 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:20.760 he waved goodbye. As I walked to security. I felt 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:24.600 a jolt of energy walking onto the plane and hearing 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:29.000 that the flight crew was speaking in British accents. Video 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:31.640 of seatbelt securely fastened until the packs of seat belt 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:34.960 signed the beat place stop. I was like grinning in 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:39.040 my seat way before takeoff even happened, because I was like, 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:43.320 I'm sitting on a plane at JFK with a full 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.960 British flight crew going to London, Like, who am I? 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:53.879 I had a nine pm flight, so I knew I 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:57.360 wasn't going to see much for like the first couple hours. 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:00.800 This is so dramatic in the best way, but I 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:05.200 really wanted to experience lifting up the window and seeing 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:08.800 the ocean, and so I remember I woke up, and 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.080 I had no idea what time it is, but I 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:14.960 could see in different pockets of the plane that light 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:18.160 was starting to shine in where people had their windows open. 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:21.080 So I knew that it was light outside, and so 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:21.960 I lifted. 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:26.800 It up and I saw just like pure pure water. 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:31.600 And I was so amazed. I think I probably really 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:33.240 loudly gasped. 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:35.320 One, ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome. 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:37.120 Seminal five Hairite London. 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:39.960 Egra, where we'll be riding on the stagates at the 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:42.359 local time here in nine thirty am. 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:46.840 Once I touched down in London, I felt like it 0:23:46.960 --> 0:23:54.040 hit me immediately. I had never been in a place 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:57.040 so different by myself, but I knew I could handle it. 0:23:57.800 --> 0:23:59.480 It was going to be the space and time where 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:03.120 I wasn't dtting expectations on myself or letting anyone else 0:24:03.160 --> 0:24:06.520