What now..?

After three years of a long drawn game of cat and mouse, Covid finally has gotten its paws on me. The night before the week was to start, I sat down at my desk and pulled out the at-home antigen test I was given from DIS at the start of the semester. I had just gotten home after an exciting weekend with friends in Aarhus when I thought it would be a good idea to test, considering I had been feeling cold-like symptoms (cough, running nose, sneezing) for the past couple of days. To my surprise (more like my horror) the test almost immediately showed two of those little lines. My heart completely sank. Not only did I spend a weekend with my friend, his friends, and his parents, but I had used so much public transportation that there was no way I had not infected someone else. Being the type of person I am, I immediately felt a huge weight of guilt fall on my chest and I started to cry there at my desk. I called my friend to let him know the news, expecting to hear disappointment. Instead I was met with very calm and supportive words and it certainly helped me feel less guilty than I had felt at that time.

Eventually I managed to pull myself together and called DIS’ covid response line. Only a week before did Denmark lift all covid restrictions which left me completely exposed to germs I had been hiding from for the past three years. I told myself that it was eventual that I would get infected, but not the end of the world. Of course I felt the latter, especially because at DIS this week it was core course week. This is a special week where you spend time traveling throughout Denmark with your class in your core course. It’s a week of activities relating to what your subject of focus is as well as a chance for you to get to know your teacher and classmates. And here I was, missing out! In all honesty, adjusting to the change in the student body has been one of my challenges here. Almost a month in and I had not found someone I could get to know a little more and spend time exploring Denmark together. It honestly surprised me, and I was looking forward to the week with my classmates.

But reality had other plans for me and after a while of feeling really sad, I settled with the thought that this was my situation and it could by far be worse. I’m thankful for the easy access to testing here in Denmark and I’m even more grateful for the help that DIS has provided me during this time. With mild symptoms like mine, per government regulations, I will be isolating for four days in my room. During that time period, DIS has in place a stipend for any student in isolation so that they can have food delivered to their living space. I’m very grateful for this since I had not gotten the chance to shop prior.

“What now?” I had asked myself now that my world seemed to come to an abrupt stop. It had been awhile since I had so much time on my hands and what better time to write. As I sit here in isolation, I decided to take advantage of the time to review class related work for the coming week. There is simply no point in beating yourself up for something you can’t control so why just make the most of it? Until next time, when I’m healthy and ready to get back out there!