The global epidemic, COVID-19, poses a major threat to the world in 2020. From the initial state of unsure about the severity of the virus to getting used to wearing masks now, this epidemic brings countless effects on you and me for the whole year. We seem to be experiencing a catastrophe. The epidemic affects my daily life and I will outline what I have learned so far.

With regard to learning, the mode has changed completely. At the outbreak of the virus, I believe most Hong Kong students and teachers did not think that the Internet would dominate our learning and teaching ways. As the pandemic spread, we soon realized the days of e-learning were beginning. Although I can’t go to school, I didn’t expect to have lessons through my electronic devices in the long term. Everything was online. Undoubtedly, it took a while to get used to it. For example, I got the study materials from teachers via online platforms like Google Drive, having lessons and tests on Zoom, and handing in my homework by taking photos and uploading them online. This practice differs from what we usually do when we were going to school. Therefore, I was worried if I could concentrate on my studies at home and how my academic performance would be negatively affected. I am not confident that my learning efficiency would be the same as in the past. 

Socially, I lost many opportunities to communicate with my classmates and friends. I cherish the days in high school life as these should be the most precious time of my young age. Our classmates and I are supposed to make as many memories as we can in form 5. Yet, reality is always cruel. We are not only unable to join any activity together, such as school picnic, sports day, but also can’t meet each other at school. Compared with last year, I spend less time getting along with my peers. As for hanging out with them, the social gathering ban becomes one of the obstacles to develop my social circle. Even though I can still go out with a friend, I am afraid that it is a risk and maybe infected if we take the crowded public transport and dine out without masks. Considering the potential dangers of going out, we rarely gather together. In other words, I lack chances to have face to face connection with others because of the epidemic. 

As for entertainment, I have fewer choices to kill time. In the past, I could choose to go shopping, watch movies, do karaoke on weekends. To avoid large gatherings of people, the government closed the cinemas, gym rooms, party rooms, karaoke rooms, and sports grounds at the same time. I can only stay at home or go to the countryside to have a picnic and go climbing. My rights to have leisure activities have been restricted. I was actually planning to go traveling during the New Year holidays this year. You must know what happened next, right? That’s the time when there were more and more infections in different countries. Eventually, we chose to cancel the trip. Until now, I haven’t left Hong Kong for just a while. I know the travel lovers, like me, wish to get on the planes again.

I have just written about the impact of this pandemic on me. In the following, I would like to explain what I have learned. 

My most profound reflection is that e-learning can be the trend in education. I had the idea that studying can only take place at school. I thought the traditional learning method, which a teacher would stand in front of me and write the key points on the blackboard, was the only way to acquire knowledge. After having online lessons for the whole year, I discovered that e-learning could be more effective than traditional schooling. For students, we can save time on transportation. Instead, we can have lessons right away by just turning on our devices. E-learning is flexible for us to adjust our learning process with teachers. If we can’t catch up with the learning schedule, we can take the makeup lessons as we have classes at home, so there are fewer teaching and learning limitations.

Moreover, I understand that maintaining relationships is not an easy task. Not meeting my friends at school every day, we can only contact each other through social media. That’s why it is much harder to maintain our friendship without schooling. This situation may also happen after graduation. If one side doesn’t place great emphasis on the company, no matter how much effort the other side has made, keeping in touch seems impossible. Therefore, I learned that I shouldn’t take anyone’s friendship for granted. Only those who take the relationship seriously will try their best to keep friends, especially during this challenging time. 

Finally, on public health, I learned that everyone should take responsibility for decreasing the possibility of virus transmission to heart. From my point of view, selfish behavior is unacceptable. For instance, people who ignore the social gathering ban but keep going out in a large group. There are always some people walking on the streets who don’t wear masks. Having the goal of fighting the coronavirus, we should do our duty and cooperate with government policies. 

All in all, COVID-19 affects us all. I have learnt valuable lessons.