Milan, Italy:
Saturday, February 22nd was my last day at school. I knew that the number of infections in my region was increasing, but I had no idea it was so bad that schools would have been closed starting the following Monday.
The first week was not very different from a normal break, except for the fact that we didn’t know when we would have to go back to school. A lot of people were actually happy about it. After the second week some started practicing social distancing, but most people kept ignoring the problem. I think the whole situation only started being taken seriously after the government imposed quarantine on March 8th.
Since then, my life has changed quite a bit. I can only leave my apartment to go food shopping, and I really miss going out and doing outdoor sports. In the morning, I attend classes over Zoom, which is ok, but I honestly can’t wait to go back to school and see my friends. On the other hand, if there is a good thing about quarantine, it is that I get to spend more time with my family.
The streets of my neighborhood are completely deserted, but every evening someone plays music from their balcony and everybody sings to it! I love how we Italians always manage to be loud!!
Still, the situation is very frightening and the number of cases and deaths has only been slowly decreasing lately, after 4 weeks of total lockdown.
Marta
5 April 2020