The inaugural class of COVID-19
As I am writing this blog, it has been 220 days since the beginning of the lockdown. It has been 90 days since the start of my first semester in Physician Assistant (PA) school. Within these 220 days, my life has changed in ways I never would have imagined, more so within the last 90. This is the story of a student beginning PA school in the midst of a global pandemic.
When I received my acceptance, I remembered reading some of these blogs and imagining my journey through PA school. Would I be spending hours on end at the library trying to absorb the mountains of material given each day? Which coffee shops would I frequent? How different would my life be at the end of these two years? Well, COVID-19 threw all my expectations out the window. Little did I know that my interview would be the last time I spent any significant time outside of my apartment. My desk has become my lecture hall, my couch, my library.
Aside from our physical assessment courses and anatomy labs, all of our classes are online. Some lectures take place over Zoom, and the rest are pre-recorded videos. In the beginning, I found myself constantly getting distracted by chores around the apartment or my phone. It was just me left to my own devices, literally. And having lectures that could be viewed on my own time? I promise you, telling yourself, “I’ll just do it later” usually turns into never, and you’ll have many sleepless nights cramming before exams. Simply, the hardest thing had been treating school like school again. That meant setting aside space where school and home don’t mix since it takes more responsibility and discipline to delineate between them.
Don’t get me wrong, the virtual classroom brings about a unique set of challenges, but it does come with its own merits. After settling into my groove, the things that concerned me became some of the things I like the most. Staying home for school means it’s business casual on-screen and gym shorts that’ll never be seen. Lectures that I can view on my own time mean I can review them until I understand the material. My 15-minute commute has become the 2 seconds it takes for me to walk from my bed to my desk, not to mention the amount of money I’m saving on gas! Although these last 90 days have not been easy, a lot of good has come about.
In the spirit of the holidays, I would just like to say that I am thankful for this opportunity to share my experiences with you. To all the future students out there, I hope that life will have resumed some form of normalcy by the time you get here. I don’t know who you all are yet, but know that I am cheering for each of you.
Jan Llanda is a first-year student with the Duke Physician Assistant Program. Email janpatrick.llanda@duke.edu with questions.
Editor’s note: Duke Physician Assistant Program students blog twice a month. Blogs represent the opinion of the author, not the Duke Physician Assistant Program, the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, or Duke University.