When I was told I had to quarantine as a part of Penn State's contact tracing program, I was devastated and nervous, not ready to leave my typical college life behind for a week. Despite my negative test results, contact traced individuals must quarantine, so that was what I had to do. Shortly after receiving a call from the officials at contact tracing, I was relocated to isolation housing for a week, and left with a blank slate.

Upon arriving to Eastview Terrace, Penn State's isolation housing unit, I knew I had to make this place a temporary home for myself. Penn State requires quarantined students to stay in their rooms at all times - you can't go in the hallway or outside. This meant that I had to make the most of what I was given - again, a blank slate.

I started with the interior of the room. Coming in, I brought my fairy lights, pictures, LED cloud, and "Good things are coming" poster to give the room a homey-like feel. This made for the perfect zoom background as well, with a bright illuminating atmosphere behind me.

Creating this welcoming, enjoyable atmosphere out of a formerly bland space revealed a lot about myself to me. I learned more about how I personally respond to challenges: by taking a deep breath, then adding my own flair to the solution.

The room gave me hope for a smooth and comfortable week, but then it actually came down to everyday life in isolation. To be transparent, it's lonely. But loneliness, while scary and uncomfortable, can also give you a chance to feel more at peace with yourself, which is a lesson I may have never learned if I was never put in isolation.

I also had a lot of school work and online classes to complete during my week of isolation, which definitely took up a good portion of my time. As I worked, I filled the quiet air of my isolation dorm by blasting all kinds of vibey music on my speaker.

5 out of 7 days in isolationBy Abby Jarecki

To feel connected to the outside world, I spent a lot of time FaceTiming the people I loved. My family and I even had a Rosh Hashanah Zoom where we ate dinner together and celebrated the Jewish new year. While I might have been physically alone, I knew I wasn't actually alone.

Isolation is what you make of it. I had on and off days, days where I did YouTube workouts and grinded on schoolwork and days where I barely got out of bed. Everyone tackles challenges and changes like this differently, and I wanted to come out victorious.
This is historic, I'd think to myself. I was staying in an isolation dorm at a university during a pandemic... in the infamous year of 2020. Why waste these days?
I took this time to reflect, connect with myself, and live out history. And of course to binge Netflix shows. The days went by quickly, and I'll admit I was counting them down, but I'll never forget how I found light in the Penn State isolation dorms through positivity and newfound strength.

Last day of PSU IsolationBy Abby Jarecki