Quarantine hit us all like a truck. No one can deny it, we’ve all had difficulty with the recent changes to schooling. We miss our friends, and we have more time on our hands than we know what to do with.

With all this free time, a lot of students will be wondering what they could possibly do to get through each day. This article is going to do its best to help the fellow quarantiners in need.

Music is one of the most relaxing pass times one could ask for.

Air Academy sophomore Faith Angelise said, “I must have listened to nearly thirty hours of music since quarantine started. It’s an escape for me, and it always helps get away from boredom.”

Others have found more interactive ways to go about entertainment. Sophomore Michael Harvey, for example, often plays video games with me.

“It’s about giving the illusion of being outside,” Harvey said. “If you can talk to your friends online and play an Xbox game, it feels almost the same as the real thing.”

Sometimes there really is barely anything you can do. So when in doubt, read a book. Books are an escape from the day to day monotony that quarantine has thrown us all into. What better way to forget that you’re stuck in the house, than to put yourself in a world where you’re not?

Or even better, write a book. I may be slightly biased, being a journalist and all. But writing will keep your brain sharp during these rough times, and building plots and stories has to be my personal favorite pastime.

Although we may be blessed with a lot of free time during this “hiatus” in school, it’s important for students to not shirk their academic responsibilities.

Procrastination will bite you back. Especially when all schoolwork is due on Friday’s, it’s becoming considerably easier to fall into the trap of “I have more time.”

To avoid this, make sure to set yourself a plan, and stick to it at that. When you see the assignments due at the end of the week, make a plan of what to do when, and not all in a rush on Friday at eleven o’clock.

You don’t have more time for the Language Arts assigment due in an hour.

Try a reward system. If there are things that are more appealing than schoolwork, tempt yourself by doing the things you enjoy after the schoolwork is finished.

Lastly, social interaction during corona virus has been stretched thin. Many are struggling with the lack of familiar faces, other than those that they’re too familiar with, and have been needing to come up with creative solutions.

“I used an Instagram Live for the first time last week,” said Harvey. “My friends and I called for three hours, and it was a great time.”

Much to how school lessons are arranged, live calls such as Skype and  Harvey’s Instagram Live have become valuable time to many. Just like the real thing, even if it is through a screen.

Although times are tough, with the help of good time management, time killing activities, and our lovely friends and families, we’ll get through quarantine. And who knows, this whole thing could just make restaurant food taste that much better.

Appreciate what you have from day to day, because it’s often too late to realize how good we all have it until after the fact.