Story and Photos by Laura Robak
Though we all knew about the Coronavirus, we never really thought it could get this bad this quickly. I had just come home for spring break and I remember watching something on the news that night about the virus and how bad it was getting, though even at this point, I had not really paid it much attention because the pandemic hadn’t yet affected me.
Just a couple of days later, colleges started shutting down. I remember my friend freaking out about her school shutting down and having to find housing quickly. Soon, panic began to really set in for me thinking, “Oh god, RIT is next.” Immediately after that, I got word that my grandfather was not doing well and I was probably going to end up going to Michigan for his funeral.
I believe it was on a Friday. I remember my mom picking me up from work saying that Grandpa died. So, we rented a car and left for Michigan that Sunday. Meanwhile, this virus is getting worse and the situation in New York is rapidly getting worse. The news reported that the US-Canada border would soon be shut down. Would this trip To Michigan be incredibly risky? Yes.
My mom and I took turns driving as we were absorbing this all. It was an exhausting trip already and while in Pennsylvania, we stopped at a rest stop about an hour away from the Ohio border. As my mom got out of the car, she tripped and fell hard onto the ground. I remember running to see if she was ok, and it looked like she had broken her wrist. We got lucky as a very nice guy helped us while we awaited the arrival of an ambulance.
They took her to the hospital where we spent the next 4 hours before she was discharged, and we could return to the road for the final 5 hours to Michigan. I remember getting to my aunts’ houses and basically crashing on her couch. I was so physically and emotionally tired from the day. We were originally going to stay until Friday but as things got worse, we ended up leaving on Wednesday to return.
Just being in Michigan for those couple of days was very nerve-racking even though he COVID-19 cases hadn’t really hit there yet. It was strange because most people there were behaving normally, though I knew that back in New York the extreme social distancing had begun.
While we were at the wake for my grandfather, the funeral home staff pulled my uncles asides and told them that the church had canceled the funeral. That’s when my mom and I decided that we should leave early. We just wanted to get back home safe before everything shut down.
Wednesday morning we left Michigan on our way directly to RIT to clean and get all my stuff out of my room. Luckily, I had a very good friend who was able to help me pack the day before so all I had to do was get my stuff and put it in the car. On the way, we stopped at a rest-stop near Syracuse. Walking into that rest stop felt surreal because almost all of the food vendors inside had shut down because of limited business hours enforced by the governor.
Further down the road, and about an hour from home my mom, I noticed a COVID-19 testing site off the side of the road which felt creepy and weird to see. It made me feel kind of sick inside just seeing the sign lit up and ready for people to get tested. While distracted by that disturbing sight, a deer jumped in front of our car and we almost hit it which could have easily been another trip to the ER or worse.
We finally arrived home at nearly 1 am and we were both physically and emotionally exhausted. As I tried to fall asleep, the reality of online classes crept into my mind and the thought of just keeping up with all the course work weighed heavily on my mind.
