My Adventurous First Days

Can Eker

March 2020

March 2020 has been a month full of surprises. News regarding an outbreak of a deadly virus was circulating in almost every tv news channel. I am certain that at first, many people, including myself, underestimated the urgency and seriousness of this disease that would later develop into a worldwide pandemic. During the first days of March, I purchased a plane ticket from Newark to San Francisco scheduled for the first day of spring break. I envisioned it would be an excellent idea to spend the scheduled spring break vacation with my mother. Her flight was scheduled from Istanbul to San Francisco. Little did we know that our plans would undergo a drastic change. Approximately, about a week before my flight, I decided to exercise at the golden dome gym for an hour before my night class. When I entered the gym, the lady at the front desk told me that all facilities in the golden dome were temporarily closed. I asked her if it was because of the coronavirus. She replied “yes”. At that point, I realized that the situation was only getting worse. There were rumors in my classroom about classes resuming online for the remainder of the semester. Frankly, I thought this was out of the question.

The morning after, I called my mom on the phone to find out about the trip details. I also mentioned the severity of the virus referred to as COVID-19. I wasn't sure if traveling in such circumstances was a good idea. Of course, I was worried about myself, but I was more worried about my mom. The first and most important information I received about the virus was that it is more serious for the sick and elderly. My mom was aged, and just the thought of her remaining inside a packed airplane for 8 hours straight was horrible. I did not even want to imagine what she would encounter. After a couple of days, I received a crucial e-mail from Rutgers notifying me that classes were to be held virtual until April 3. I immediately called my mom. After I told her about the news, she worriedly expressed that she is willing to cancel her flight from Istanbul to San Francisco. In return, I told her that I would try to change my arriving destination from San Francisco to Istanbul and so I got to work. As the virus was spreading continuously and nonstop, airlines and airports were very busy.

Two days before my flight, I got on the phone for hours with airline personnel. I explained my situation and asked the company to help me out by changing my destination.The person on the other line was sympathetic but helpless at first. I explained to him that I needed to change my destination urgently and that I was willing to pay the price difference. I had to make multiple other phone calls to other individuals periodically. The other personnel was the supervisor. She couldn’t solve the problem so I had to wait for the next day. On the last day before my flight, I called the airline company once more, and spoke on the phone again with the first personnel that I called. The personnel was calling me from Istanbul’s time zone and I was in the Eastern Standard Time zone so I could only speak until 3 PM. The personnel told me that my flight destination would be changed first thing in the morning. I panicked because tomorrow was the day that my flight to San Diego was originally scheduled and if the destination were to remain unchanged then the money I spent on the ticket was gonna go to waste. I woke up the next morning and swiftly grabbed my phone to check my emails. The airline company finally emailed me about my ticket. The email confirmed that my destination was successfully changed. However, when I saw the time when my flight to Istanbul was I panicked. My flight was departing in 2 hours and 45 minutes and I was still in bed. I quickly got out of the bed, dressed up grabbed my passport and left my house without packing my belongings. I can't even recall the level of stress and anxiety that I went through on the day of my flight. Thankfully everything worked out accordingly. I made it to the airport on time and made it to my destination safely. Since mid-March, I have been in Istanbul.

An Anxious Undergraduate Students Frightening Flight

Alara Demirag is an undergraduate student in the architectural department of the University of Toronto. I interviewed her on October 2, via phone. She was in her internship office, and I was visiting her. I verbally asked her questions to which she answered rapidly.

In mid-March, Alara took an 8-hour flight from Toronto to Istanbul. I asked her questions about her initial reactions, feelings and thoughts about the virus as the news of it began to circulate. I also found out about her crucial flight experience. She admittedly explained that at first, she did not care that much about the outcomes of the virus. She assumed that it was something similar to a cold. However, as her school calendar began to change during March, she started to worry. The presence of many people wearing masks and gloves frightened her. After her family realized that the situation was not promising, they advised her to take good care of herself.

All of Alara’s family was in Turkey and she had no relatives in Canada. At first, Alara was contemplating if it would be a better idea for her to stay in Toronto as the government took good actions to combat the virus and the cases were relatively low at the time. After the University of Toronto postponed in-person classes to an unknown date, she decided that returning to her country of origin would be the safest option for her because she assumed that she would feel lonely and scared at a country that she is not very familiar with. Her family bought the plane ticket last minute, if she happened to arrive in Istanbul at a later date, then she would be forced to stay quarantined for 14 days as that's what the government of Turkey dictates.  Quarantine rules in Turkey were implemented a couple days after Alara’s arrival. She explained that she was grateful to arrive before the rule came into effect.

Alara remembers Pearson International Airport of Canada was very crowded when she flew on March 19. Many people were trying to return to their homelands at a time when the whole world was in a crisis. She said that she even saw some of her classmates and friends in the security check line. Almost everybody was wearing a surgical mask, and some people were even wearing N95 mask of some sort. She was wearing a black colored mask over a white surgical mask to be extra safe. There were even some passengers that wore latex gloves to take protection into the next level. When people in the airport started to cough she was unsure of their condition therefore she distanced herself from them. She admittedly told me during the interview that she was frightened when she encountered such individuals. She hasn't seen anything similar to the scary scene before.

When she was inside the plane she meditated to stay calm during her flight. After her arrival, her parents picked her up from the airport and drove straight home. She maintained her distance from strangers in the airport. She was anxious when people walked towards her or walk close by her. She didn't want to get too close to her parents because she was at the airport. Her parents are over 50 and she was worried that they would contract the virus mistakenly. She adherently obeyed the strict laws that the government of Turkey imposed. She rarely stepped out. Her main objective was to complete her final semester without any problems so her classes going online from in-person didn't have a severe effect on her studies.

An Oral History Interview with Alara Demirag

Can Eker: Hello! I am here today with Alara Demirag, an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Department of Architecture. Today I will be asking her questions regarding her first days of the pandemic. Alara hello!

Alara: Hello

Can Eker: How are you?

Alara Demirag: Good! thank you.

Can Eker: Please tell me about your first days experiences. What did you think of when this outbreak started to circulate in the news what was your initial reaction?

Alara Demirag: At first I didn't care that much. I assumed that it was going to be similar to a cold. I had a flight scheduled in mid-March and during the first week of March I had classes, and than afterwards things started to change as classes surprisingly became online.

Can Eker: You mentioned to me that you took a flight from Toronto to Istanbul. Can you please tell me about your flight experience? How was it like? Please also tell us about the level of your paranoia.

Alara Demirag: In general, I am an anxious person. When I first heard about the virus my parents called me and said "you need to come back to Turkey, you need to be with us. We will support you emotionally." I thought it would be better for me to stay here(Toronto) because there were less cases in Toronto. I was not sure what to expect in Turkey. My roommate said that she was going to go back and that I said to myself that I will go back as well. So we booked a flight with her immediately. First we had to find masks, so I went to the pharmacy but I was not able to find masks and than I asked my friend and she brought me a spare surgical mask and gave it to me.

Can Eker: What about your experience in the airport prior to your departure and upon your arrival? Were you afraid to stand to close to other passengers with the fear of contracting a virus that was unknown to you at the time. Please tell us about your experience in both airports.


Alara Demirag: I wore two masks to make it overprotective. One was a white surgical mask and the other was a black one. I disinfected my hands all the time with a pocket size hand sanitizer. Of course we had to eat something in the plane because it was a long fight. It was an 8-9 hour flight but I was paranoid. I didn't know what to do. Some people were coughing. I kept worrying over and over again. I started to meditate.

Can Eker: Did you pray?

Alara Demirag: I didn't but I meditated. I closed my eyes for 20 minutes and repeated it over and over again. I was scared because we were breathing the same air inside the plane and there were a-lot of people.

Can Eker Now please tell me about what happened when you came home. Did you stay home? Were you following the advices that the tv channels were giving you? Did you step out? If so what was your reaction to seeing people with surgical masks?

Alara Demirag: So my flight was in March 12, in the next day there was a flight to Istanbul but the thing is the government announced the 14-day quarantine rule. New arrivers had to isolate themselves. I did not come across to that situation because I was lucky enough to arrive a day early than the enacted rule. There was a direct message sent to my phone which explained that it would be best to isolate myself for at least a week. When I arrived home I was trying to stay distant from my parents. I tried the best. The next day, when I heard about my friends experience I was scared. She was taken in for quarantine.

Can Eker: I want to know about your view on how the government responded to this situation. When you were in Canada how did your government take actions to battle agains this virus? How would you compare that to the actions that the government of Turkey made? What are some of the similarities and differences?

Alara Demirag: In Canada they closed the borders. Canada wanted its traveling citizens to return home immediately so that they were well protected. Canada wanted its citizens to stay safe. The isolation period was longer in Canada. Everything went online as the Canadian government acted faster to tackle the coronavirus.

Can Eker How did the virus effect your studies? Was the virtual education helpful to you? Was it non-efficient when compared to actual in person learning? What are your observations?

Alara Demirag: It is my last term before graduation. So I said I can get over it. As classes are remote, it can definitely be an advantage for me. I was more worried about the severity of the virus as I kept thinking about it. Online learning was easier for me because everything was prepared in my computer. However, if I wanted to talk with my professor it was hard. I also had difficulties communicating with my friends.

Can Eker: Tell me about your research. When you first started to hear about this virus. Where did you consult the information from and also what were the first things you heard about this virus

Alara Demirag: So I talked with my family doctor. She is a very nice lady and she attends tv shows regularly. She is deeply concerned with the emotional effects of the virus. When I talked with her she said that this virus is genetically coded. First it effects the sinus area. It than effects the way you breathe as it becomes harder. Its important to maintain a string immune system. I was always talking with her . She said that the media makes a major deal about it.

Can Eker: I want to ask you about the misperceptions that you might have had regarding the virus. Obviously when the news were initially circulating about this virus there were also rumors and untrue statements about the virus. What did you think? What expectations did you have from the virus depending on what you heard from other people and news?

Alara Demirag: There were a lot of misperceptions. It seemed like a conspiracy theory. I was not sure. I started to care about my health more. There were even rumors claiming that Bill Gates started the virus. There was another rumor in which the virus was purposefully created to decrease the excessive population and it was a project of major countries.

Can Eker: With all honesty, I want to know if you were more cautious to the virus in your initial phases or now, as you know more about the virus, and its deadly effects.

Alara Demirag. Before as I said I was not cautious about the virus. I panicked after places started to close. Now I am more stressed. Because I am more aware of the health defects. A lot of information about the symptoms are clear.

Can Eker: Alara I want to thank you for the interview and I hope you stay safe.

Alara Demirag: You too! stay safe as well.

Can Eker , “My Adventurous First Days ,” Archiving COVID19, accessed October 27, 2020, https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/items/show/72.

Can Eker , “Oral History Interview with Alara Demirag, an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto,” Archiving COVID19, accessed October 27, 2020, https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/items/show/70.

Can Eker/Alara Demirag , “An Anxious Undergraduate Student's Frightening Flight
,” Archiving COVID19, accessed October 27, 2020, https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/items/show/44.