Dublin Core
Title
An Anxious Undergraduate Student's Frightening Flight
Subject
Alara Demirag's First Day Experience Regarding the Outbreak of COVID-19.
Description
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.
Creator
Can Eker/Alara Demirag
Format
Word
Language
English
Type
Text
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
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.
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.