My Adventurous First Days

First Days Assignment: Can Eker

Can Eker

Can Eker

October

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.