“Wash your hands!” “Keep your distance!” “Wear a mask!” These phrases are what we see and hear daily ever since the start of the year 2020. Now they're just a tune that repeats itself every day. However, my personal experience with the Covid-19 Pandemic is relatively a positive one. On March 13th, 2020 my Middle School announced that it would be shutting down and transitioning into a “remote learning” system. There was no prior information (besides occasional rumors) of this action, and we were told to empty our lockers and take all of our textbooks and belongings home. All of us thought that this would only last for a few weeks, that we would come back after Spring Break… we were completely wrong. I am not a sociable person, the thought of learning from home didn't disappoint me as much as my other classmates. Although, I did miss my small circle of friends. The transition to virtual learning was drastic and took time for everyone to get used to. I didn't mind the change much (besides the absence of friends and the school environment) and found the process interesting. I maintained my straight A's and continued to tutor a student who is one grade below me online. After 12 weeks of remote learning school ended, this was the saddest part of my virtual school experience as 2 of my closest friends had to move over the summer. (We are a part of the overseas US Military community, so many people come and go over the summer) Overall, the content of what I learned online was easy, however, the workload grew greater than ever! When I wasn't on my laptop studying or doing schoolwork I amused myself with hobbies. I was always interested in crafting and making various things that I, and other people could use. Polymer clay was my absolute favorite material, even though I was still learning the basics. For Christmas 2019, my Aunt gave me rather large canvases and I wasn't sure if I had the skills for that yet, so I practiced painting on smaller ones. I used acrylic paint since I was more familiar with it than watercolor. My school had a library integrated within it so we could still check out books. I used this extra time to read the books that I borrowed from a friend and those that I checked out. My favorite was “1984” by George Orwell, it reminded me of what was going on in this world (even though the story itself was worse). I'm quite thankful for being as occupied as I was, for I know many people struggled with boredom. After staying home for an extended time during school, I was quite restless over the summer as I needed to preoccupy myself. I took advanced math in my 7th grade year so that I could be ready for Algebra in my 8th-grade year. To further prepare me for this class, I found a “Fundamentals of Algebra” textbook my mother owned. I used this book to get ahead in my studies and it engaged me for a while! I also took an interest in computer programming and studied the basics of JavaScript on the Khan Academy website by making various animations. I also helped my mother with cleaning and cooking for my family of 5 (which I enjoyed - somehow). I generally was able to learn a great deal over the summer of 2020, more than any other summer! The summer wasn't always just education, my family needed some “outside company” and got a puppy! He's a Shih-Tzu and we had a lot of fun taking care and playing with him. This was late summer so we went to school a few weeks later - in person! Everyone had to wear masks or facial coverings and sanitize their hands. I was exceptionally happy with this transition regardless of the precautions we had to take. Everything went smoothly until mid-November, this was when my little brother showed symptoms of Covid-19. He had a high fever and a cough. My family had to quarantine for 2 days to wait for a test. He was tested and his results came back... negative, no one else in my family had any symptoms! This was a rather frightful event for me as I worried that if he were positive he would've spread it to other people in his class, and it would've spread elsewhere and school would shut down again. Otherwise, my Covid-19 experience was (and still is) a fairly memorable and educational one.