In November a couple friends and I were, for some long forgotten reason, talking about Ancient Greece. We got into the topic of which city-state we would rather live in: Athens or Sparta. While I would certainly trust my intellect much more than my physical abilities during every situation I can think of, I thought back to seventh grade when we first learned about these two places. Women in Athens were placed under stricter rules than those in Sparta, and most women from Athens weren’t allowed to leave their houses for much more than chores and special occasions. Considering everyone involved in the conversation was female, I figured this would be an important factor in our little debate. To this, one of my friends jokingly asked if we really left the house for much other than that anyway. The rest of us laughed but agreed, and carried on with our conversation.

Just a few months later, our country declared a national state of emergency and our school shut down. A stay at home order for our state was soon issued and quarantine began. I haven’t seen any of my friends face to face since our last day of school, and the chances of us meeting up over the summer break are slim. We still text, but we don’t have as much contact with each other as we normally do.

Many people’s entire lives have been completely changed, but things have been pretty much the same for me. I’m far from the world’s best conversationalist, and I’ll admit I’m a bit of a homebody. It’s not like I’m a complete hermit devoid of all human contact; I still talk to my sisters, one of which I share a room with and couldn’t avoid if I tried, and my parents on the daily. Plus, I have my dogs who love the attention they’ve been getting.

For me, lock down has been almost like a long sick day. I still have homework I have to finish, I can’t leave the house, and I have free reign of my home since all of my immediate family members who had jobs before quarantine were deemed essential workers. That leaves just me and my younger sister at home until my older sister’s shift finishes just before noon.

The jokes on social media about introverts having spent their entire lives in preparation for quarantine are pretty accurate. I feel like I’m in my element, so to speak, and I’m not too bothered by this particular side effect of the ongoing pandemic. Nothing much has changed, and I don’t have that caged up feeling that I know so many others do. Of course, I do miss my friends and the structure that school provided me with, but I’m lucky enough to have other ways to communicate and alarms that let me keep a set routine. All in all, quarantine isn’t so bad.