Final Project -- Joy Saha

Finishing Junior Year at Home

On March 23rd, I moved out of my South Campus Commons Apartment. I hastily packed my belongings, took down my elaborate wall collage of magazine cutouts and photos and bid farewell to my three roommates. Governor Larry Hogan had also enacted his stay-at-home executive order, which was effective starting at 8 p.m. My parents and I were able to leave campus by 6:30 p.m. and we arrived home, in Rockville, Maryland, around 7:45 p.m. 

The first few days back felt odd and also a bit unreal. The dire consequences and severity of a pandemic still hadn't sunk in and I found myself going on long morning walks around my neighborhood to kill time. During my walks, I would pass by these two large trees located at the  entrance of a neighborhood a block down from my own. The white flowers, which were in peak bloom, made the entrance look oddly ethereal.

With the whole family now at home, we have more time to bond over food and enjoy meals together. My mom, Luna Saha (pictured left), has been working on perfecting her homemade pizza crust and for lunch, she made two types of pizzas -- vegetarian and Hawaiian barbecue. Here is a picture of her marveling at her own culinary craft. 

Spending more time at home has made me realize the small things that I missed about my neighborhood. Now, when I look out my room window, I no longer see dorm buildings. I also don't hear the loud toll of the University Chapel bell every hour. Instead, I see other apartments, cars and my neighbors lounging in their porches. This particular area outside my family's apartment is a popular spot for little kids to play and socialize. Ever since lock down regulations became stricter and online classes were announced, this area has become empty and eerily quiet.

I also missed this large Evergreen tree outside my family's apartment. This tree was nonexistent when my family and I moved into our apartment in 2005. Now, in 2020, the tree is taller than our apartment and its long branches have been scraping violently against our kitchen and living room windows. It has also obscured our views from both the living room and kitchen. Now, we can only enjoy this outside view from our balcony.

Our three bedroom and two bathroom apartment doesn't offer much space for my dad, Kalyan Saha (pictured right), to set up his personal home office. Both my mom and dad got creative and they set up a home office inside their master bedroom. The office, which features two computer monitors and a desk lamp, sits comfortably between the room's bookshelf and my mom's dresser.

After about two weeks in quarantine, I was feeling incredibly lonely and hopeless. I was consuming somber news on the daily and I was slowly learning about friends and family members who were being affected by the virus, both financially, physically and emotionally. Despite it all, I tried my best to stay optimistic and this photo symbolizes the whirlwind of emotions I was experiencing. Amidst all the darkness and despair, there is still hope and light at the end of the tunnel.  

One thing that I've been doing during this time is baking. I find it therapeutic and it helps me keep my mind busy when I'm not in class or completing schoolwork. In preparation for making a batch of brownies, I opened my mom's old cookbooks and found two recipes -- one for cake brownies and another for fudge ones. It's been a while since I opened up a cookbook because I now rely on YouTube videos and online blogs for recipes.

These bagels are the best homemade baked goods that I made so far while in quarantine. My mom and I woke up early to shape and then bake these bagels before our hearty Saturday morning breakfast. Together, we made cinnamon sugar, chocolate chip, everything, plain and Asiago cheese bagels. Interestingly, baking has not only allowed me to spend some time with myself, but it has also allowed me to spend time and bond with my mom as well.  

Here is another one of our creations! My mom and I tried our hands at making homemade cake donuts and we also made our own chocolate mocha and cinnamon sugar glazes. This recipe called for both flour and yeast, which are two baked ingredients that are now difficult to find at our local supermarkets. Luckily, my mom was able to find a packet of flour and she was also able to snag the last container of yeast from our local Trader Joe's.

In addition to baking, I like to go on lone morning walks because they are incredibly calming. However, these walks can be a bit depressing because I rarely see families or other individuals running, walking or even biking. I'll occasionally run into some fellow walkers, who are wearing face masks, and I then have to be cautious of their space as well as my own. I miss the days when I would frequently see people exercising freely, friends and families walking together and bike groups zipping down the street.

During one particular lone morning walk at 6:30 a.m., I decided to carry both my tripod and camera with me. I took this shot next to my favorite tree in my neighborhood. I'm not sure what type of tree this is but it's located behind a yellow townhouse across my street. 

I was feeling quite ambitious one day and I decided to haul my stand mirror outside to try the viral TikTok photo trend. I've been spending an unhealthy amount of time browsing videos on TikTok and I decided to make my own video. I'm pretty sure my next door neighbors thought I was crazy because they kept peeping out of their windows to see what I was up to.

This is the best photo that I was able to take with my mirror, which says a lot about my posing and photo skills. The picture turned out blurry and awkward but I really liked the backdrop of the bright blue sky and the tree leaves. I don't think I'll try this trend again and I'm in awe of everyone who made it look so easy and effortless.

My mom and grandma both love to watch YouTube videos over cable television and even Netflix. Sometimes, during lunch and after dinner, my mom will play a couple videos for us so that we can watch them together as a family. My mom has been watching plenty of travel vlogs because she misses traveling. She also watches food vlogs for inspiration on what to prepare for lunch and dinner.

My grandma has been watching many YouTube videos about making homemade masks. She felt inspired one day to make some masks for the five of us using old cloth and fabric that my mom had at home. My grandma is also an excellent sewer and she's incredibly meticulous too. She made sure to carefully measure pieces of cloth for the main part of the mask as well as scraps for the ear straps.

My mom and grandma both complain that I use my phone too much yet here they are, with their phones and headphones, watching and enjoying lifestyle YouTube videos. My family and I may not all get along at times and we are also struggling to find a balance between our work, school, personal and family lives. But despite all that, I'm glad that we are all together at this time and staying both safe and healthy.

This is my favorite photo that I took and it's very representative of how I'm feeling now and how I'll be feeling for the rest of quarantine. In addition to my room, I spend most of my time in the kitchen to bake. The soft light coming from the living room windows symbolizes hope and happiness for me. This time is negative, dismal and gloomy but there is still room for hope, optimism and joy.