On March 12, 2022, Shanghai government ordered all schools must switch to home-based online teaching due to COVID breakout. Unfortunately, there were confirmed cases in my neighborhood and thus it was locked down, so I couldn’t go back home and had to apply to stay on campus temporarily. I appreciate the fact that our school made an application to the Education Bureau so that they would allow several students under special circumstances like mine to stay in school. At the end of March, after Shanghai implemented the city-wide static management, our school also conducted closed-loop management accordingly, and all people on campus were not allowed to go outside until now.

I hadn’t expected to be locked in school for nearly two months. Although I can't go home now, I feel I am very lucky, as if I were living in a wonderland. Except for the covid tests, which remind me that the pandemic hasn’t died out, the  other human sufferings caused by the pandemic didn’t seem to have affected our school.

The school cafeteria serves delicious meals every day, and the dorm parents keep reminding us when to get up and go to bed per usual. On weekdays, I go to the designated classroom on time for online classes or to do homework. In my spare time, I would like to walk around the campus and enjoy its beautiful views. The campus in spring is so beautiful and enchanting!

In the early spring when flowers were blooming, the sunlight shone on my face through tree leaves, the new wickers swayed in the spring breeze within my reach. On a pleasant afternoon, afterglow of the setting sun shines on the lake, sparkling but not dazzling, with a cool wind blowing by. I am often delighted by such beautiful scenery, so I often break off a few wicker twigs to make a garland, trying to seize the beautiful spring that I can enjoy freely during this special time.  

I often go for a walk by the lake and feel the wind blowing from the water. Sometimes after a rain, it has cleared up and the sun shines on the lake and the grass beside it; It happens to be an evening glow, which has colored the clouds. I watch the clouds floating in the sky and marvel at their reflections on the lake. Early in the morning when the sun rises, at noonday when the sun is overhead, at twilight when the sun shines, or when the moon and the stars hang in the sky at night, I keep fascinated by all those different views.

Sometimes, I lie on a bench on campus and watch the sky. The changing scenery gives me different feelings.  Lying on my back under the blue sky, watching the clouds move slowly, and listening to the birds and the wind moving the leaves gives a special experience, peaceful and beautiful, like in a world away.

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In addition to walking around the campus, I also like to play on the swing on the lawn. Sometimes I prefer to listen to other schoolmates practicing piano in the music room, watch the teachers and students fishing by the dock, and say hello to the teachers or students who are working out on the playground or in the gym. Every evening, I’d like to chat and take a walk with some teachers and classmates. Everyone, like me, feels very lucky to enjoy such privileges during the pandemic time, and very grateful to the school for making us safe and taking good care of us. 

During the May Day holiday, the pandemic situation in Shanghai kept improving. People living in the community are allowed to go out of school, but it seemed that few people needed to go out for now. The teachers and students made milk tea, pizzas and apple pies in the cooking classroom, and we also took ice creams left in stock in the school store. We spent a afternoon in the warm sunshine and wind, enjoying the beautiful lake view of the campus.  

Now the loquat trees on campus have produced golden fruits. Pick a few and enjoy their sour and sweet tastes, and you will feel as if you were in a wonderland. We hope the pandemic will die out soon, and all teachers and students will come back to school to share its beauty.