“Everyone felt distant from each other but over time people ended up getting closer.”

Bryan Morales, 21, is a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student majoring in Film and continuing on his college career. He is getting used to the fact that everyone is getting close to being back to normal, and he is trying to build more connections on campus.

Juan Rodriguez: What was your first reaction when you found out that we are going to have online classes?

Bryan Morales: I was hoping this was all going to work out. Since my major was in film I have worked with a lot of people, but now that has turned the other way around where we can work by ourselves or get other people like friends but it has been much tougher but besides that like editing it’s so much simpler.

Q: Were all of your classes all online or in person?

A: For the most part they were all online, but some were in person. I do remember when it started only one class was in person but everyone was 6 feet apart so it just felt strange since it used to be packed with people.

Q: When you attended that one class what did you do all semester

A: Basically just watched numerous films, critique, write essays, this room for this one class was a theater, had rows of seats, kind of like a theater and I remember having a class before the pandemic so every single seat was taken but when we had that one semester all online everyone was so apart from each other it just felt so strange to me.

Q: What did you do on the daily when we had that one school year of all online classes?

A: I was mostly just at home except for that one day since that class was a weekly class so we went once a week. For the most part I was at home, in Zoom meetings.

Q: How was your mental health during that time?

A: Very bad, before that I was having trouble socializing but now when that time came it was harder for me. It just took a toll on me and I didnt know what to do.

Q: When they announced that classes would be back in person, what was your initial reaction?

A: Part of me was excited but for the most part I was just scared because I did not want to catch COVID-19 so I just wanted to stay at home where it was safer. But, I was able to work with more people so that helped.

Q: How did your first semester back to campus go?

A: It was kind of annoying because every class they would remind us about the rules of Covid but other than that it felt odd since we all were wearing our masks. Everyone felt distant from each other but over time people ended up getting closer.

Q: When UWM dropped the mask mandate, what was your initial reaction?

A: It was a good idea that everyone should have the right to wear masks or not. I always wear my mask but it is always below my nose once in a while.

Q: Are you happy that you are taking your classes all in person?

A: Yes, I only have one class but it is no issue at all. I am able to work wherever I can but I need to login at a certain time of the day.

Q: How is this semester going so far?

A: So far it is a strange combination of before and after we took online classes because some instructors were used to the idea of taking online courses rather than in person and some instructors are used to in person compared to online and it is all over the place but they handled it well. As of right now everyone is feeling better from what I can see.