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Disclaimer – I wrote this on Monday, just uploaded it late.

Hello all,

I am writing to you on my second week anniversary of being locked up in my home. Today I have officially finished my mandatory 2 week quarantine after traveling from England to Latvia.

Since England is in a much worse state than Latvia it is on the blacklist of infected countries so when you fly in you have to self-quarantine for 2 weeks. This also includes all family members or housemates that have contact with you so me and my family have been stuck together for a while.

Latvia is not yet under total lockdown as a lot of countries, including England, are but, though my mandatory quarantine is over, it does not mean that I will be going anywhere besides essential food shopping or walks outside. 

This comes after a very turbulent turn of events that caused me to basically flee the country and somehow return home before the Latvian borders close. If you are interested in hearing my version of this story that many people probably have experienced, read on.

As we all know coronavirus was quickly spreading through all of Europe already a month ago. Just look at Italy. One of my best friends studying in Rome was dramatically ordered by her father to take all of her valuables and get on the first flight out when news from Milan became serious. We laughed about this at the time, now we understand he was being smart. She got home before Italy went on lockdown.

My parents visited me exactly one weekend before I was forced to leave. It was my mothers and brother’s birthday so they came to London to celebrate with me and our family. It was a wonderful weekend, but even during the celebrations it became apparent that they may have problems with airports.

Three NCTJ exams later I received a call from my parents asking when I was coming home. To this I responded: “April 4th, why?” Then they said that they wanted me to come home earlier. I thought this was ridiculous and said I wasn’t. Their phone calls became more frequent. I didn’t understand why they were getting so stressed as the situation in both England and Latvia wasn’t bad, to my knowledge.

It wasn’t until the weekend that I truly understood. 

I had my first shift at KMTV on Thursday and I was so excited. I worked hard to be there and I really wanted to make a good impression.

 I loved being in the studio when the theme song first went up, it was so thrilling to be behind the scenes and be a part of it. I truly felt like I was where I needed to be.

I told my parents about this and they told me that Lithuania closed its borders and the rest of the Baltics will soon follow. I need to come home this week or stay in England –

“Where do you want to be on lockdown – at home with us or in England?”

I reluctantly agreed to get a flight the following Saturday, over a week away. That will be fine as I will have enough time to sort out my assignments and KMTV shifts as well as say goodbye to all of my friends.

Then Latvia called an emergency meeting and said they will close their borders. My flight was cancelled, and I was forced to rescheduled it to Wednesday. It was earlier than I wanted it, but I could make it work. I arranged to swap shifts around so I would work on Tuesday. 

Another announcement from the Latvian government said all Latvian citizens needed to get back by Monday night. My flight was cancelled again, and my new flight was on Monday evening – last flight from Gatwick. It was fully booked.

When packing I didn’t know what to take with me as I didn’t know how long I’ll be gone for. So much got left behind. And by the looks of it I won’t be returning until September.

I realize this time is so horrific for everyone, but I feel like everything was going so well right before this happened and this just took everything away. 

So far it is day 14 and I have made multiple TikToks, watched the Indiana Jones trilogy (10/10 I recommend) and limited my crying sessions to one a day. I also started watching the 24 Bond films and the IT crowd. (I recomend On Her Majesty’s Secret Service just for the cool ski scenes).

Days in isolation are certain to get depressing after a while, but my advice is to listen to Dua Lipa’s and The Weekend’s new albums. It will make at least today a little better.