Growing up in lockdown means missing the little things while looking forward to 'just everything'

Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh student Holly Whelan at the school.  Picture: Brian Arthur

It’s the little things that Holly Whelan, 17, misses; going to the cinema, getting dolled up, sleepovers with her best friends, smiling at someone good looking, cups of tea in her granddad’s house, Penneys, sitting on a crowded 301 bus, sharing a salt & chilli chicken box with her friends on a Friday, sitting next to someone new.

A fifth-year student at Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh in Limerick City, the lockdown last March meant her transition year (TY) experience was abruptly cut short.

"I was really worried about it," she told the Irish Examiner. 

"I was saying to myself ‘ugh I didn’t get anything out of TY, I did nothing’. 

"My work experience was cancelled, all our trips, all cancelled. Everyone always talks about how TY was their best year. I was worried I was still the same person, that I hadn’t matured.

"But good things did come out of quarantine. I went back to old hobbies, things I stopped doing due to my exams. I took them up again. I got more time to myself, and I was able to enjoy my time a bit more. I could just do what I wanted to do all day."

What’s the mood like amongst her friends?

"We’re happy to be back in school but we’re all wondering: ‘When will we get to go out, when will we get to have those fun times again?’"

It’s great to be back in school now, she added. 

It’s strange, but it’s great. Like, it feels more normal but then when you go home it feels like lockdown again.

"I’ve a younger brother who is still online-only, so when I’m at school it’s like ‘great, the world feels a bit normal’ but when I’m back at home ‘Oh yeah, we’re not able to go anywhere.

"I used to watch and listen to the news but for the last few weeks, I’ve been avoiding it. I don’t want to think that we might get sent home or anything like that.”

The first term of fifth year was “so strange”.

"Wearing masks in school, spraying our desks and chairs every hour on the hour and sitting 2m apart at all times.”

Holly is the oldest in her family. She has a younger brother who is in first year.

"My mum is a Covid-swabber in the community. Before she became a swabber last year, she was just working from home and she hated it, so she changed careers completely.

"My dad was a project manager before but with the pandemic, sites shut so he was at home. Usually, he was in Dublin, so it was lovely to have him at home. We all got to know each other better. We know each other well, but it was just way better for him to be at home.

"Honestly at the start, I just listened to sad music for the whole start of quarantine. At the time, it seemed like the end of the world.

"Now when sad music comes up on Spotify, I just skip it. I’m listening to a lot of upbeat dance music, so I can pretend I’m in a disco or a nightclub."

With so much online schooling, much of young people’s last year has been spent on screens.

Holly said: "When it’s your free time then you’d usually go on your phone, watching YouTube or TikTok or you’d go on social media and then watch TV.

"So it was a lot of devices, you really had to put in the effort to put the device down and go and do something.”

When this is all over, Holly looks forward to travelling.

"Honestly, I’m looking forward to just everything. 

That sounds so sad, but it is just everything; Going to my granddad’s house, going to my friends’ houses, going out for dinner with my mom, getting a coffee. 

"I’m excited about the summer, I love the summer, and about travelling.

"I’m definitely an explorer, so I can’t wait to travel. I’d really like to go anywhere hot, but I’ve never been anywhere cold either so maybe somewhere like Iceland."

• Check out irishexaminer.com and Friday's Irish Examiner for the Growing up in Lockdown online longread and supplement to get a glimpse at the pandemic through the eyes of our children.