Nathan Kanabrocki is a 21-year-old student at Illinois State University who is majoring in cybersecurity. He is originally from Huntley but currently resides just outside the Bloomington-Normal area. He spends his time coding in the multiple different languages that are present in coding. When he isn’t coding, he is busy spending time with his friends and time in class going over all of the different aspects of cybersecurity.

Q: What was your daily life before the COVID-19 breakout compared to now?

A: My daily life before the COVID-19 breakout was awesome! I’d be able to go outside all the time, actually attend class in person which I actually enjoyed because for me it helped me with coding when I could actually have my professor check my screen and help me instead of trying to show them on a zoom call.

Q: What is by far the biggest change in your life since the breakout?

A: The biggest change in my life since the breakout has been without a doubt not being able to socialize with my friends in person. I miss going out on Friday nights with them to one of the many restaurants and bars in the area and having fun together. But since nearly everyone has gone home cause of COVID-19 I haven’t seen any of them and its tough.

Q: What would you say is the hardest part of getting school work done?
A: By far the hardest part of getting my school work done is trying to find time to actually sit down and focus on my homework and school in general. With my roommate and I in our apartment all the time it’s easy for the two of us to get distracted with funny videos, memes and video games it sometimes gets lost and lose track of time and to finish my school work for the week.

Q: With you spending the entire lockdown in your apartment on campus do you miss everyone back home do you wish you were spending it there?

A: Yes I do miss my family back home I usually call home and check in on them to make sure they are doing alright, but do I wish I was staying there, to be honest, no I don’t because I’m still paying for my apartment and if I had stayed at home I’d be paying rent on this place for nothing so I do miss my parents and everyone back home but I am glad I’m spending it in my apartment.

Q: With no end in sight what seems like one of your biggest fears about this outbreak?

A: My biggest fear is not only the fact that I don’t know when this is going to end but also the fact that the economy has taken a huge hit and is just now slowly starting to increase. Even with this slight increase, I’m still afraid of how this will pan out economically and how we all as a whole will bounce back from a pandemic such as this one.

Q: With this lockdown and quarantine, in general, what are some of the ways that you are coping with all of this?

A:  Some of the ways that I am coping with this is by spending time catching up on all of the different films and tv shows I am behind on. Some of the other things that I am doing is playing video games more often with my friends back home. I’m also just so bored I’m just practicing my coding for hours a day and it’s insane. I’m reading more, my roommate and I are joking around with each other and sending memes with everyone in our friend group chat. It’s weird having all of this free time on my hands and sometimes it’s hard to prioritize my day so I need to deal with some downtime and I’m usually spending a couple of hours a day playing on my phone bored out of my mind it’s terrible but it’s pretty much all I do these days and I kind of does suck but it’s the reality that we are all living so I can’t really complain.