With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, you may have experienced having the virus. I did recently over winter break and had to self-isolate in my flat in London. Luckily my symptoms were mild and I was able to opt-out of isolation early. Still I felt so lonely, like I had the black plague or a scarlet letter on my forehead saying, “stay away!” Living in a foreign city can already feel lonely and isolating at times, so as many of you may be thinking of LSE or are at LSE currently, I thought I’d share some things I did to help me get through isolation.

If you’ve also had to isolate, comment and share what you did to occupy your time during isolation!

1. Sleep

Yes, sleep. This is my number one suggestion for you to do. After all your body is fighting off a virus and you’re also likely exhausted from the heavy amounts of coursework and studying we have to do as students at LSE.  If I’m honest, I actually wish I let myself sleep more when I was sick. I tried to fight it and convince myself that I was fine when in reality my body needed rest, so prioritize sleep and rest so you can recover quickly.

2. Netflix

While sleep is amazing, you probably won’t want to sleep all day. I didn’t have much energy to focus on reading or even watching anything heavy, so I binge-watched Emily in Paris, which I recommend if you’re looking for something light-hearted and easy to watch. Give your brain a break and watch that series or movie you’ve been wanting to see.

3. Organise

Once you’re feeling a little better and have recovered some energy, go clean your room. For starters, you’ve been breathing Covid germs everywhere (yuck!) and, if you’re anything like me, my room can tend to get a little messy especially when I’m constantly going back and forth to campus and trying to stay healthy and maintain a social life in between all the studying. Look at self-isolation as an opportunity to catch-up on all those chores you normally push aside. Plus, doing a little cleaning always helps you feel more productive.

After being a couch potato and watching Netflix, you can move around and tidy-up a bit. And tidying-up isn’t strictly limited to physically cleaning, it can also include organizing lecture notes or making a study-schedule.

4. Talk to friends and family

Thankfully we live in a time when social media and things like FaceTime and Zoom exist. When you can’t see someone in person, you can easily video call them and still enjoy their presence virtually. Staying in touch with friends and family who live far away is tough, so lean on them while you’re stuck at home and can’t physically see anyone. You can socialise virtually and fill your friends and family back home in all the exciting things you’ve been doing in London.

5. Plan fun activities and trips

There’s nothing better than making fun plans to give yourself something to look forward to. Make a London bucket-list! After being forced to be alone, I’m sure you’ll be excited to be around people again, so schedule some activities to explore London or plan a weekend getaway.