Editor’s note: “The new normal” is a continuing series that looks into how members of the Los Medanos College community are coping with a shelter-in-place order amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Current Los Medanos College student Joseph Arroyos has been trying to find a healthy balance between both work and online school. Unfortunately, he’s being met with more trouble than originally thought as the end of the semester draws near and county-wide quarantine drags on.

Arroyos, who is currently taking courses such as Introduction to Keyboard and Music 15, feels like juggling both a job and an education is much harder than it seems.

“Things have been difficult, the balance between work and school has proved troublesome,” said Arroyos. “I was working 35 hours a week at a grocery store, and in order to stay on top of school, I had to quit my job.”

Quitting during this time was hard for Arroyos.

“Next month would’ve been my one year anniversary since working at that store which was disappointing to have quit,” he said. 

As for online learning, things have been going quite well for Arroyos.

“The online process is somewhat smooth, it does seem like some professors are assigning more work due to people having to be at home, but this, in fact, isn’t always the case,” said Arroyos. “I was given more hours to work along with balancing more homework from professors which made it difficult to stay on top of everything.”

Arroyos has been using his time at home to practice his instruments and enjoy himself more.

“Other than balancing responsibilities, quarantine seems to be going as well as it can for people, as different people are making the best of their isolation. Personally, outside of school, I am having a good time enjoying myself and practicing playing my instruments,” said Arroyos.