“It honestly started out as a joke.”
Typically, the story following that phrase isn’t a good one. However, junior Rebekah Kerby’s experience that began as a joke was actually positive and helped her to stay entertained during her two-week quarantine period.
Kerby, who is a New Zealand native, returned home due to the coronavirus outbreak, and was required, as is everyone coming into the country, to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. She also recently made the decision not to return to Asbury after this semester, so she was already planning a long-term stay at home. Since she was going to be separated from her friends, an idea came up as a way for her to keep her friends around the world updated on her life while also giving herself something fun to do during her two weeks spent in quarantine.
“I was joking with some friends about starting a vlog to keep them updated and to keep myself entertained,” she said, “but the more I thought about it, the more I was like, actually, this could be really fun and also a great way to give me motivation to do stuff throughout the day, because I don’t want to upload something that’s boring, you know? So yeah, a joke turned into reality.”
Kerby’s vlogs are anything but boring. She had planned various projects to do during this time and she filmed them all, including working on a tapestry, painting flowers, working on her music, sharing her morning routine, cooking and even nairing hair off of her face.
“Probably my favorite thing that I did was I had my own mini Junior-senior party by myself. The night that it should’ve happened was the day after I had made it halfway through quarantine, so I decided to have a little ‘half-way’ party,” said Kerby. “I wore what I was originally going to wear for the dance, did my makeup and made a nice dinner and dessert for myself. I played some jazz music, and may or may not have danced around the room by myself — go check out the vlogs. It was fun, but it also was really sad at the same time. As I’m not returning to Asbury in the fall, it was kind of a sad realization that I’ll never get to experience Junior-Senior. I’ve definitely missed out on some memories there.”
Kerby also used her vlog as a platform to educate her viewers on autoimmune disease and chronic illness and why taking precautions during this time is so important. As someone who is immunosuppressed, Kerby spoke on this because it is so personal. “I’m in that percentage of people that need to be really careful of COVID-19 because I would most likely end up in the ICU if I got it. This reality hit me some days, and I was able to vlog about it and express how this is a really scary time,” said Kerby. “It makes me upset that so many people don’t seem to care about spreading the virus. There are a lot of us that this could be deathly for. This is a scary time for a lot of people, so even if you aren’t scared, keep in mind that a lot of people are and have good reason to be. I talked in the vlogs a lot about loving your neighbor — this is such a great opportunity for us to do this! Love your neighbor by washing your hands and staying at home!”
