As March quickly approaches, the country will have experienced life in a pandemic for a whole year, experiencing on-and-off lockdowns, quarantine, virtual learning, social distancing, and many other negative aspects. However, with this different, more difficult way of life, people were able to discover new hobbies and trends to make the most out of life in the pandemic.

Zoom parties became a popular alternative when it came to celebrations during quarantine. People were creating zoom meetings to celebrate holidays, birthdays, or even to have dinner together. People were able to use technology to adapt to these new changes.

“This year, I had Thanksgiving with my grandparents through a zoom call,” Senior Nicole Abbott said. “Zoom dinners are something we do normally now due to corona.”

Although baking was a hobby that existed prior to the virus, more and more people started baking treats during quarantine. Baking soda, yeast, and flour were items that were constantly out of stock at grocery stores, indicating that the number of bakers increased. “I picked up baking before quarantine, but I started doing it more during quarantine because of the extra time and boredom,” senior Aileen Choi said. “I learned how to bake by watching baking shows and going through a lot of trial and error with my own recipes. I made a lot – macarons of all kinds, strawberry cake, crepe cake, matcha brownies, cookies, etc.”

The pandemic was a great excuse to take up some more unique hobbies. A lot of people found themselves painting and drawing, but a few people started to embroider. “I first tried it [embroidery] because I thought it would be a cool thing to be able to do, my mom, grandma, and great grandma used to do it, and I’m already pretty good at sewing and stitching. I figured I might as well give it a shot. I picked it up during quarantine because I suddenly had all this free time to fill and had nothing to do and nowhere to go,” senior Abigail Rashid said. “I spent about two weeks embroidering a scene of a canyon with the moon hanging over the middle, in honor of one of my favorite songs ‘Canyon Moon’ by Harry Styles.”

Due to the virus, movie theaters were very unsafe because people would need to be confined in a small room. A popular trend that emerged to attack this problem was drive-in movies. “I had never been to a drive-in movie until COVID, but I started going to them because it’s a safe alternative to movie theaters during a pandemic,” senior Safiya Farid said. “I’ve always wanted to go to a drive-in and it was a nice way to experience something new, while getting some fresh air and entertainment. We got to sit in the bed of my friend’s truck and watch one of my favorite movies, all while the sun was setting.”

Many other trends and hobbies that were not mentioned above, like getting new hair styles, tie-dying anything and everything, and Tiger King, a Netflix show that became popular during quarantine, all came with the pandemic. One of the most discussed topics during quarantine was whether or not Carol Baskin, from Tiger King, killed her husband.

The country is about to encounter it’s not-so-great, one year anniversary with COVID-19. Even with these COVID-19 restrictions, people impressively found numerous different ways to have fun, adapt, and, most importantly, stay safe.