While most rent-paying, off-campus students opted to return to State College during Penn State’s remote learning period, some did not.

In fact, all three of my roommates opted to stay home and leave me to fend for myself in our apartment. Why, you might ask? Because they live in places like sunny Florida, Texas, or literally anywhere else, because it’s better than the brutal State College tundra.

Follow along for an extremely realistic (and lonely!) day in the life of one of our staffers living without her roommates.

Pre-Arrival

While I was excited to return to Penn State, my future began to look bleak when I received a warning message in our apartment GroupMe.

So, every night before I go to sleep, I lay paralyzed with anxiety wondering if a rat is going hop in my bed and come snuggle. At least I’ll never truly be alone!

Fast forward a few days for a step-by-step look through a typical day.

Morning

I woke up at 9:20 a.m., which was unfortunate considering that my first class of the day began at 9:05 a.m. I quickly hopped out of bed and turned on my laptop. It’s a shame I didn’t have a roommate here to throw a pillow at me to wake me up.

Next, I brewed a warm cup of coffee and enjoyed it in the classy mug that one of my roommates bought for me. I miss you, Lauren.

I watched Zoom lectures for the rest of the morning. While it wasn’t particularly exciting, I enjoyed listening without my headphones in because, well, I’m alone.

Following my super-exciting morning learning about the central nervous system, I changed from my nighttime sweatpants into my daytime sweatpants.

Then, I made myself some peanut butter toast and ate it at my empty kitchen table in silence.

Afternoon

At this point, I hadn’t interacted with a single human so far. I called up my good friend and Onward State social media editor, Hope Damato, to go on a Starbucks run. Given that I hadn’t left my apartment in 24 hours, it was nice to see the daylight.

One of the only perks about being in an apartment by yourself is that you can nap anywhere, at any point, and it’s acceptable.

I took a quick three-hour catnap sprawled across my couch because, for some reason, I’ve convinced myself that the rats won’t come out to play during the daytime, so I can actually sleep in peace.

I considered attending office hours because my professors are literally paid to interact with me, but sometimes you just need a nap!

Evening

After a few hours of laziness, I mustered up the energy to do my daily Yoga With Adriene. Clearly, I never grew out of the yoga, Tiger King, and banana bread stages of quarantine.

Throughout the day, all of my belongings ended up on my roommate’s desk. With three empty desks in the house, I can throw my possessions everywhere!

After showering for an entire hour (because I can), I prepared dinner and spiced up my life by sitting in a different seat this time. I’m ~learning to be my own best friend.~

The No. 1 perk of living alone during the remote period is being able to throw your dishes in the sink and not have to wash them. Courtesy is not a thing when your roommate is your reflection. Dishes are a “tomorrow” problem.

Night

I finished my schoolwork early, so I thought one of my pals could keep me company. Unfortunately, people have other plans besides hanging out with me.

Alexa, play “Driver’s License.”

I ended my night by watching true crime shows, which is quite literally the worst thing you can do when you live alone.

So, I double-locked my front door with this sophisticated device that my roommate’s mom bought so that I don’t get murdered in my sleep. #justgirlythings, hehe.

I set six alarms because I have nobody to piss off in the morning when I don’t wake up to them. And, finally, I scrolled mindlessly on my computer for hours before I ultimately crashed.

Goodnight, from the perspective of my non-existent roommate.

In all seriousness, I would’ve never imagined that I’d be spending my college career on Zoom, living in an empty apartment by myself, or taking timer cam pictures of my daily tasks. But, such is life, and I’ve learned to appreciate the small victories — like not needing to get dressed for class and being able to pee with the door open.