Red Zone and Marieke is in!

Since last night, not only the north of Italy is in the "red zone", but the whole of Italy. That also includes us here in Sardinia. There are now 34 cases. In order to stop the virus, stricter entry and exit conditions apply to everyone, as well as basic protective measures. This means that we can still travel to our place of residence in Germany, but no one can enter Italy without further ado. Travel within Italy is also no longer possible without a specific reason. Restaurants, clubs, cinemas, fitness studios, and bars, everything is closed. The government has decided that citizens should only leave the house to go shopping and for work. All other events and gatherings are prohibited.

Basically, it's like a quarantine for us. We can't do anything anymore except sit at home and wait for time to pass. Since our university will also remain closed until April 4th after the 10-day break, the studies are unfortunately on hold. They are trying to offer online courses, but so far nothing has happened in that regard. So the university will not reopen until after Easter at the earliest, and that's not certain either. Maybe we'll be lucky and from April 4th we can at least engage in leisure activities, but who knows. In any case, the Italians take the situation very seriously. For example, yesterday we were in a pizzeria and we were not allowed to sit together at one table. There had to be a certain distance. In addition, the waiter disinfected our hands with alcohol. It just wasn't what we had imagined.

Unfortunately, the mood is very low and besides two friends of ours who have already left, other students are also considering flying home. But even that proves to be difficult, as many flights have been canceled in general and no direct flights are offered outside the season. In addition, the flights are not very cheap and a departure could possibly mean the end of the semester abroad. Because who knows how the situation in Germany will develop and whether we could travel back again. In any case, a decision to cancel the trip must be carefully considered. One thing is certain, it will be a tough time to wait until after Easter to finally be able to do something again. At the moment, we're trying to keep ourselves busy with games, movies, and cooking evenings. Maybe it's also possible to go to the beach tomorrow... we'll see.

Except for the first photo, they don't give the impression that I'm in quarantine. The last three impressions are from trips before Sardinia was declared a red zone. Fortunately, I actually went swimming in the sea once, even though the water was really cold. We also had a beautiful trip to the beaches in Chia, which became sunny after a 30-minute rain shower! In the port of Cagliari, I had a very delicious ice cream with huge pieces of chocolate and was very proud that I could order it in Italian. But the next ice cream will probably have to wait a while.

As of now, I'm not going to leave this beautiful island, but we have all seriously considered it.