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REMI AND EVA FERNANDEZ BY AUDREY HETTLEMAN

Eva and Remi Fernandez live with their family in Valencia, Spain in an apartment on the busiest street in the city. In the past, this prime location gave them the ability to walk practically anywhere they needed. But during lockdown, the tight quarters feel suffocating.

The twins, who lived in Kentfield before moving to Spain for their freshman year in 2016, attend the American school of Valencia with an International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, most of their lives were spent outside their apartment’s walls, attending soccer practice or spending time with friends in various parts of the city. Now, they’ve had to find other forms of entertainment, ranging from trying out new recipes to playing board games with the rest of their family.

Although the virus has made their lives more difficult, the twins say they are trying to look on the bright side by acknowledging the positive sides of the lockdown. “I think [the virus has] formed a sense of unity within the country, since everybody's going through the same thing. Every night at eight o'clock everybody goes out onto the balcony and claps [as] a thank you to all of the emergency workers, all of the doctors, paramedics, anyone who has continued to work during this period, and it's gone on every single night for three weeks,” Remi said. “I think it just shows that even though it's a tough time, everyone's working to get through it together.”