We've all been there; you start to slightly feel sick and you know the next week is going to be a painful experience. It is never fun being sick in general, but for some reason in college it feels ten times worse. You can almost feel the sickness in the air as you walk around campus.
This is the typical time everyone catches the "UT plague" as my friends and I like to call it; and unfortunately I think I caught it this semester. A month ago I had strep throat and currently I am recovering from the flu. Here are all the stages I went through in the past week.
1. You develop a cough
You think its nothing, just a slight tickle in your throat. You say to yourself, maybe I sang a little too much at the bar/club this weekend.
2. You wake up with a fever
This is where the real pain starts to happen. Your entire body feels achy and you don't want to move or get out of bed.
3. The doctor tells you you're not allowed to go to school
You finally work up the strength to go to the health center at school to see what's really wrong with you. They tell you you can't go to class for a few days. A blessing in disguise?
4. Start taking medication/antibiotics
The doctor gave you antibiotics or medicine so you take them immediately because you feel like absolute sh*t.
5. Lay in bed...all day
This is one of the few positives of being sick. Hey, at least you get to catch up on all that sleep you've been deprived of because of all your college assignments, right?
6. Loss of appetite
Depending on what medication you get you might not eat a lot the first few days. Slowly you're appetite will come back and all you'll want is comfort food.
7. See all your friends go out, while you are stuck in bed
While my friends were out making plans for the weekend, I was stuck in bed. I had to live the weekend through their Snapchat stories.
8. Binge watch/catch up on your favorite shows
The other plus side to being sick is you get to watch your favorite shows because you're stuck at home and you know you can't focus on anything school related.
9. Ahh...you finally feel better
The medication is working, you can eat normal again, breathe out of your nose; life is looking up...
10. Realize you have 10 assignments all due tomorrow
Prof: All assignments were posted online on Blackboard.
Me: I was sick.
Prof: The assignment is still due tomorrow.
In all actuality though, being sick is not the end of the world. It might set you back a few days, but eventually you get back into your daily school routine.
