When it comes to college, from first-hand experience, I can confidently say that there is nothing worse than the point in each semester where the entire school gets sick. Nobody is safe. Whether you have gotten your flu shot or not, at some point you too will eventually get sick and (unwillingly) engage in the cycle of being sick in college. Here are the ten steps to getting sick in college:
Your roommate/friend/classmate gets sick.
The second you hear the first sneeze or cough, everything starts going downhill. They try to reassure you that it's just allergies, but you know the truth; That in three days, they'll be miserable and begging everyone around them for cough drops.
You avoid anyone or anything with cold symptoms.
You avoid any coughs, sneezes, heck, even sniffles, like the plague. While you know you're just fooling yourself, there is hope that if you keep distance and take vitamins, you could avoid it. You even stay away from the kid who claims it's just a headache.
You wake up with a stuffy nose.
First, you get up with a stuffed nose, but there is still room for deniability within yourself. You tell yourself and others around you that, "you're not sick," but you slowly see new warning signs pop up.
You now also have a tickle in the back of your throat.
Now, not only are you waking up sniffling, but it seems like someone has deemed it their personal mission to tickle the back of your throat throughout the entire day. You are now at the point in the cold where you just have to accept the sick fate to come.
Intense coughing starts.
*Cough.* "Sorry, I can't really speak in class today. My voice is gone." We've all been there. You're not even trying to get out of participating. Your voice is officially too messed up from coughing your lungs up.
You start bringing full packs of tissues to class.
Cue the awkward moment that you walk into class clutching an entire tissue box while wearing sweats, and also looking insane with cold shivers. On top of this, you get home and try every home remedy and cough medicine you have.
Class is a haze because you can't breathe and you're coughing the entire time.
What? Sorry professor, I couldn't hear you over my cough, stuffed nose, and plugged up ears. The only peace available to me right now is those few moments where your throat gets numb between coughing and sucking cough drops.
You take a rest day and start getting better.
Your either get a beer and have to actually take that day off you needed OR you finally hit the weekend when classes are over and finally get the rest you deserve.
You go back to class and everyone else is sick.
You thought once you cleared the break, now completely cold free, classes would be much better. But, your dreams are probably crushed as you walk in and see 20 other students coughing and blowing their nose in front of you.
Cycle repeats.
You tell yourself, "I'm immune, I've already gotten sick this semester." In response, you get kicked down by the flu gods and wake up in even worse shape than the last time.
The only good thing about being sick is having an excuse to sleep all day (except for when you have class).
