There's not much you can do to dodge getting sick in college. Your best bet is to avoid it like the plague and cross your fingers each time you take a sip from the sketchy batch of communal 'punch' that appears at every party. But once you do get sick, and you will get sick, every college kid knows the struggle.
1. Your mom isn't there to take care of you.
In college, no one will be there to make your favorite food, buy you medicine, or tuck you into bed at night. To help fill the void, you'll start forming a strong relationship with Netflix.
2. You fight the urge to go out with friends.
While you're sitting in bed hoping that your headache goes away, all your friends are out at Potbelly's, intentionally getting drunk and thus creating headaches for themselves the next morning. It's hard to watch everyone's Snapchat stories and not feel a pang of jealousy. After all, you don't wanna miss out on the bar scene because of some stupid cold that your lab partner gave you.
3. You experience a cough attack in class.
Suddenly, it feels as though everyone is staring. Even your professor stops mid-lecture to give you the look. There is no amount of water that can suppress the cough that is practically making you convulse. You're only option is to make a swift exit out the back door and hope your peers aren't judging too hard.
4. You ran out of EmergenC and tissues.
When you have a cold, the flu, or strep throat, that box of tissues you have come to love so dearly can disappear quickly. Soon enough, you'll find yourself using toilet paper, napkins and paper towels to stop the leakage. You also just used your last EmergenC packet -- does that stuff even work?
5. Once one of your friends get sick, you all get sick.
There's just too many germs and too many shared red Solo cups to stay illness-free. As soon as one man goes down, it won't be long before your whole group message is sending each other selfies in bed and complaining of the sniffles.
6. The library becomes off limits.
Unless you want to be that gross kid with tons of cooties, you should stay away from Strozier. Your nose turned into a faucet and your skin has turned into an unfortunate shade of green, so do yourself a favor and submit that discussion board post from the comfort of your own apartment.
