Being sick in college might as well mean the world is ending. Are you sick during finals week? Tough. Nothing is getting you out of taking that final unless you're actually on your death bed. Does your body ache so much that you can hardly bear the idea of getting out of bed to make yourself some soup? Well, unless you can magically whip up some food just by thinking about it, it looks like you'll be crawling your way to the stove despite barely being able to move. Coming from someone who is currently coughing up a lung and enjoying the finer things that come with a higher education, I've come up with some reasons as to why being sick in college is the absolute worst.
1. The wait at the clinic is always more than an hour.
I would be over my sickness before I get an appointment at the clinic on campus. Even off campus clinics have a ridiculous wait time. I once waited 3 hours at a doctor's office to be seen. After the 3 hours, they told me exactly what I already knew: I had and could have spared myself three hours of my life that I'll never get back by just walking in there and telling them the medications I knew I needed.
2. If one person gets sick, everyone gets sick.
It's scientifically proven (not really) that when one person gets sick in college, it spirals out of control and everyone ends up sick. Sharing drinks and people pushing up against you at the bars is a sure fire way to get the hottest new virus spreading around campus. Soon enough, everyone in your 800 person class is coughing up a storm.
3. You have to cater to yourself.
When your sick, all you want is for someone to take care of you. Unless your roommates really love you, you're pretty much on your own.
4. You come to terms with the fact that you will never get better.
Being sick in college is like a never ending cycle. Once you start to think you're getting better, your body decides it actually hates you and you get sick all over again.
5. You're still expected to go out.
Apparently there's this ridiculous idea that going out will make you forget that you're sick? God help whoever willingly takes this advice because you will 100% feel worse in the morning.
6. You still have to go to class.
Unlike high school, your professors don't care if you don't feel well and miss their class. Your mom can't call up the front office and save you from this one, nor can you fake a fever and lay in bed all day. There's no makeup work or excuses, so tough it up buttercup and make sure to cover your mouth when you cough because people will stare you down.
7. You end up falling behind in life.
Yeah, you may make it to class, but since you did you deserve the whole day to nap, right? Wrong. You still have all the responsibilities you had when you weren't sick and no one is going to do them for you. School work, club meetings, and everything else in between still exists, but napping takes priority of course.
8. Getting lectured by your parents about your health.
Everyone knows what I'm talking about when I say that every time you're sick in school, your parents lecture you about not taking care of yourself. Either you're wearing yourself out from partying, you're not getting enough sleep, or you're not drinking enough water. All of these might be true, but c'mon mom and dad, tell me something I don't know!
9. Your mom isn't there to take care of you.
I always find myself craving a bowl of my mom's homemade chicken soup whenever I have to settle for the supermarket kind. I miss the way she would constantly check in on me to make sure I had enough blankets, water, or that my pillow was still fluffed to perfection. Truth is, there's nothing like having your mom around when you don't feel well.
