It’s week six of college, but ever since the second week, people have been complaining of contracting “The UT Plague 2016” (cue the dramatic sound effect).

What is it? A vague term to describe any unidentified illness or feeling slightly under the weather while attending the University of Tampa in 2016. It’s definitely not, by any means, even kinda-sorta the bubonic plague. At worst, it’s probably a cold. Somehow, calling it “The UT Plague 2016” makes it sound mildly humorous and a bit less whiny when one complains of their ailment.

But it’s still extremely gross, inconvenient, and unless you have a killer immune system, unavoidable.

It’s near impossible to focus in lectures when half the people in it (including the professor) are sniffling, sneezing, and coughing. It is, in the words of the boy who sits next to me in chemistry lecture, “f------ disgusting.” People are always getting up to go to the bathroom to grab and/or throw away tissue. I don’t know how they manage (assuming they have them) labs because it is majorly frowned upon to sneeze on all glassware or have snot on your lab coat, and it is ESPECIALLY frowned upon to sneeze on and possibly ruin the entire experiment.

Then, in the dining hall, you’ve got kids coughing on the salad bar, or on the taco topping station, or on to all the plates and utensils. Like?! You’d be surprised how many kids – or rather, young adults – do not cover their cough or sneeze into the crook of their elbow, or at the very least, their shoulder. Not to mention that it’s clear some of the dining hall staff are feeling a little ill, so that’s absolutely fantastic considering they are the people handling your food (eyeroll emoji).

And then you can’t even avoid it back in the dorm – if you yourself aren’t sick, your roommate probably is. And if your roommate’s sick, it’s probably because the most of the floor is also sick to some degree. So basically, you’re guaranteed your own bout of “the sickness.”

… Which is right about where I’m at right now. I write you to live from my bed, where I’ve pretty much parked myself for the past three days. A sore throat, a headache, and an inability to breathe through my nose – nothing major though (to my mom: don’t worry I’m good I promise). I’ve been sleeping it off – apologies to my roommates though because I am almost 100% sure I’ve been snoring during my mid-day naps.

In addition to sleeping as much as possible (without neglecting my responsibilities), I’ve also been eating a lot of chicken flavored ramen noodles. The reason being? Since the chicken flavored ramen noodles kind of have a similar taste to chicken soup, I’ve been forcing myself to believe that the eating the ramen noodles will help me shake this “UT Plague 2016”… This could very loosely be considered to be some sort of placebo effect as I really have been starting to feel better.

And so, “The UT Plague 2016” has taught me the second life lesson I’ve learned in college: illness is pretty much unavoidable, do what you can to take care of yourself. Chicken soup, taking a day off, or going to the doctor are obviously more ideal when it comes to trying to get well again, but if as close as you can get to that are naps and chicken flavored ramen noodles? It’s good enough. Being sick sucks, but life stops for no one, so whatever you can do to make yourself feel at least a little better is more than fine.

Best of health to all of you.