Here we are again, the infamous cold and flu season. The time of year when the weather is trying to warm up, but mother nature still throws a high enough amount of cold days at us that your body can not figure out what to do. The outside sunshine says to throw on a pair of Nike shorts and a t-shirt, but the inside of your body says not to get out of bed. We have all experienced this feeling a myriad of times in our life. However, there is a whole new feeling of being sick as a college student. The first moment when your mom isn't around to make you soup, or instead of your dad stopping to get sprite for you on his way home from work you now have to get up in the middle of the night and sneak your roommates sprite out of the fridge trying to make the least bit of noise possible. Here are ten things every college student experiences when they are sick...
1. You go as long as you can without actually admitting you are sick.
Before college you would feel a little queasy or have a sore throat, but have an entire medicine cabinet at your disposal. You do all that you can to put off admitting you are sick at all costs, and avoiding responsibility the best you can. You curse yourself, regretting the decision you made to not wear a jacket last night.
2. For the first time you actually have to take care of yourself.
This involves everything from making your own comfort food to facing the world on your own to go out and get tissues. Nobody is there to remind you to take your medicine or be at your disposal at any given time. You call your mom begging for advice on what to do, but secretly hoping she will just drop everything and come back to take care of you.
3. Your professors don't really believe you are sick.
At the beginning of the semester when professors introduce their attendance policy you take it very lightheartedly, having no thoughts that you will have to actually use your days for sick days. However, now on your four absence you keep your fingers crossed that your professor will take mercy on you, and let your doctor's statement act as your golden ticket into makeup work.
4. Your roommate's reaction to your illness.
For some of us we have roommates who offer to help. The roommates who will make you soup, let you have one of their sodas, stop by Walmart and get you some medicine on their way from class. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum are the roommates who find out you are sick, and practically move out for the remainder of your sickness. These roommates may send you an occasional text just to make sure you are still breathing or to see if the apartment is safe for them to enter back into.
5. The awesome amount of time you have to your self.
You finally get that much needed time to watch an entire series on Netflix, and sleep for fourteen straight hours without giving a care in the world. Although being sick is no fun it sometimes is nice to be able to do what for a few days.
6. You spend all of your time awake either looking up your symptoms on WebMD or harassing your nursing major friends begging for a diagnosis.
In all of your free time you find time to look up all of your symptoms, and find out 1,000 different diseases you are completely sure that you have. You send multiple texts and calls to your nursing friends, informing them that not only are you dying but you need their help in order to get any better.
7. The decision of whether of not to hit up student health.
It's cold in there, and the secretary looks at you like you are coming in for a questionable disease the moment you step in the door. You walk in, and see the pile of surgical masks on the table and reach for one just to make sure you don't leave the building sicker than when you went in. This place is definitely different from your childhood pediatrician.
8. You start to feel better, and then experience a relapse.
You wake up from your extended nap, and decide that you are all better. You are all better now, and think you can finally face the world again... Then you stand up, and realize you are absolutely not okay. In fact, your relapse makes you feel even worse than when you originally began.
9. Finally have to say no to going out.
Previously when you missed out on doing things because you were sick it was just a basketball game or a movie night with a few friends, but now it seems like the one night you miss out on your friends talk about like it was the greatest night of their lives. You no longer can miss something hanging out with your friends, because it turns out that just missing one activity turns out to be missing out on a lot.
10. The hospitality differs.
You go from mom fixing chicken noodle soup and crackers. To appreciating the little bit of love and nutrients from others you can get, even if its a taco or a sonic drink. Surround yourself with your closest friends. They bring the best medicine, and help you feel a little more at home in your time of despair.
Let's be real, juggling school and your sickness is a difficult task. Especially when it catches you in the middle of your busiest week of the semester, with two papers, and two papers due. The moment you decide you are over your sickness you immediately make a mental note of at least ten precautionary measures to ensure that you never feel that way again... At least not until next year.
