As I am currently writing this, I am five minutes over my deadline for Odyssey, and I just got done with one of two tests that I missed this week. What's the correlation between those two things you ask? Oh, just the worst blood donation experience ever. It was my first time and the guy who was helping was not very sympathetic. 1) My arm started leaking blood after he took the I.V. out and all he said was 'oops'. 2) He dropped the sign out sheet into my lap without even offering me anything to eat or drink. 3) I got up anyway because I'm a moron who has never given blood before. Suffice to say, I passed out, missed an entire class, and ended up throwing up six times that night alone. I found out when I went to Health Services the next day that I experienced what was similar to stage fright which was what triggered my nausea, pain, and just general discomfort. To quote the nurse practitioner- 'never give blood again.' Anyway I have a lab and a test that and I had just been up for the last sixteen hours vomiting and in. Suffice to say, I ended up missing my first day of class ever and here's why it sucked.
1. Greet loneliness like an old friend
We're all used to our mom, dad, friend, dog, grandma, and etc. staying home with us when we're sick and keeping us company. However don't expect that in college. All of your friends have classes of their own so you're going to be very alone in your dayroom or room wherever you spend your sick day. The most you'll get is your insomniac best friend staying up with you, and your insomniac R.A. checking up on you to see if you've expired on his futon.
2. Illness sucks
This is just a general thing, but being sick isn't a fun experience no matter how many times you've gotten sick. College is no different except you don't have parents to make you Everything Bagels with veggie cream cheese and locks (It's currently lunch hour while I'm writing this and there's food smells everywhere), to remind you to take that pill that you're supposed to take every four hours to stay healthy, or to warn you that that anti-nausea medicine is going to make you really dizzy and tired so don't try to get on top of your lofted bed.
3. Making up work is like pulling teeth
So not only are you behind because of when you're sick, but now you're going to be behind in your other classes as you struggle to make up what literally feels like a week's worth of work. I will never understand how teachers manage to cram so much in the day(s) that you're not there. (Seriously I managed to get plaques after trying for three weeks and of course it was literally the one day I wasn't in Bio. lab).
4. Making up tests is literally death
As someone who pulled an all-nighter out of fear of her make-up test today, I cannot understand how people skip class on test day. Like the cons far outweigh the pros here. First of all, you have to make it up at the teacher's convenience which will most likely mean a total inconvenience for you. Secondly, most likely you've already heard all of your friend's scores which will just make you feel inadequate (I know I did). Finally, you again have to push aside everything in your other classes just to refresh for a test that you literally could have taken at the normal time when everything was still fresh and your professor isn't in another unit.
Moral of the story everyone: Never give blood.
Just kidding. The moral is "try not to get sick." Wash your hands, use hand sanitizer and limit contact with others who are sick. It's understandable if you need to take a day, though. Don't try to force yourself to go to class or worse even take a test when you know that nothing good can come of it. Still try to use common sense when taking them. A cold or a hangover are not legitimate reasons for absences. You don't want to get to the end of the semester, have a medical emergency, and have to drop out of the course. So happy flu season everyone!
