They told me it would happen. I heard rumors about it for the last year. “It will ruin you,” they said, “you will never be the same.” I ignored the warnings, and went on living my life, until one day, it bit me. The college bug had landed.
I have never been good at being sick. I get restless, frustrated, and start feeling guilty when I know I should be doing things, but can’t because I really cannot lift my head off of the pillow. Getting sick in college; however, is a whole new horror. I knew it would be bad, but here are all the reasons that made it way worse than I imagined:
1. You know it's coming
You can run, you can hide, but can’t evade the nasty bug making its rounds through campus forever. You hear the coughs and sniffs, and you know that it’s only a matter of time before the sickness finds you. Living on campus makes you an excellent victim for illness, what with the close living quarters and communal dining. At some point, you and your immune system have to sit back and accept the inevitable doom.
2. You feel guilty for subjecting your roommates to your grossness
As you lay curled up in your corner of germs and sadness, you can’t help but feel bad for your well-meaning roommates who offer to grab you tissues, medicine, and anything you need, but flinch when you start hacking up a lung. Plus, you know that they feel obligated to exile themselves out of the room so that you can get some rest. To make it worse, you all know that one of them is next when you live that close to each other.
3. Food (or anything, really) is painfully far away
When you’re feverish and all you want is something cold that won’t make you throw up, the thought of walking all the way to the dining hall is enough to make you cry. As you stumble your way down in your blurred zombie state, nourishment (*salvation) only seems to get further away. I only wish that this was an exaggeration, but it is a painfully accurate recap of two days ago.
4. Plus, to get to that awfully far place, you actually have to put on pants
Because you’re in college. Which is in public. And you’re an adult. Who supposedly can take care of yourself. And because of society. Which sucks.
5. As luck would have it, you have an exam while you're suffering from a fever and extreme drowsiness
And it’s probably a written. You’d better hope that your professor doesn’t insist on correct spelling. Or complete sentences. Or anything that resembles the English language.
6. You're also probably sick on a Friday
The laughter of your floormates and talk of Friday night plans mock you and your pitiful, bedridden self. It doesn’t matter, though, because even if you could manage to lift your diseased body out of bed, you wouldn’t want to join them because…..
7. The only person that you want to see is your mom
It’ll take a Superwoman to make you feel better, and suddenly the distance between you and home feels larger than ever.
