Strep Throat in Cinque Terre

I am in love with the European health care system.

Over spring break, I travelled from Nice to Genoa to Cinque Terre and back to Nice.  Somewhere in the Nice-Genoa-Cinque Terre leg of the trip, however, I encountered a bacteria that decided it was going to latch onto my throat and not let go for dear life.  Yes, dear readers, I woke up in my lovely hotel in the first day of my visit to the Cinque Terre with no energy and a sharp pain in my throat.  Cut to the following day, when I couldn't swallow for fear of tiny knives appearing in my saliva to cut up my throat, and I decided that something had to be done.

Unable to figure out how to find a doctor in the tiny village of Monterosso al Mare without speaking a word of Italian, I went down to reception and asked the woman at the desk if she would call a doctor for me.  I must have looked pretty pathetic, because she assured me everything would be taken care of, and I was sent back up to my room with a pot of tea, some cold cuts of ham, and some crackers.  An hour later, there was a knock on my door.

In walks an old man with wispy grey hair, a polished walking stick, and a well-used leather bag.  He was the epitome of the Italian doctors you would expect to see in movies in the 1940s, yet somehow he had just appeared in my hotel room.  I did my best to explain the problem in as few words as possible, still not able to do much with my throat.  The doctor then told me that most places in Italy, they don't do strep tests because the small towns don't have the technology.  Instead, he grabbed his light and peered down my throat, made some vague, non-committal noises, and then informed me that I should start antibiotics right away.

I went down to reception with the doctor and was immediately informed by the hotel staff that they would be sending someone to pick up my prescriptions for me, because the kindness of strangers is endless.  I did my best to thank everyone profusely while still not being able to speak, got some more tea, and went back upstairs to await the antibiotics.

Over the next few days, my throat slowly recovered, and I managed to get out and spend my last day in Cinque Terre exploring the villages.  That's for another post, though; today, I want to end by saying that thanks to European health care, I paid a total of 52 euros for both the doctor visit and all the antibiotics I was prescribed.  Europe doesn't leave you out to dry if you're sick in one of its countries.  Not only that, but the kindness I experienced at my hotel in Cinque Terre truly gave me a sense of the kindness of strangers; when you're in dire straights, there will always be someone there to help you out.

Katrina

The True Mark of Adulthood

The past few days, I've been confined to my bed with an energy-draining fever that left me unable to do most things apart from read and Facetime with my mom.  It's given me a lot of time to reflect, however, and I've been left with one giant realization.  The mark of adulthood-- at least for me, at this moment-- isn't cooking for yourself, or doing laundry, or cleaning your apartment; it's getting sick and having to drag yourself tooth and nail through it, depending on your own force of will to get things done.

I never could've done it without my amazing friends, of course-- so many of them offered their help, and brought me soup and cough drops and their sympathies as well as missed homework assignments.  But for the first time in my life, I didn't have my mom here with me, checking in on me every half hour, constantly reminding me to keep drinking liquids and asking if I wanted anything else.  She did the best she could from half a world away, for which I am extremely grateful-- being trapped in bed without energy to get up is very lonely after a day or two, and having her to talk to was a blessing.

In the end, though, it all came down to me.  I was the one who had to take my temperature, take Advil, get tea and water, email all my professors and my chorus that I wasn't going to be there because I was in bed with a fever.  And, I have to say, laying in bed with a fever and less than no energy doesn't really make it easy to get up and make a cup of tea when you run out.  It's a lot easier to just stay in bed and bemoan your fate.

Eventually, though, after laying in bed for about a day, I realized bemoaning my fate wasn't really the best option.  That didn't mean I stopped bemoaning my fate-- I just did slightly more about it.  I managed to muster energy throughout the day to get out of bed and get more liquids and blew through three and a half books (though to be fair, I had been reading before I came to this revelation).

That's not to say I think I've stumbled upon the revelation of the True Mark of Adulthood.  It's just to say that I've stumbled upon another tiny step on the road towards becoming a Semi-Functioning Human, and though I felt like death for a few days while doing it, I've come to realize that I'm maybe more capable than I've been giving myself credit for.

Plus, I got a few days in bed to just lay and read, and who doesn't want that?

Katrina

It Finally Hit Me

I was sitting in bed a few nights ago, tucked in with my copy of The Godfather (required reading for Social Foundations, though I found it interesting enough that I'd forgotten about the "required" bit), when all of a sudden it finally hit me.  I'm not just here on vacation, taking classes for a few weeks before returning home and going back to real life.  This is real life.

It was a weird sensation to have, realizing all of a sudden that my life has taken such a turn.  I'm so grateful to be where I am, but coming to terms with being a for-real adult that has to do adult things like grocery shopping and sweeping the floor every week is something that is quite strange to adjust to.  The other day, I realized I could buy entirely pastries, pasta, and wine, and no one would be able to stop me (though I should clarify that I haven't just been buying pastries, pasta, and wine-- I promise I'm buying actual food too).

Yet somehow I've been managing to live as a (mostly) fully-functioning adult for a little over two weeks now.  I haven't starved yet, my room still looks (and smells) like a normal room, my laundry is getting done (when the washing machines work), and I've gotten everywhere I need to be with time to spare.  When I was looking forward to the future, I had no idea how I was going to make it through without dying, or at least failing spectacularly before figuring out what was going on, but now that I'm in the future, it seems shockingly simple.

Except for the microwave, I'm still not entirely sure how that works aside from knowing how to add thirty seconds to the cook time.  Apparently it has a 100 page manual.

I'm sure once I start having to pay electric bills and heating and rent and taxes, life will get a little bit harder.  But for now, I think I'll manage to be an adult.  Or, at least, a kid pretending to be one.

Katrina