Being Sick in College

By Fajr Abdul Azeez

Getting sick is awful. Getting sick in college is even worse. All by yourself, making your own
soup, trying your hand at all sorts of different techniques to get better quicker because you had
no idea what type of black magic your mom did to make you well again so fast. And then you
remember that you’ve never really seen your mom get sick before and you can only hope you
can be half the warrior she is when you grow up.

I have never gotten a cold so bad that I couldn’t function until I came to college. The problem is
that no matter how clean you are, there will always be that one person who doesn’t cover their
mouth when sneezing or coughing or is just infested with germs from only cleaning their dorms
once. In high school, I remember being told to stay home when I just had the sniffles. In college
having the sniffles is not a big deal to most people so they go around spreading germs to others.

That was just a rant about how oblivious college students are when it comes to spreading germs.
The real reason I got sick was because of all the germs I encountered that the Detroit airport and
being brave enough to eat at their McDonalds. As soon as I landed in Charlotte I was also met
with a change in temperature that didn’t help also. A tickle in my throat turned into a full-blown
sickness in a matter of hours because on Monday my head and my throat were in excruciating
pain.

I went to the grocery store to buy medicine and I learned that name-brand medicine like NyQuil
has the same ingredients as the store brand medicine so I saved myself a few dollars.

I gave myself a couple of sick days during the week but I really didn’t see a difference in my
health. I still had a bad cough and sneeze. I really was suffering by myself. The only support my
friends could offer was a “bless you.”

It’s times like that where I miss being a child. When getting sick was such a big deal to my mom
and I got special privileges like watching all the television I wanted while she would make me a
pot of chicken soup that I was forced to eat all by myself. I really didn’t mind it because I love
soup.

Sickness is one of the times in college when students feel their lowest and miss home. No one
can really help you and if you decide to go to the health center on campus you could be waiting
hours just so they can give you a cough drop.

All we can do is down some medicine and keep pushing. Sadly just because you’re sick doesn’t
mean school is.