Swine flu TOTALLY SUCKS

Hello, friends!

Well, it happened. I got the dreaded swine flu, and it succeeded in putting me so far behind that I didn’t think I’d ever be able to catch up. It happened 2 Saturdays ago during family weekend. My sorority had its annual family and alumni dinner to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network. SO many people showed up, and we ended up raising an impressive amount of money! The food was good, too. My obnoxious coughing, however, was not. It seriously sounded like I had been smoking a pack a day for thirty years—but at that point I thought it was just allergies. I usually get a pretty bad cough this time of year, so I just decided to go home early and take a nap to sleep it off. When I woke up, though, I was in complete agony. My fever blazed at 102, my body hurt all over, I couldn’t stop coughing, and all the urgent care centers were closed. I had to suffer through the night, but the next morning I was able to get to the UTC to figure out what was wrong with me.
Funny story—after waiting in the UTC for 2 hours, they finally gave me the flu test (it was the most painful test ever! It was like shoving a small mascara brush up my nasal passages! OUCH). Then they sent me back out to wait some more. After about 10 more minute, though, this guy comes out with this obscenely huge mask and tells me I have to put it on. Then I got to wait there for another 45 minutes while everyone stared at me wondering why I had what looked like a diaper on my face. At least it added some humor to the situation. Needless to say, it was the swine flu, and they ordered me to be out of class for the whole week.
Now, that’s some of the scariest news a Transy student can get—having to miss a whole week of class. Our professors keep us pretty busy around here, and that means a pretty hefty work load. Also, classes are very heavily focused on discussion, so you miss out a lot when you have to stay home. Let’s just say that I did not worried as much about my health when I first got my diagnosis as I worried about how much work I would have to make up. Luckily, I had professors that talked some sense into me—telling me that I would never get better if I stressed myself out, and to take as much time as I needed to get better and make things up. I was able to make a fairly speedy recovery with their help, as I was able to actually rest and not worry so much about school for a few days. And, after 2 weeks, I’m fully caught up and back on track!
In college, you will get sick. It’s inevitable, especially if you live on campus (and, hey, I don’t even live on campus anymore, so I guess it’s just plain ‘ol inevitable). Fortunately, the Professors on campus will do everything in their power to help you in your recovery process. Not to mention, we have an incredible campus nurse who’ll take care of you if you get sick during the week! =D

Why being single your first semester of college TOTALLY ROCKS!

Okay, I’m feeling a little controversial today, so I’ve decided to let you in on a bit of information that I wish had registered with me before coming to college. Coming into Transy, I had been in a relationship for two years, and like any good girlfriend might, I instantly refuted everyone who told me, “It’s never going to last.” Now, this post is not going to be telling you that you’re never going to make it, but rather, hopefully serve to help reassure you (using my own personal story) if you’re entering college as a bachelor(ette), or find your relationship on the rocks a few months after you arrive here.

Like I said, I was firm in my belief that my boyfriend at the time and I would be able to last, because we had the advantage of closeness—he only lived 20 minutes away. But, the nature of Transy made that 20 minutes seem like 200, and it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. When I arrived here, there were -so- many people eager to begin new friendships with me, hang out with me, explore the town with me, but having to drive 20 minutes away every day for hours severely limited my ability to get to know my new family (because, seriously, you’ll start to think of some of your fellow Transy students as such). I found myself slowly falling further and further behind all my other peers in building relationships with my new classmates; I missed out on all kinds of campus events, missed chances to join organizations and do community service. It’s no secret that the further you are from Transy’s campus, the less integrated you become in the close community—and it didn’t help that my boyfriend didn’t go here and didn’t understand.

So this distancing continued to happen until finally, after 2 ½ years together, we called it quits due to some rather unfortunate circumstances, but also because we were on different paths—I wanted to be involved with the university I had fallen in love with, and, because he attended a different college, he didn’t understand and resented me for sometimes “choosing school over him.” Of course, I was devastated at first, but my Transy community picked me right back up.

Now I’m not saying that this will happen to you. Indeed, I have some close friends that are in my class (juniors) and are still with their high school sweethearts. You may be one of those rare couples who are so close that nothing could get in the way of your relationship, but if you find yourself in my situation, or if you’re concerned about coming to college all alone, here are just a few reasons why being single in college can TOTALLY ROCK:

More time for organizations and community service (neighborhood cleanup!)

More visits to family!

More time for world travel!

More fun to have with your roommate!

More time to take action!

More time to spend getting to know your sisters (if you choose to become Greek)!

Why my May Term is going to TOTALLY ROCK:

Hi folks!

I’m going to be updating lots in the next couple of days because of my slight slacking. The demands of my Job, school work, and extracurricular activities have weighed on me the past couple of weeks and have prevented me from doing much in the way of blogging. I will always make up for it, though! I swear!

Anyway, I just wanted to share some exciting news with you! If you have read my blog before, you might remember that I took a travel course to China for May Term my freshman year. Guess what? I just found out that I get to go on my second travel course, and this one is pretty much the most exciting I could ever possibly imagine!

The course title is officially, “Race, Identity, and Representation in the Guianas,” a History/Anthropology course that will look at how race and cultural identity and representations of both have changed over time. We will travel to Suriname, French Guyane, and Guyana, trek through the jungle, hang out with natives, and explore cities with two wicked awesome professors. While I could have chosen to go on a biking trip to France, or on a trip to study Dickens and theatre in England, or on any of the other 7 trips, I felt that this would literally be a once in a lifetime kind of experience. I mean, when I get older, I can go to Europe whenever I want, but when am I going to get to actually go hang out with the natives and explore the jungle in three territories in South America that are not tourist areas?

Got this when I image searched "Suriname." This is fully what I expect out of my trip!

I’m slightly nervous, as I’m terrified of certain bugs and I’ve never done anything quite like this before, but I’m so happy that Transy provides these kinds of unique opportunities so I can constantly expand my knowledge of the world and my relationship to it.