So if there’s one thing I can take away from living abroad it’s that being sick abroad sucks and inspires intense longing for home. I know this because I’ve had the flu for the past week, which explains why I haven’t been writing as much as usual.
churros con chocolate
Last Friday my friends and I went out to El Kapital, which is a famous discoteca in Madrid known for being 7 floors of insanity. I’ll write about this a little more when I have the chance, but it’s exhausting clubbing like the madrileños. I wore the entirely wrong shoes, and by the end of the night, I was practically crawling home. We stayed out until 6am, because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you go clubbing, and also because the Metro starts running again at 6am, and unless you want to pay for a very expensive cab it’s the best option. We ate churros con chocolate for breakfast, another Madrid tradition, before dropping into bed.
I woke up sometime around 2pm, and for some reason I figured I’d go for a run. I think it was the guilt of having slept until 2 that made me need to make the day productive. I went to El Parque de Retiro right near my apartment, but I could barely run half a mile. I know I’m out of shape, but I’m not that out of shape. By the time I was showering, I was in full on shivers and chills mode. I didn’t leave bed all of Saturday, and then I made the mistake of going on a day trip to Segovia on Sunday which made everything worse (which I will also detail later). I don’t even remember school on Monday, and I skipped Tuesday and most of Wednesday too. I am currently so behind in school it’s scary.
It was the illness to end all other illnesses. I had the chills with a 102 fever, a headache, total body aches, a runny nose, and chest cough. A week later, and I’m still recovering, better, but not 100%. I have fortunately recovered from the intense homesickness that I was feeling. Coming back from school on Monday, everything about the Metro was infuriating to me. All I wanted was to be back in the comfort of my home with my mom taking care of me and my dog curled up by my feet. Perhaps watching BBC with tea and honey or taking a long bath.
It felt so good to indulge in self-pity, but eventually I had to get myself out of the bad mood. I allowed myself only a couple days of binge watching the Mindy Project and Scandal, because I’m not going to get to go home anytime soon, and there is no point in being miserable in the mean time. That sounds like I’m not having fun here. I am, but it’s also really hard. Studying abroad isn’t easy in the slightest. But I’m going to Sevilla next weekend, so hopefully having that to look forward to will make next week so much better even with my residual cough.