Hola!
Well to say that this week didn't go as expected might be an understatement... but let's just get right into it and you'll see why.
Day 44:
Started the day off by catching the 8:08 tram to school. A difference of 15 minutes really isn't that bad until that is applied to the morning of course. I met up with Charlotte to take the tram and once on it I noticed a few people who I thought were some new kids to our program so Charlotte insisted on going to meet them while I watched our seats. This made me feel kind of ridiculous as she pointed me out and introduced us, but we walked with them to the USAC building to meet up with Luis and Veronica to find our new classes and it was nice to talk to them a little bit. It's kind of weird, but I feel like the new additions are like freshmen coming on campus back home even though I was in their same position just a few weeks ago. My class was fine, we are working on the verb "gustar" mainly and I feel like I have learned that like 50 billion times before but it's fine. This session I am the only one in the level of Spanish class that I am taking so I am taking it through the language school on campus rather than through USAC. This means that the class is full of students from all over the world. There are a few others from the US, five students from Ukraine, one from Singapore, and a couple others that I can't recall. This class doesn't run on the same schedule as USAC so I came in technically a day late and I will get a three-day weekend that the rest of them won't. This definitely has its positives and negatives. Later in the afternoon, we met up with the new kids and some of those of us that are still here from the first session to hike to the top of the castle, just like we did at the beginning of our session. It was humid!!! The new people asked a couple times if this was how it had been all summer and if we got used to the humidity...I said that they didn't even know the worst of it yet as we have all been warned that July and August are painfully humid. So we will see. That hike had us all sweating before we even hit the castle part. It ended up being really beautiful just like it was the first time, the view really never does get old. It was also nice to get to spend some time talking to the new students.
Day 45:
Today was another simple day. Early morning tram to sign up for the weekend field trip before class and then I actually had to find my way back to the random classroom I was in the day before. Class was kind of fun though because I got to communicate with some of the Ukrainian students in Spanish. It's not that they do not speak English, but it was wild to me that neither one of us was using our first language and yet we were able to talk to one another. Breaks are a bit lonely as I do not speak any Ukrainian and that is the majority of what is spoken, but that's ok sometimes sitting and not saying anything is nice. I went home and had lunch and for once actually felt like I was communicating with my host mom in at least 50% Spanish and we were having an actual conversation. I went back to my room and polished off the blog from last week and then got some things done around my room until my planned phone call with Megan that night. It was so nice to catch up with Meg, we talked for around 2 hours as we usually do hahah. It was from this point on that it all went downhill.
Day 46:
Started the day off pretty early, though I'm not sure that the day before really ended. I went to bed with a runny nose and slightly scratchy throat, but I figured that I could just sleep it off and I would be fine in the morning. The only problem was that I never really slept. I would fall into a hazy feverish dream for an hour or so and then wake up just to try to struggle back to sleep. Around 4:30 am I knew that I had a bad fever and was not going to be able to sleep this one off. I texted my mom asking her to give me a call, knowing that it was early evening there so they would be around. She called me and I immediately started bawling crying. I think I scared both my parents quite thoroughly with that one as they couldn't see me and could only tell I was crying from the darkness of my bedroom. When I could finally speak I told them I had Covid though I really did not know that to be true at the time and they tried to convince me otherwise. I had an at-home test on hand though so I asked if they would stay on the phone while I took it so that I wouldn't just watch it for 15 minutes by myself. We spent time catching up on things and even got to see my little Lula (though I'm not convinced she understands who I am through video chat). Sure enough within minutes, the positive line showed up. I had COVID. This sent my mind spinning about all the things that were about to get a lot more difficult. Luckily I am a pretty healthy person with no underlying conditions so my health was really not my worry at all. I hate missing classes and this is my first time being sick and not within a few minutes' drive from home. This was going to suck, but mind you it was still like 5:30am here so there was really nothing I could do until the morning. I stayed on the phone with my parents for a while longer and then tried to fall asleep before my alarm went off and I could text my director and host mom what was going on. I got a phone call from Luis shortly after my text and he told me that everything was going to be alright, but I needed to be very careful at home and that I could come back to class as soon as the symptoms were gone and then I would just need to wear a mask. He told me to ask my host mom if she had some medication which I later learned was just the Spanish name for acetaminophen pretty much to just get rid of the fever. My host mom brought that in and then took my temperature and showed me it as it read 39.2...if you are like me and most Americans, this means a whole lot of nothing to ya she told me what a good temperature was, and then when she left I proceeded to google the conversion and turns out it was somewhere around 102 degrees Fahrenheit. So yeah I was not crazy, I was definitely sick. I spent the day taking long naps and breaks from those to eat food. I also got to talk to Hailey on the phone for the first time since getting here and got to catch up about a lot of life things good and bad for both of us. She obviously made the comment that I of course would get covid in Spain after dodging it so many times back in the states for the past 2.5 years. That's just how it goes I guess.
Day 47:
Set an alarm this morning just in case they decided to send me a zoom link to attend class through and sure enough, they did. This was probably good though because it got me to get up and take a shower and put some different clothes on. All good things that greatly get neglected when you are sick. I did not miss zoom school though! Three hours on class was quite painful when all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. It's ok though, I got through it and then spent the rest of the day reading, watching movies, talking to Ellie on the phone, and even doing a little bit of homework. I really struggled to fall asleep this night though I could not tell you why and so then I started looking at event coordinating jobs in Waco which is its own rabbit hole for another time.
Day 48:
This was Saturday morning so I did not set an alarm or anything and just slept as long as I wanted or rather my body would allow me to. I was quite bummed to be missing the field trip today, but instead I started off my morning by finally watching last week's message from The Well. Then I had the largest pile of mashed potatoes with salmon and peas for lunch. Honestly could have done with a lot fewer potatoes and peas, but I always feel bad if I leave anything on my plate so I ate it all. Then I watch a couple of movies and talked to Ellie and Nolan for a little bit, read my book, worked on my travel journal, did the rest of my homework, and then went to bed and that was really my day. My host mom did seem a bit worried that I had not left my room in like three days but honestly, this is an introvert's paradise.
Day 49:
This morning I woke up and layed around until my host mom came in to tell me that she was going to the beach with a friend and that there was paella in the fridge for me to eat for lunch. She asked if I was going to go for a walk finally today and I assured her that I would because I knew that would make her feel better and would probably be good for me. I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone though, so I planned to get some footage for my video assignment as well. After getting those videos I decided to take random streets back home and just try my best to move in the right general direction. I think that this was the first time I really let myself just wander with no real purpose to where I was going or when I would get there. It was good for me. I got back and showered and put away my laundry. I took some time to lay down and then got to work on this. That is where we are now. I'll watch the Well service live later tonight and get ready to go back to school tomorrow I guess.
How do I even seek to sum up a week like that? It certainly was not what I would want or wish on anyone, but it is what happened. I am so thankful that no one around me has come down with it and that really covid was not that bad for me. A lot about my study abroad has been defined by covid and that goes as far back as last October really when I learned I would not be studying abroad in the spring. It only is consistent that I would continue to have it be a part of my experience. I am also so thankful that I got it now rather than last week or in the weeks to come. Other than not getting it at all I do not think there was a better time. So here's to the fact that covid may be a part of my college years, but will never be the only thing that defined them.
God is so good, even when life feels icky.
Love you all!
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