Being sick abroad

During my time here I’ve generally enjoyed every second of it and luckily I can’t say that I’ve felt homesick even once, however one thing I didn’t bank on was falling ill. That’s right, I’m currently a stuffed up, coughing mess, dripping snot and self-pity wherever I go. One of the big emotional side-effects of my recent turn is that I have felt a big pining for home that hadn’t yet hit me, and all I crave is my own bed and my mother’s soup (I also really do not have the energy to speak German at the moment and I’m just starting all of my conversations in English). I caught this bug last week when I visited my sister in Rotterdam, and have since managed to pass it on to all of my friends here in Berlin (although I am yet to ask whether their illness has similarly inspired any feelings of homesickness). A lot of my current negative feelings towards Berlin are probably stemming from the fact that I have quite a lot of work to do, and deadlines are looming, which always feels considerably more stressful when you can’t breathe through your nose. Furthermore, I can’t really treat my illness the same way I would back home, as German medication is super expensive, and I can’t find any lemsip anywhere. I’m just generally groggy and tired of everything at the moment, and all the things that I usually enjoy such as the field trips, parties and cultural outings just seem exhausting and unappealing to me at the moment. Luckily the nice weather has abated and has been replaced with a solid week of wind and rain, as it would’ve probably been too much for me to handle if I was wrapped up in the flat in front of German X Factor whilst the sun was shining and all my friends were busy having the time of their lives. Other than this illness and the subsequent pining for England that came along with it, everything else is going well. I’m generally staying on top of all my school work, I’ve made some new friends that I really enjoy hanging out with, and I had a wonderful weekend in Rotterdam (which I will write about shortly). Anyway, treating a cold in Germany isn’t too bad, as I’ve got to enjoy the highly pungent and mysteriously-flavoured ‘Erkaltstee’ (a herbal tea recommended by the staff at Netto), and I’ll soon be sampling some wurst-suppe that I bought, which basically looks like cut-up hotdogs floating in broth, but nonetheless looks sufficiently hearty and satisfying. Bis bald!