I HATE my sinuses....period.

Just when you think you start to get the hang of something, life throws you a curve ball.

This past week I had my seasonal “oh my God I want to cut off my nose and pray to the God of Nyquil” sinus infection. Looking back on the week before and retracing my steps that led me to rolling around in a mountain of snot for well over a week, I guess there were a few bad decisions that I had made.

Bad (for my health, but incredibly cool).
Staying out until three in the morning essentially piazza hopping with some of my Erasmus friends. Picture this: via Zamboni, one of the main streets in Bologna filled with people overflowing from the bar right next door to some ancient (were talking 12th century) university buildings. As per usual, everyone just kind of hangs out, drinks outside, and enjoys life. The whole experience was compounded by the lunar eclipse that was taking place the very same night. After exhausting the Piccolo Bar (which, I assure you, wasn’t so piccolo) we made our way to another square in one of the oldest areas of the city; Santo Stefano. This is where it gets dicey but incredibly cool. Just to paint a little backdrop for all of you, the church in Santo Stefano was built by the patron Saint of the city and was consequently where they keep his relics…so we’re talking a pretty important spot. Now imagine this: people just sitting out in front of the church, drinking, smoking (not sure what substance), singing and even dancing a bit…for the Montreal people in the audience it’s kind of like tam tams alla italiana…only in front of the church built by the patron saint of the city…

Sacreligious is the new…something….I guess.

It was so cool though and I couldn’t help but think…my favorite line for this trip:
“Oh my God guys, this is like L’Auberge Espagnole” [geeky noise followed by hand movement adjusting invisible glasses].

So needless to say, sitting outside until all hours of the morning probably didn’t help my sinuses out too much.

Good (for my health and neighborly relations).
I discovered recently that we have access to our roof here in Bologna! This is a very exciting prospect for me because it doesn’t require me climbing the same death defying rickety old ladder that I had to climb in Montréal to get to the roof (sometimes with a beer or garbage full of food in my hands) and affords some unbelievable views of the city and surrounding country side….we can see…everything.

Sweeeeeeet.

So… it was about 70 degrees, sunny and clear….views of rolling hills, the cathedral and two towers…this would be healthy and all natural solution to my nascent illness… some fresh air…maybe actually doing some readings for courses…you get the point.

Some of my apartment mates and I were outside on the terrace/roof enjoying and taking in the warm Italian sun when a lady from a terrace across the way called over to us.

“Hey! Hey! Are you guys students? Where are you from?”

I had a this point pretty much lost my voice, so when I responded it sounded like an old New York City pill popping lady with big hair that somewhat spoke Italian… no matter, I still got my point across.

“Want to see my puppy!?”

Um… YES. The dog was ADORABLE. Although I forgot the name.

Then she started telling us about her life in Bologna, how when she moved in there was no one living here… and about the plants on her terrace….one of which was an olive plant.

“You know, I like it but it attracts too many birds that ruin the terrace…YOU want it?”

Ok… so you just complained about it, but you’re still offering it to us…

“YES!” Delight trumps reason yet again.

“OK I think about it, bye!”

Later on that very same day while one of my apartment mates was studying for her exam outside, all her papers blew away, consequently causing a neighborhood raucous that would lead to us meeting more of our neighbors. She bolted out the door and down the street and was maybe able to recover 1 or 2 pages… but on the bright side, as we were all leaning out the windows (again very Italian) a guy from a way called over to us. He’s an Erasmus student, Portuguese, just kind of interested in meeting people. That is what is incredibly cool about being here, everyone has no one so they are always looking for some one to talk to. Turns out that one of his apartment mates I had already met through another Erasmus event, a Belgian girl who’s kind of teaching herself Italian as she goes….and studies economics. So after yelling back and forth for about 10 minutes we all went our separate ways again. I ended up at their place later on that day because we consequently gave each other little tours of our apartments.

Very cool.

Bad for my health (and I think spiritual well being).
Going toe to toe with a gypsy girl that was aggressively begging for money in the main square probably wasn’t the best of ideas. I was sitting with two English girls who I had just met in the main square (if you find native English speakers here, you are ALWAYS best friends and shouldn’t be ashamed to interrupt and awkwardly barge into conversations to prove your mother tongue). Then a little girl came over, probably 10 or 11, and started climbing on these girls…

“You’re so pretty, you’re so pretty… .some money.”

Now, most of the time, when people ask me for money, I really don’t have any. Even though I probably seemed cold hearted, you probably would’ve done the same.

“OH! We don’t have anything.”

Little girl turns to her friend and whispers something in their language… which I still to this day believe was a curse on my poor sinuses or something… then cursed me out again in Italian… nice huh?

So after unsuccessfully getting some money out of the British girls they moved on, but right before they left, the little girl pretended that she was going to spit on me. Was that to seal the curse or something… I don’t know. I just know that after that I day I started feeling worse.

Good and bad (Good for mental well being, bad for my cold)
So I wasn’t having the best day… anyone who has been or is currently on exchange knows that moods change faster than you can say “study abroad” and you can, within the same day go from loving to where you at to posing that all encompassing question to yourself:
“WHAT AM I DOING HERE?”
Needless to say I was going through one of those mood switches and was also getting sick… for consolation I made my way to the main square (begrudgingly) to access the internet (on a side note, you think that with the limited time and access I have to the internet, I would really be organized and use it efficiently, but unfortunately old habits die hard and I can’t help but open messenger programs as soon as I get there… meaning that I kill any shread of productivity in my body.)

As I got closer to the piazza huffing and puffing and whipping my nose on my sleeve (oh, sinuses) I heard some music that sounded really, really familiar.

PEOPLE WERE DOING CAPOEIRA (ANGOLA) IN THE MAIN SQUARE.

Sick or not, I made my way over…first sat down in the circle and started singing…then eventually worked up the courage to play a wheezy game with someone I had never met before in my life.

It. Was. So. Cool. Wheezing like the former fat kid I once was while doing the mile run or not, I was so happy.

This is all very anti-climatic because needless to say, these were the events that lead up to me being SICK AS A DOG. I have a nice gap in my life that started about a week ago (Monday) and went until I reemerged from my room a few days later.

Ok I wasn’t deathly sick and ended up forcing myself to go to some classes in true McGill style, but I was aslo watching a lot of Scrubs (in French), drinking a lot of tea, and sleeping… a lot. I also tried about every kind of herbal cure you can imagine and have come to the conclusion that Nyquil and synthetic substances always work better in the end... no matter how horrible they are for you.

Ta da! That's my life.

(In other news, in a few weeks I'm going to the French alps with a friend of mine from France....and all his friends from university... don't ask how I get myself into these situations but I'm so psyched for it.... roadtrip à la française here I come.)