My Mom was right

Yep, my Mom was right. I have a weak stomach/immune system. Just a few days before I left to come to Switzerland, my Mom made a joke about how I get sick everywhere I go (horrible bloody food poisoning in Beirut, horrible projectile vomiting food poisoning in Buenos Aires, etc). Of course, I told her that I had a superman stomach that was impervious to all but the most mishandled of foods, and I also reminded her that I didn't get sick once while I was at L'Abri over the summer.

Well, I was wrong. Something horrible exploded in my bowels yesterday (Thursday), and it has had me reeling for the past 36 hours. I woke up yesterday feeling kind of nauseous but I figured it was just from being worn out from travelling a quarter of the way around the world. By lunch I was feeling green. By dinner I was violently ejecting all liquids and solids from my system . . . from both ends. I was sitting on a toilet with a trash can in front of me for about an hour, praying to the gastrointestinal gods for mercy. Alas, they have not granted it.

Last night I slept about three hours because of this demon inside me. I think I had a pretty high fever, and I couldn't stop shivering and sweating profusely. I would go to sleep for an hour and then wake up dehydrated and urgently needing a toilet. Today has been similar though slightly better. I think the fever is almost gone, and I'm not puking anymore, but as far as my guts being back on track, I think I have a long way to go. I'm also a little bit achy in my muscles and bones which makes me worried that it could be the flu, but I'll hold out hope until tomorrow morning.

Another girl here is sick as well. The same symptoms as me and we both started puking within an hour of each other. My roommate says he's starting to feel a little sick as well. Let's just hope that I start to feel better by tomorrow morning because being confined to my room today made it the most boring day of my life.

In other news, I made it here safely and aside from the sickness things are going well so far. Since there's only one guy helper this term, they've put me in charge of two of the grounds crews each week. Because of my bacteria-laden bowels, I had to abdicate my position for the day. My roommate is Tim, the one guy helper, and he's pretty cool. He's from Denver (although he grew up in France because his parents are missionaries) and he was at L'Abri in the summer of '06. Pretty much all of the students here this term are here for the whole term which is nice because it'll give us a chance to get to know each other really well. Everyone seems really cool. The weather's great here: 65-75 and sunny. It's a nice break from the triple-digit temps we had back in South Carolina.

Anyway, I can't think of much else to write so I guess I'll conclude this post. Thanks for reading and shoot me an email sometime because I love to hear from you guys. I miss y'all.