With an adventure like this we can always expect a few bumps in the road. I hit one….a BIG one. I went to class on Tuesday morning and barely lasted until 1:00. At our lunch break, I told the instructor I was going home to get some rest. and that I would not be back for the remainder of the day. Yep. I was down for the count. I was on heavy doses of ibuprofen and Sudafed. My roommates came and went. The days came and went and all I did was sneeze, cough, blow my nose and sleep for hours/days on end. I did not surface until Saturday. The only reason I did was because I had to get up to go get more Kleenex and medication from the pharmacy. Then it was straight back to bed. It is a good thing I was sleepy because there aren’t any TV channels that broadcast in English. I tried to stream some movies on Amazon and Netflix, but the connection or the bandwidth or something…..wouldn’t let me. I did pull up a few You Tube videos on how to draw but even that failed to hold my attention for very long until I would doze off.
Luckily for me, Monday night while I was still semi-conscious, I made a huge pot of fresh vegetable soup. Thank goodness because it was exactly what I needed when I was sick. Oh, did I mention that my roommates left on Friday and went to Venice for the weekend for the famous Carnivale. When they returned back to Florence they found me in the same place as when they left… in BED.
I seriously considered going to the hospital on Sunday. I was actually getting worse, not better. I even thought about aborting my classes and heading back to the USA, except I wasn’t sure I could get myself packed and to the airport.
When you don’t feel good, all you want is your own bed and the comforts of your own home. And I felt that way. Although I am quite lucky in one way. My bed here is so comfortable. So comfortable that I may have to ship it back to the US with me when I leave.
Monday morning came and I actually felt like I had turned a corner. I did get up and pull myself together to get to class, but I only stayed for the morning session.
I still have the flu/cold symptoms, but I am on the mend. I am going to try and make it to class the rest of the week. Although I did miss a lot last week, I am excited for the next session. Portraits and self-portraits.
Cindy Mochel Livermore 