For an ordinary college kid, going home for Thanksgiving Break presents opportunities for family bonding, face-stuffing, Black Friday shopping and coming up with absurd justifications as to why homework does not exist at "home home." For those like me, who even in my third year cannot figure out when to go grocery shopping and must occasionally call my mother about washing machine protocol, Thanksgiving Break is so much more: that haircut you didn't get even though your split ends are more divided than the preteens of teams Edward and Jacob, that book you never bought for class but need now because it will definitely be on the final. Hello, Thanksgiving Break and parental money! This year, my designated "errand I easily could have done at school" was a trip to the doctor's office.
For the last month before break, I had some sort of sinus infection. So, for all of those people who thought my coughing in the library was going to contaminate them with swine flu, I was not contagious - I will be accepting apologies for your paralyzing glares until the end of the semester. When I would call my parents while miserable with headaches, they offered little sympathy and a one-line retort: go to Student Health. The thing is, going to Student Health would have been far more dangerous and uncomfortable than simply coping. I would have contracted every strain of the flu in the moments before putting on the one and only SARS mask.
Anyway, I managed to snag an appointment for 4:45 the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Needless to say, everyone else made appointments on the same day, so, I was waiting in the waiting room for two hours. I never knew what the connection between waiting rooms and fish tanks were before this experience, but let me tell you, those little guys provided a small dose of sanity in an otherwise lifeless environment. I may or may not have named the fish and written them into the script of "Finding Nemo." Desperate times call for desperate measures when the most enticing magazine is Bowhunt America from July 2009.
One of the reasons for the miserable waiting room experience was my recent switch from my pediatrician to a "real" doctor. The time was right, but I never realized how much I would miss watching "101 Dalmatians" without sound and browsing "Highlights," knowing that if I needed a shot I would at least get to choose between a "Hello Kitty" and "Ninja Turtles" band-aid.
Instead of crying babies, I had to deal with snoring adults. It was raining outside, but I did not need this man's thunderous snores to bring the weather inside. His younger companion - I went back and forth deciding if she was a mail-order bride or his daughter - only woke him up the first hundred times. In his rare moments of consciousness, he decided to play with his cell phone. I am not sure if he was trying to choose a new alarm ringtone or if he was watching a stream of NASCAR racing, but either way, I began to welcome the snores. I understand anxiety levels are potentially high while waiting to see any doctor, but since when is jolting the entire room with spontaneous bursts of "Ring Tone Number Five" a coping mechanism?
When the nurse finally called me in, I almost forgot why I was there in the first place. Student Health and its contagion-filled premises looked swell compared to my new surroundings - fish friends included. After the nurse measured my blood pressure, she remarked, "Ah, youth. I love it." Luckily, as she noted, I am young and in good health. This, I have learned, is never made more apparent than while in a waiting room with more walkers and hearing aids than people. My parents were right as always: I should have gone to Student Health.
I always thought middle school was the awkward in-between, but recent experiences like these make me wonder if college actually takes the unflattering - but certainly fattening - proverbial cake. We cannot go to a pediatrician because we are more like the parents than the kids, but it is awkward going to an adult doctor because if we walk in with a pulse, everyone applauds. I would probably still choose this doctor instead of Student Health, but at least now I know to bring the latest issue of Cosmopolitan. Then again, the raunchy cover page might just give someone a heart attack.
Elizabeth's column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at e.stonehill@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
The five stages of being rejected from McIntire
By Minal Qazi | YesterdayWhen I finally opened up my email and read those devastating words, I chalked it up to be a hallucination
From Oxford to Cape Town, these Hoos go global
By Dana Douglas | 5 days agoThe University is renowned for taking its students far and wide — academically, professionally and, well, literally
A summer in STEM: Students take on the tech industry
By Charley Thomas | 6 days agoPeople often say technology is the future, but for some University students, it is also the present
