Wanted: Anna's Immune System Returned

Well, apparently I was more sick than I thought.

I went to Wroxham yesterday, which was a lot of fun. It's a tiny, tiny town about a 15 minutes train ride up from Norwich. We went there for a tour of the broads. We were the only ones on the boat besides a senior citizen bus group--the man giving the tour went on for awhile about how "kiddies need to come to the broads to get away from the telly and their video games", which we thought was pretty funny, seeing as how we were by far the youngest ones on board. I want to live on the broads, as you can see from the pictures. So Wroxham has a little tourist market, but it's for British tourists, not American ones, which was nice.

We had our one large meal a week, and starting walking to the Wroxham barns, which are a bunch of little shops. It turned out they were 1 1/2 miles outside Wroxham; we had to walk through a field lined with hedgerows to get there. By the time we made it, I was feeling decidedly sick to my stomach. I spent the whole time there lying on a park bench. On the plus side, I did get some good people watching in. My friends inquired about a bus back to the village, but no luck. I spent last night and today, so far, in a state of miserable coughing and boredom. Most of my flatmates have been sick too, but not as sick. Their theory is that I'm not used to British Bacteria, so it's hitting me harder. The Romanian girl was sicker than the rest of them too, so there could be something in that.

The thing is, these past few days would have been the perfect opportunity to get a lot of work done, but who wants to do work when they feel sick?? No one. So I've been wasting my time on youtube (last night: School House Rock. My favorite will always be How a Bill becomes a Law; feel free to discuss. Today: the Vicar of Dibley, most of the first season). I also like to read books that don't require much thinking, but I don't have any of them. I did start Crime and Punishment (thanks Melis!) and that's good so far; it's not really light reading, though.

Behind all this is the sneaking suspicion that I am not, and never will be, very capable of taking care of myself. I didn't like getting sick in Geneva, either, but there my mom was in the same time zone and I could just call her. Here, I can't. I don't know if that changes for people who have been away from home for awhile. And I can't register with the Health Service on campus, so I don't even have that option. I bought some Chesty Cough (the name cracks me up everytime I use it) and some Sudafed, so we'll see how that goes. I miss you all like crazy, and I'm especially jealous of those on Fall Break; I hope you are having fun!