Aventuras con el gripe

Hola, everyone! I apologize for not posting more shenanigans in Sevilla, but I have been very sick for the past week, and homework has started getting more intense (but super interesting!). Being sick in Spain is very different from being sick in the United States. I wasn't sure what kind of medicine to grab from the farmacia because Spain does not have the same brands of OTC medicine as the US. Plus, you have to go up and ask the pharmacist for things like cough syrup, pain relievers, and even cough drops because they're all behind the counter. In my opinion, this is a good thing because if you have any questions, they can direct you to what medicine will help you most. I also love that the cough medicine here tastes sooooo much better than what we have at home, without all of the added dies and flavors. 


I started out with cough syrup and cough drops, which progressed into congestion medicine later in the week, and as if that wasn't enough I quickly developed an ear infection :( I'm kind of stubborn when it comes to going to the doctor because I usually prefer to buy OTC brands and take care of myself, but my host dad, Juan Pablo, kept telling me to go to the doctor. I didn't want to go, so I kept putting it off, but I didn't seem to be getting any better! So today I finally bit the bullet and tried going to a private clinic, but I had to call my health insurance company to see if I was covered, and that was quite confusing to say the least! Back to the drawing boards...


In the end, my roommate and I took our host family's advice, and grabbed a taxi to the emergency room at Hospital Virgen de Rocio, and I am incredibly impressed by that experience! I walked in, showed the receptionist my passport, received a number, and went to the waiting room. I waited for about an hour and a half, and then got to talk to a very nice resident doctor and got my prescriptions filled out. Even better, my visit to the emergency room was FREE and the meds I picked up at the pharmacy only cost €4,50!!! I gave the pharmacist fifty euros and he looked at me like I had three heads! I was kind of shocked that he meant only 50 cents! I'm really digging socialized medicine here in Spain :) 


I'm currently happy as a clam with my new medicine, and I am ready to show el gripe who's boss! In other news, the Centro Mundolengua group went on a trip to Itálica on Friday to get up close to Roman ruins just outside Sevilla. Obviously, the ruins were very old and worn down, and in some areas there was barely anything left, but I was in awe of some of the things that were still preserved. Things like hand-made mosaics were still intact, pillars were still standing, paint clung to walls, and the massive amphitheater was still an impressive sight after centuries of wear and tear. To some, Itálica may be a place full of old rocks, but it used to be a thriving city during the Roman Empire, and if you consider the effort and raw man-power it took to build such monumental structures, it's difficult to pass the site off as just a pile of boulders. I had never stood next to such ancient man-made structures! If you ever go to Sevilla, take a day trip to Itálica and soak in the history - you won't be disappointed!