Every year, the flu season hits the Theatre Dpeartment, and every year our professors encourage us to stay healthy. Well, I can now officially say from experience, that they’re right. Being sick definitely isn’t fun, and it puts you behind in everything you’re doing. But, as if the flu wasn’t enough, my body has completely decided to hate me. Over the past week I’ve been hit with the flu, strep throat, and a touch of a cold. The campus health center lived up to their reputation (though they didn’t ask me if I was pregnant!) by telling me at first that there was nothing wrong with me. My second time back, the doctor gave me some powerful antibiotics and instructions to rest up and not give anyone else my sickness. It’s now 4 days later, and I’m still fighting to get better.
The worst part of all of this is that I’ve missed a lot of classes, and 4 days of rehearsal for the opera. La Boheme opens in a little over a week, and as the stage manager, missing these rehearsals is going to make it hard for me to catch up. Pile homework and projects on top of that, and I’ve dug myself a nice hole to fight my way out of. It makes me grateful that there are so many people in the department that are willing to help me. Everyone on the opera has been really helpful, trying to keep me up to date and take care of anything they can for me. The professors in the department are always really understanding when a student is out sick, too. I even got an e-mail from Steve Rees, the department chair, asking if there was anything he could do for me and telling me to rest up.
It’s times like these that make me happy I’m in the department I am. The Department of Theatre and Dance isn’t just a group of students and professors. We really are a family, and we take care of our own. It’s a nice feeling, knowing that everyone around you cares about you. It makes Fredonia more like home than I ever could have imagined it would be.
So, to quote an infamous member of my Fredonia family, “Wash your g*d d*mn hands!” and stay healthy!
