The Amalfi Coast (My First Trip "Fail")

Ciao everyone! My last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind of activity, so I have not had any time to work on any blog posts, but fear not, I have not given up! I will continue working on them when I can, and eventually every week will have a post! This is a fairly depressing post, but the follow up one will be what I did during the first day before I got too sick, and that one has beautiful pictures and fun stories, so look forward to that! 😊

On September 14th, I left for a three-day guided trip to the Amalfi Coast, and ended up only being able stay for the first day. On the bus ride on Thursday night I started to not feel well, but I figured at worst I was just getting a cold or small virus from traveling so much the previous weeks. I brushed it off and tried not to worry about it, because I was too excited for this trip to give it much thought anyhow. We arrived at the hostel at 3 o’clock in the morning, and were instructed to be in the lobby for breakfast at 8:00, before taking a bus to Positano at 9:00. I woke up with a terrible sore throat, along with the fatigue, chills, and shakiness that comes with having a fever. I knew that something was definitely wrong by then, but I was in a strange place that everyone was about to leave to go to the beach, and I didn’t want to miss out on the day either, so I boarded the bus along with everyone else. With the help of a beautiful beach, a positive attitude, and some Advil, I made it until the afternoon thinking that I was going to be fine. Once 4 o’clock hit though, I began to get more sick, quickly. By the time that we were back at the hostel around 5:00, I was in rough shape, and spoke to a guide on our trip about if there was a doctor I could see in nearby Sorrento. After she did some research, she found that there was a hospital about a twenty-minute’s walk away, but I soon realized it was not a very plausible option. I assumed it would be a very long time spent in a waiting room once I arrived, and I did not feel up to it. I also did not have my abroad insurance card with me, and not one of the guides on my trip spoke Italian to help translate between the doctors and myself. There was hardly any service at the hostel we were staying at, and I struggled to get in touch with my parents. After failing to get in touch with them through a phone call, I was only able to text them to ask for their advice. They suggested that I stay at the hostel, drink lots of water, and try to make it through the night. We were betting on a good night’s sleep helping to make me feel better. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I ended spending the night with such a sore throat and achey body that I couldn't sleep at all. This led to me to trying to get in touch with my parents to get advice on a new plan of action, but after trying and failing to reach them I tried to figure things out myself. I finally settled on going to the concierge desk at 5 o’clock in the morning, and getting him to give me the room number of my guide. I went and knocked on her door, and had her help me buy a train ticket back to Florence, where I could see a doctor I knew accepted my insurance, and I knew there were workers in the Fairfield University program who would help me if I needed a translator. The journey home was five hours in total, and by the end I was completely exhausted. I couldn’t figure out how to ring myself in to the building of the doctor’s office, and was so tired and desperate I just started to cry right there on the street. Through my tears I called my Fairfield advisor, and she came right to where I was and helped me get in to the doctor’s office, and she offered to wait with me. In the end, it turned out I just had a bad case of strep throat, so it was good that I came back to Florence because I required a few different types of medication to get better. The entire experience was a huge bummer, because this was one of my trips that I was the most excited for. I have to thank my parents for trying to help me all the way from home, my friends for getting me dinner and water and bringing it to me at the hostel, and my Fairfield advisor for helping me with the doctor. All is well that ends well, and luckily after about a week I was back up and running as usual.