I wanna go travelling!!

As Anne also mentioned in her post, Kate definitely picked this subject just to spite us, seeing as none of us cam actually go anywhere right now (not even for a mini-vacation). Anyways... (Just so you know, Katie, this is not compalaning! We love you and I really do like the subject for this week, even though my vacation stories are virtually non-existent.)

The thing with travelling is that I am a horrible traveller. Whether we go by car, by ship, by train or by plane, you can guarantee that (at some point or another) I will get sick. (The woes of a sensitive stomach - not going to analyse it, though, so don't worry!) I love going places and seeing new things, and I have recenty come to the realisation that my stomach is the reason we didn't really go to many places when I was a kid.

We had a big family vacation every year, sometimes in England, sometimes in Greece, but always in the same places, so it's not what you would call very exciting. The first time I went anywhere on my own was this last September, when I went to Rome with one of my friends for 5 days. I had been to Rome before on a school trip, but it just wasn't the same. We ended up having an amazing time and I am hoping that we will be able to go somewhere else together in the future (though not so far in the future)!

I just had a thought, though.... Maybe that doesn't count, as - technically - I wasn't a kid then.... Hmmm... 

Oh, well.... That really is all I can think of... (As you may remember from a previous post, I cannot remember much from my childhood... Sad but true.)

Now, I wanna go travelling again............... 

A Treatise on Weird Stomach Problems

To begin with, I agree with Anne. This has to be the broadest topic we've discussed here... But then again, it is a very interesting one, seeing as each one of us is different and has a body that responds to similar conditions in completely different ways.

I have never been the kind of person who rushes to the doctor the minute I feel sick. I always wait and see if it will go away on its own and - if it doesn't - then I do something about it. That goes contrary to what a lot of Greek people do (and I am referring to Greek people because that's the environment I grew up in). They tend to overdramaticise everything and rush to the doctor's, even if the only symptom they have is an sore throat and a bit of a cough. It's pathetic really. My ex-boyfriend was one of the worst of the lot. If his body temperature so much as went over 37 degrees Celcius, off to the doctor's office it was...

The thing about Greece is that it actually used to have a pretty good health system (and I'm saying used to because of all the budget cuts that have been happening with the crisis, the health department has been suffering quite a bit). We used to be able to go to whichever doctors we wanted, get all our money back from the government and also get back about 75% of the money we spent on prescribed medication. Things nowadays aren't really that bad, but they're definitely worse than they used to be, so I think that people are going to (out of necessity) stop going to the doctor for every silly little cough and irritating runny nose.

But anyways, I digress.

I have to explain the title of this post.

I am generally a rather weird person when it comes to health. There have been many years when I haven't been plagued by a single cold (not one case of the runny noses all year round!), but there have also been years when I have had colds back to back to back to back etc etc etc. Well, the really bad case has only happened once, when I was actually full of cold for all the three months of winter (maybe even a little longer). Let me tell you, it was not fun.

But there is one thing that I can count my body to be consistent upon. Stomach problems.

Ever since I was little, I distincly remember having more bouts of gastroenteritis than anyone else I've ever known. Seriously. It was ugly, people. My stomach really is extra, EXTRA sensititve and very, very unreliable. As soon as someone I know gets gastroenteritis, I usually get it myself. As soon as I get anxious, I cannot eat, feel sick all the time, am actually sick sometimes and have to take pills to calm my stomach down. I am an awful person to have on a long drive, because windy roads make me sick. I'm okay when I'm driving, but that's only because I have to focus on the driving part. I also get sick when I sit in the middle seat in a car. I have to be able to have a window next to me, so that I can open it the minute I start feeling queasy. I also get indigestion pretty easily.

Yep! Wonderful things, I know! One time, I actully didn't participate in a competition because I made myself so sick with worry and anxiety (over something that I was just going to do for the fun of it!) that I could not go in.

And to end on a positive note, I also have a pretty weird cough, due to the fact that I contracted the "Whooping Cough" disease, despite having been vaccinated against it. For those of you who do not know what it is, you can see HERE. It's also called Pertussis, or the "100 Days' Cough". Yes, I assure you this is correct. I was on cough medication for four months (and I absolutely refuse to take that particulat cough syrup ever again), I kept choking and I even coughed in my sleep. Now, wasn't that a positive note?? *winks*

Phanee, out.

PS: 'Scuse the extremely long post!

Health is a luxury

For this week Kate has assigned us the topic of "health." Talk about a broad topic! You can talk personal, political, global, you name it. But, since I'm not one for politics, and the last experience I had with global health was my global health class sophomore year, I'm gonna go with personal.

I have been told, many times, that I have a killer immune system. I can eat pretty much anything and not get sick - I've accidentally eaten mold, bugs and lots of dirt off of the vegetables dad brings in from his garden. The most awkward was biting into a piece of melon and a few seconds later feeling something creepy-crawling up my tongue - BLECH! Add to the fact that I am allergic to only one thing (far as I know) and short of poisoning it's practically impossible to make me sick off of food.

But that wasn't what really got me the title of "most effective immune system EVER." The thing is, I don't get sick. I'll admit, I'm not the best at making sure I always wash my hands. In fact, I'm probably a germophobe's nightmare when it comes to cleanliness. But it doesn't matter. I don't get sick. The last time I was sick enough to go to the doctor was due to a stress related injury. The time before that? I don't even remember, but probably before high school. Sure I catch the occasional cold, but 2-3 days of coughing and feeling miserable and I'm back to normal life. Even things that had my friends out for a couple of weeks would only cause me a minor inconvenience. Guess I'm just lucky like that.

Really, though, I'm extremely grateful for my good health. I have the misfortune to live in a country where health insurance is extremely expensive. I have a part time job which is not required to provide me with any health insurance and I'm trying to save money for going back to school, so it's kind of important for me to stay healthy. Here's hoping my good luck stays with me, at least for a while!