I guess it's been a while since my last update. If I'm going to keep doing this, staying consistent will be best, and so I'll do my best to get at least one post in per week. Had a stellar Monday this week. Really. This weekend was the Kishibe Festival held every year by the college I'm attending here, and all of the foreign students were invited to participate. And by invited, I mean forced to do it in a very passive aggressive, please do it if you want to (and you DO want to) Japanese way. So that took up pretty much all of Friday and Saturday, what with working on preparing food, selling food, set up, clean up, and general business. For whatever reason, the Japanese students got Monday off. Something about needing rest after a full weekend of hard work. Clearly, as foreign students, we did not require such a break, nor were we given one. The entire campus was dead on Monday, except for the foreign students, and the professors that teach us. Even the on campus food service was closed. Cool. We don't need to eat either. On top of all this, I spent all of Sunday feeling gradually becoming more and more sure that I was getting sick. Woke up Monday, and sure enough, definitely not feeling well. As luck would have it on this day-that-should-not-have-been, I had a presentation to give. So I went anyway. Felt mostly ok throughout the day, at various points wondering if I didn't have a mild fever.

Last class of the day, presentation time. Definitely not feeling superb. Fairly sure I have a decent fever going at this point, but I've been in class for six hours now. Why go home now? Got up, gave my presentation. Did not have a powerpoint presentation. Guess most people did. Didn't matter, because I rocked it anyway, with a high fever going, no powerpoint, and about ten minutes of prep time. Go me. Went home and was greeted by my concerned host mother who took my temperature and decided that I definitely had a fever, and dragged me off to the hospital(conveniently
literally next door. As in building next to this house.). Had a flu test done. I guess in Japan they do this by shoving a special (as in designed to be extra painful) cotton swab waaaaaay farther up your nose than anything but air is meant to go. After waiting a half hour, during which my name was called twice, I guess for no reason, I
was informed that I probably did not have the flu. I was shown a pregancy test looking plastic thing that basically showed one line for no flu or two lines for flu, and lucky me, one line. I feel like a teenager again. Went home and slept solidly for about 14 hours, woke up with no fever, and apart from a cough felt pretty much 100%.

And on top of this whole lovely adventure, I was waaaaaay too smart to dress warmly enough.