Guardia Medica

    Salve! So I hope you liked all my food posts. I really enjoyed all the emails everyone sent me. It means the world to me that people are reading my blog almost everyday.
           So today I woke up and I was not feeling that great. Actually I have not been feeling 100% for the past four or five days but I have been putting it off, and thinking I will feel better. Before I told any of the directors, I took my midterm for my class in the morning. The midterm was very straight forward with a reading comprehension, a writing and a grammar section. I thought the test went well. After the exam I told the director Nella that I was not feeling well, and I did not want to go to the beach in the afternoon. She said that was fine but if things weren't better she wanted to take me to see a doctor.
      While everyone was at the beach, I tried to take a nap and fall asleep but my head hurt,  I was very itchy all over my body including my head and I was not hungry. I decided I was going to pass the time away by posting more food pictures on my blog and try to fall asleep. When everyone arrived from the beach I still was not feeling any better so the directors (Nella and Ellen) took me to the guardia medica (on call doctor). The guardia medica opens at 20:00 so we left around that time. There was a small line so we waited in the waiting room for thirty minutes. I have never seen a doctor before that does not know English. It was weird having to tell my symptoms to the doctor with Ellen translating what  I said because I had no idea how to say how I was feeling in Italian. The doctor checked my head for lice and rashes and for a fever. I had a lot of bug bites all over my body as well as two bites near my neck. She concluded that I had an allergic reaction to something and I was dehydrated so she gave me prescriptions to take to the farmacia (pharmacy). One thing I think it might be from is my shampoo. I did not bring my own shampoo to Italy and bought "Garnier Frutis" from the super market. However this brand of shampoo is not the same type I use in the states. I never had problems with using different shampoo brands before but I guess my head might be sensitive to the shampoo I bought. While at the pharmacy, I was given amoxicillin, zirtec and bentelan (cortisol pill). The doctor wanted to give me a shot of cortisol for the allergic reaction but opted for the pill just in case I was allergic to cortisol. I also bought an allergy free shampoo. I will never know exactly what caused this allergic reaction. But since Monday I feel much better, less itchy (still itchy), and re hydrated. I hope by the end of the week I will continue to get better. I will keep posting updates on how I feel.
      Once I got home from the medic, I ate something before taking my medicine (a salad with scramble eggs and a banana) and then skyped one of my best friends. I also got in contact with my parents. Overall it was an interesting experience in Lecce today and I hope (knock on wood) that this will be the worse thing that happens when I am abroad. Of course you feel homesick when you are sick, because you miss your bed and your mom taking care of you, but I am lucky to always be able to communicate with them through my phone. Thank you dad, for letting me use your international iPhone. I really really appreciate it.
      Before I went to the bed, I took Zirtec. The doctor said that once I take the medicine I will sleep like a champ "campione". Well let me tell you I slept very well, probably the best since I have been in Italy. But the next morning I did not want to wake up.
Con tanto amore,
Samantha