Though I planned for a weekend of going out and drinking with friends, my sudden case of a cold has turned my plan of drinking liquor to a plan of drinking tea, watching all my friends as they get ready to go out. Getting sick always happens to fall on the one weekend you were counting down: a weekend filled with post-finals drinking with little or no work to tend to. So here I am, home alone, with nothing to do except take excessive amounts of Nyquil and write this blog. Though it’s a little too late and a little too cold to go out and get anything for my illness now, I find myself thinking of a few ways to get by in the cold when you are suffering from one.

If you live anywhere near the construction of the new Hillel center, you will find that sleeping is a lot harder than it used to be. The only upside to this illness might just be that I can fall asleep without the sound of drilling and jackhammers and wake up to a Saturday morning when the fellas aren’t working.

We all know sleeping is a must when you party as hard as we do at this school, but if you are really sick, the Z’s might not do it. If my past four years at college have taught me anything, it’s that Walgreen’s is your safe haven when mommy isn’t there to hand feed you some chicken noodle. The best medicine when you have a cold is to make a cocktail, except skip the liquor and stir in Emergen-c and airborne to drown your sorrows, or at least your sniffles. For the true alcoholic who is ultra depressed about staying in, adding a splash of tequila to your hot tea will actually make the body feel good in the morning, for once.

For those of you who can actually get fully dressed on your sick days, I prefer soup from Potbelly’s and a coldbuster from Jamba Juice when hot tea and crackers are no longer cutting it. Chicken noodle is served daily and the coldbuster is always ready to order which means that walking on State Street in a daze will actually seem quite worth it.

And if you’re looking for ways to get better without the help of State Street and anything Wisco related, I turn to frozen spoons for the bags under my eyes from sleepless nights and my pajamas taking a turn in the dryer for 10 minutes for that toasty feel.

The snow may slow you down and your walk to State Street may seem unbearable, but lucky for us, we can still get all the great “sick remedies” at the UW we would at home. And if there is any upside to being sick in the town that will most likely taunt you for staying in, it’s that your favorite “sick food” is just around the corner and will seem even better when you are ready to give up the tissues for taste buds.