Guest Blogger--Women's Golfer Hanna Ek on her First Two Weeks of School

Everything went well on the morning of January 10. We left my home town early in the morning and dodged the bad traffic on our way to the airport. However, my flight from Arlanda, Sweden, was delayed and the only thing I could do was to keep my fingers crossed. I was lucky this time. After sprinting through the airport in Köpenhamn, I made it on time for my transatlantic flight! I was so excited!

The plane was packed. I got to sit beside a sneezing, coughing man who blew his nose every ten minutes all the way to Washington DC. Lovely. But at least I was on the flight! We arrived early to Washington so I had plenty of time before the boarding for my flight to Cleveland would start. However, the flight from Köpenhamn was not the only international flight arriving at the same time in Washington. Immigration was a nightmare. It took me more than two hours to get through and I was running out of time. My only option was to run. Again! I made it to the final call! I was tired and I could barely keep my eyes open when I boarded my third and last flight for the day.

In Cleveland, my Coach and her husband picked me up, but unfortunately my luggage didn’t make it. I was really annoyed, but with classes starting the next morning I just wanted to get back to my apartment.

I got my luggage the next day. I unpacked, I went to my meetings, I practiced and worked out, and I ran back and forth with papers. Back to reality. When Friday came I was tired and I wasn’t feeling well. I had felt something in my throat the entire week but it wasn’t too bad, at least not at first. When I woke up on Saturday, I knew something was wrong. I got worse and worse throughout the day and I went to bed early. I was hoping to be able to sleep it away. The night between Saturday and Sunday was horrible. I had a very high fever and my bed turned into a pool of sweat. Lovely. To try to swallow was not an option; I could not even get water down because my throat was too swollen.

I had to go to the hospital the next day. I got an injection, some steroids, and penicillin. I’m still taking the penicillin and the only thing I have been able to eat for the past five days is yogurt. My throat is still swollen and I’m exhausted, but I feel a lot better than I did a few days ago. Hopefully I’ve had my share of illness this semester. From now on, things can only get better!

Go Zips!!--Hanna Ek