Pre-Kenya

So it's mid-finals week and I find myself at my local "Passport health" clinic. It's behind some construction and looks a little shady, but inside it's nice. I spend a ridiculous amount of money on vaccinations (4!). It's weird, because before going to Jordan it never even occurred to me to get any vaccinations for Egypt, even though I knew I'd be spending spring break there. In retrospect that was a little stupid. Maybe more than a little? I did get sick literally the second I was back in Jordan (all over my host family's carpet ugh), but I managed pretty well there. For Kenya I go over the top and get EVERYTHING. I still have my sense of reckless abandon, but I keep thinking "I don't wanna die before I fall in love. I don't wanna die before I fall in love." A preposterous notion, considering that lacking in my human experience is likely more my fault than anyone else's, but the sentiment scares me in its ferocity. I also buy anti-malaria tablets. The kindly receptionist informs me I can get the $25 brand with quite a few scary side effects or the $175 brand with next to none. Eventually I decide on the $25 brand; I'm feeling more lucky/crazed after all those shots.

Later, it occurs to me what a modern miracle this whole experience is. I will not be getting yellow fever. I will not be getting typhoid fever, or meningitis, or malaria. I am blessed by my birth's timing and by the privilege of my lower-middle class, American upbringing.