Double Campus Safari

Campus Safari 1 - This week I took a trip to the health center.  I have the worst immune system of anyone I know, so of course I'm sick.  I wanted to make sure I didn't have anything worse than a cold so I made an appointment.  I waited in the waiting room before I was taken in.  The woman who saw me was a nurse practitioner.  She took my temperature and my blood pressure and then listened to my lungs.  She also gave me a rapid strep test, which thankfully came back negative.  I asked her some questions about the cold to be able to make it into a campus safari post.  I asked if there was anything I could do.  She told me that because a cold is a viral sickness, things like antibiotics are ineffective and are only used for illness caused by bacteria.  She told me to take ibuprofen and gave me a goodie-bag of cough drops, a reusable super cool paper thermometer, a fact sheet, and a decongestant.  She said that colds typically last 10 to 12 days so I should be prepared for another week of feeling less than great.  She also gave me some tips on how not to spread it to my roommates, like cleaning the door knobs and other things we all touch.  All - in - all I think the health center was great and a really good alternative to a student's normal doctor when they live on campus. 

Campus Safari 2 - This week I also went to the library to meet with my Inquiry group.  After we had finished our meeting, I went to find a book that my Anthropology Professor has discussed with us.  We eventually need to get it to read some passages.  It's called "Patterns of Culture" by Ruth Benedict.  It was in the SCSU stacks and had the call number GN400.B4.  I thought it was relatively easy to find after we had our library instruction earlier in the year in Inquiry.  The library seems pretty simple to get used to and it's easier to get used to finding the things you want than I had expected. Being a wishful thinker, I was hoping this book was a novel or had some sort of story, but I should have known from the title that this wasn't the case.  When I flipped through it I saw that it had absolutely enormous chapters, all of them about 50+ pages, and I know that we already have to read two over our Thanksgiving break.  The writing seemed technical and bland, but hopefully it's something me and my classmates can get through easily!