I got sick on Friday.

Best medicine ever!!! Took with me from Italy ;)

Last Friday I got sick. Thank God (or thanks to science) we have drugs
though, so I was able to make it through the weekend!! :)

As you might have noticed, the temperature went way down this past week… Just the week before, we used to enjoy 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) every day, but over that weekend the temperature suddenly dropped, and now it’s just about 10 C (50 F) at night! Of course, during the day it’s still sunny and warm, so I can’t complain… But once you live in California long enough, you start to believe 50 F is way too cold!

Anyway, my weekend actually started well on Friday with a couple of meetings and a free lunch on the beach! That early afternoon, I found out that one of my friends works for California Explorer, a local company that brings together many students in order to make new friends, have fun, and go on fun trips together.
Participants are mostly foreign students from the various language schools in Santa Barbara, such as EF, Kaplan, ESL… but really everyone is welcome!

Apparently, CA Explorer offers a free BBQ at West Beach every first Friday of the month, so I went to check it out.

I though it would be a great opportunity for me to go recruit players for the beach volleyball tournament fundraiser event I have planned and organized for November 22 (more on this to come).
As it turns out, the people who work for this awesome NPO are just as awesome: they loved my idea, they embraced my effort, and they promised they will try to make a team and participate in this charitable and fun community event. I have to say, I really enjoyed my time there; further than recruiting one more team to play in the tournament, I met many European students there, and it was nice to chat for a while about what we like and dislike about America as compared to Europe. Unfortunately most of them were just visiting, so I might never see them again; it was a pleasant time nonetheless. It soon started to get chilly, so I thanked everybody, jumped on my bike, and rode it home. A few hours later, I was sick.

If you too are a victim of the “gelid” Californian weather (haha) here is some advice for you.

Selfie with Tawei!

• Get as much sleep as you can.
• Eat food that is easy to digest, especially fruit and veggies. 
• Stay away from sugary and fatty food, which reduce your immune system ability. 
• Drink a lot of hot tea. 
• Take some medicine.

That’s exactly what I did… I made some white rice with broccoli for dinner (bleah), I chugged a few pills, I drank some hot Chinese tea— courtesy of my Taiwanese housemate— and I slid under the covers pretty early, hoping to feel better in the morning. Did I? Check out my next post to find out!

A Presto,

- Fede