Two weeks ago, I joined my first virtual hackathon. I was so excited! Everything was ready 15 minutes before the opening ceremony. The GitHub was loaded, and the opening ceremony was queued up. I had an amazing partner, a junior CS student at Cal Poly, and I was determined to make her proud.

Then all of a sudden, I felt this agitating, grating sensation. It hurt to sip water. I had a headache that felt like an unanesthetized lobotomy. My voice had already started feeling different that week, but I didn’t think much of it. Housing Day festivities left everyone with a deep, raspy voice, didn’t it? But this was different. 20 minutes into the livestream, I felt so exhausted that I had to call it a night. Hopefully, I could bring better energy the next day and take the dub with my partner.

At 2 a.m., I awoke with a FIT of chills. It was so painful that I couldn’t get up for 30 minutes. I felt like every muscle in my body was spasming. This was a cold I’d never felt before, even as a Massachusetts resident (hey, eight months still counts). It penetrated every bone in my body. After half an hour of fighting death’s grip, I held onto my wall to hoist myself up, and warmed up by taking an hour-long shower.

Side note: Like most of you thick-skinned academics, I tend to brush off seeking medical attention. Obviously, I don’t need an HUHS visit to diagnose myself with a cold. Freshman flu is rarely anything serious anyway. Our immune systems are adjusting to the new environment, and constantly being around people means something will inevitably be passed around.

But when I woke up, I suspected it wasn’t just a cold. And I was right.

HUHS: “You tested positive for COVID.”

Me: “lmao r u serious.”

That was genuinely my reaction. WHO gets COVID in this day and age? The Coronavirus? So 2020. At my grown age, too? Embarrassing. And then we checked my Strep test. I was double-whammied with STREP and COVID, and a fever of 102 degrees. Good news: the antibiotics were surprisingly effective. My beautiful self was back by Sunday. And for the next few weeks, I felt better than ever.

But five days after I finished my medication, I felt a shift. I woke up with a familiar itch in my throat. A constant urge to cough. A slight congestion that seeped into my brain and fogged my mind. Irritation and fatigue.

It had me reflecting. I haven’t had a single day this school year when I didn’t feel slightly ill. It’s genuinely getting frustrating. I’m a homebody, too! I don’t deserve this. It was time to uncover the root of this plight.

The Family Medical Clinic of Chubbuck lists many reasons why first-years are especially susceptible to sickness. We are stressed, sleep-deprived, unhygienic, and poorly nourished (let’s be real, 2 a.m. Joe’s is not exactly a superfood).

But I have my own hypothesis: there’s mold in our radiators.

I once watched a TikTok read a narrative piece in which someone described how their cough instantly disappeared after moving out of their mold-infested apartment. Then I recalled how even in the first week of winter break at home, I felt drastically healthier. But upon returning to campus, my chronic cough had returned.

So I bought an at-home mold test kit from Home Depot and tested it on my suite’s radiator.

And 48 hours later…

Turns out, there’s no mold in our radiators — or at least in my radiator. Hypothesis disproved. The culprit behind freshman flu still lurks, as does the ache in my throat. Maybe the only cure is returning to the sunny shores of California. I’ll have to keep you updated. Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, I’m no longer sick. Sigh.