In my last post I mentioned how much I am going to miss this country, as I begin to make myself ready to return home. Well, I have found a memory of this country that I am not going to miss.

Murphy’s law has really been proven by my existence lately I would say. Yet again, I have been struck by the long arm of the coronavirus, and this time it hit a little closer to home. Last week, just as I was getting ready to head out of my house to class, I got the news that a family member of mine was feeling quite symptomatic. You can imagine how my heart rate jumped after reading that text. Since it was someone who I had been in direct contact with, I was given the option of staying home or leaving to an isolation apartment, since it was likely that I had been infected either way. A difficult decision to be faced with especially under pressing circumstances.

You see, I would have just stayed home, but currently as I sit here writing, it is the first day of our DIS long Study Tour, where all students take an extended trip with their core courses to go more in-depth in their subject towards the end of the semester. One of the hallmarks of the program, I would say. I chose to leave my house with the hope that I may test negative, be able to join back with my group again by the time the beginning of study tour rolled around. So I packed my bags, more intentionally than last time, and took the long cab ride back to the isolation apartments.

If you can’t tell by my compositional tone, I did not, in fact, make it to the beginning of study tour. My family member who was feeling symptomatic tested positive for Covid. Thus according to the testing rules here in Sweden, if you’re identified as a household contact, versus a regular close contact, you must test negative twice over a span of 5 days in isolation in order to be cleared to leave. And since one has to wait 4 days after exposure to get tested the first time, the timing was absolutely, impeccably poor. Luckily half of the members of my family tested negative, and those that are sick are on the mend, but in terms of following proper isolation timelines, things were not looking very good. And yet again, I have been defeated by a lost test in the Swedish public testing system.

Two out of three times taking a test with the public stations, I have been the victim of a lost test. Two times I have been tested with no result ever reaching me, which makes things extremely difficult. If I were part of the system, I could just look up my past results and see if they were processed alright, but since I don’t have results attached to a unique personnummer, I can’t. Out of all the students here at DIS who’ve had to take a test at the public stations, I am the only one this has happened to. And it happened twice.

Regardless, I would have had to take a second test due to the household contact rules which I’m going to be taking on Monday, but you can imagine the frustration I feel when knowing that I’ve slipped through the cracks in the testing system twice. I still haven’t even found out if I got Covid after being directly exposed, since I haven’t really been heavily symptomatic. This does great things for one’s psyche, truly.

I know how to survive in this apartment at this point. I’ve done my time to know how to make it work (and as much as I hate to admit it, forcing me to work on my final papers that are due alarmingly soon since I have nothing better to do is probably a good thing.) But the fact that this has happened again, that my test has been lost again, after having so much trouble the first time is infuriating. And there’s not even anything I can do about it. I really try not to rant about things like this on this blog because it’s not evergreen content. With even an ounce of luck, dear reader who may be considering studying abroad with DIS in the future, this won’t even be a concern of yours, so I feel bad taking up blog entries like this. But it’s hard to sit here and write a list of my favorite places to study in the DIS building when I can’t leave my apartment for a week for the second time in a month. This has been my experience, ridiculous has my luck has been, and I would feel bad not sharing my full circumstances.

Living in another country has its ups and downs, and the highs that I’ve been able to enjoy here with my family and friends have been exquisite memories that I’ll take with me forever, as I’ve shared before. But the times that I’ve spent in this apartment, closed off from the rest of the world while living on borrowed time here have been some of my lowest moments in a long time. I wish I could write here and say that everything will come up roses in the next last few weeks that I’m here. But as I sit, currently set to miss half of my long study tour by sheer happenstance, it’s hard for me to say. If anything, I hope to be a great example of the way DIS and those in charge can keep us safe and sound while trying to find a solution to an absolutely horrible situation. Our spirits have been tested in this pandemic, time and time again, and with any luck, we’ll all come out on the other side with our faith and hope intact. But my luck hasn’t been the greatest lately. Hoping for a turnaround on that one. I blame the new moon.

Here’s to a new week, dear readers! Take not for granted the sunny days and spring feelings that exist in this world! And wish me luck with my continued interaction in the Swedish healthcare system. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, wow, what the heck??? that’s so rude of you to fool me like that again