Being sick is hard. Being sick in France is hard *in French*. It’s not glamorous, and it’s not cute but thankfully… it’s not COVID!
When I first started feeling sick a couple days ago, as we Americans do, I defaulted to my usual solution: better living through chemistry. I popped out to my local pharmacy here in the 20th. I explained my symptoms as best I could, and then I asked for ‘Sudafed’ or a similar decongestant.
But here’s where the cultural differences began. The pharmacist told me no! He gave me two herbal remedies: one nasal spray (that is uncomfortably spicy, might I add) and a pack of essential oil pills with rosemary and eucalyptus oils, and he sent me on my merry way. Call me American, but I needed something a little stronger.
What this new Journey into French Herbal Remedies has taught me, however, is how I’m actually feeling. How my head and body and mind all feel. And it’s forced me to shut my computer screen and shut my eyes and rest as I viscerally understand just how sick I actually am. I can’t muscle through this like I normally would.
As much as the part of me that – problematically – values myself based on my productivity hates this, I need to sleep, drink water, talk with my moms on the phone, eat some grapes, and go to bed. That’s it!
And in the morning I’ll probably go to a different pharmacy and see if I can get different medication. As they say, you can take the girl out of America…
À demain!
The Paris Project
I’m Sarah, a travel and wellness writer based in the US. Join me on my 30-day journey in Paris as I post something new each day. You can follow along here on my blog or subscribe to my newsletter. I’ll send a weekly missive to all my newsletter subscribers while I’m here with all of my favorite Paris discoveries and adventures.