Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Natalie- You have no idea how honored I feel that I could inspire you and I definitely hope that I can help you in any way that I can! I totally know what you mean about the pressures of being this young and have to resist it all! I feel like a social recluse sometimes because it gets real boring going to college people parties and just sitting there and pretending to be soberly amused but your friend and strangers as you realize that they are quite annoying actually when they've been drinking and it just doesn't seem like you're having as much fun as they are. Granted I like to think that my lifestyle is a much healthier one as a result, but, nonetheless, it is annoying to not really have the choice. As for your desires to go to South America, I say do it! I'm not really sure how severe your IBS is, but I know you can make it work. I packed into my one suitcase 2 boxes worth of saltine crackers as a precaution and figured I could find a way to live of white bread if I needed, but I am also happy to say that I think I only went through 1 of the 8 long packages on them-as I was saving them for if I was in a bind, which thankfully I realized never occurred when I was packing to come home and had not accounted on having to make space for them on the way back. I think the thing that was my lifesaver though were the 14 tins of altoids I packed. Oh my family and best friend laughed at me when I was packing them all (and the few extra tins in my carry-on) but I was rationing them out there in the end, and if they made my trip a success then that's all that matters! So I'm not quite sure what little things work for you (and I partially think the altoids are a bit of a mental comfort food for me too) but if you can pack it, then take it. I also don't quite know about what the food or your living situation would be like in South America, but if need be, try and bring stuff with you! I would definitely imagine that South America has a wealth of bananas, and being the bacteria-phobe that I am, I would definitely think that a banana would be a safe fruit to eat since you can never be sure what other countries do or don't to their fruit that would be different from what your stomach is used to where you live.
Had I thought about it more ahead too, I wish that I had brough some of those little Rice Dream cartons with me because that could have opened a whole new realm of possibilities for me. But my main diet was bananas, sliced white bread (which is awfully dry and not so appetizing in Italy as one would imagine), and then I would eat chicken at restaurants and plain sandwiches with turkey on them. I think the main thing to remember is, if you can find a way to eat enough for a month or however long you are there, no matter how boring or bland or redundant it might be, it is far far better than anything you could imagine to have that feeling of being there having the experience of a lifetime and loving that you are alive and doing something that not many people get the chance to do. I resisted the urges I had to just drink some wine with everyone or try someone's gelato and all, because I just had to remind myself that I didn't want to give up standing in the Colosseum for standing next to the toilet in the bathroom

haha
So the short of this all is, you can definitely do it and you will be such a better person for having done it! When my parents told me I should wait or go and just travel over there when I was older, I made sure to tell them how I'm still young and still conciously and unconciously deciding what kind of person I want to be, so this experience would not mean the same even if I was just 2 years older. By then I'd be out of college and tied down to a job, a place to live, bills that would come for me and just an endless list of things that will come all too soon. Right now in your life is when you are still free enough to go live in South America and teach spanish orphans. I think that sounds like the neatest thing ever and if I had better spanish-speaking abilities I wouldn't pass it up. I hope we can get to know each other better on the boards because I too could use the advice and support of someone who is in the same situation as me! You can email me anytime too at Brittania17@yahoo.com and let me know if you have an aim screenname. And go on that trip girl!
Brittany

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator