So I had the recent opportunity to visit my local Emergency Room again. It was of course with the same friend who is still doing fine and will remain an anonymous mystery human. She's okay, I promise.

Anywho, I felt this would be a good chance to compare my two visits and see if I learned anything new.

1. I still don't know exactly how to get to the emergency room

During my first visit, I had my friend with me to direct me (despite being in a lot of pain) while I drove us to the hospital. This time, it was only me as I drove to meet her there. I got lost. It is minutes away from campus. Is anyone surprised? (answer: no)

2. There are so many more people in the waiting room during the day

When your first visit is at 2 in the morning, there is less of a crowd. She needs to time her illnesses better, obvs

3. You don't always get a nice room with a tv

This time we were in a tiny curtained off room surrounded by a bunch of others in their own curtained off rooms. On the bright side, I can't be disappointed by the lack of HGTV if there isn't a television

4. It's a lot easier to eavesdrop on people when you don't have a private room

Is it polite? No. Did we do it anyways because we were curious and wanted to know if they would discuss her at all? Yes.

5. Prepare for a long visit

I figured I would be in the emergency room for a few hours, so I brought along some homework and entertained her with some light reading (about Ceausescu's dictatorial rule of Romania, of course)

6. Emergency room doctors are not the most sensitive to the patient when joking around...if he was joking... I still can't tell...

I understand they have a super stressful job, and their humor may be a bit dark. But I mean he told her that if he was the one who found out what was wrong with her, she should call her preacher and set arrangements for her death. Kinda morbid, sir.

What things will I learn next? The anticipation is killing me.