Getting sick at college for the first time can be overwhelming and hard. Trust me, I know. I just got over the stomach flu. It's especially hard not having your mom or dad with you to help you or get you your favorite soup. Also, missing days of college classes is a thousand times more stressful than missing a few days in high school. Here are a few tips to surviving your first sickness away from home.

1. Don't go to class.

As important as it seems to tough it out and brave a two hour lecture, you're going to do yourself more harm than good. You're not giving yourself time to recover so you're just going to stay sick longer. Stay in bed! Also, you're just going to infect everyone, which I can guarantee they won't appreciate. Go to the doctor or the clinic if your school has one and see if they can write you an excuse for your absences. You'll feel better with a day or two of rest. That being said...

2. Email your professors.

Just because you're staying in bed all day doesn't mean you're totally useless. Unless you're dying, you can probably manage to read something or do a few math problems in bed. Email your professors of the classes you're missing, and ask them if there's anything you can do from home to make sure you don't get too far behind. If you explain the situation to them, they more than likely won't ask you to do too much if anything at all. They are probably just glad you didn't show up and give them your plague. It also just shows the teacher that you are serious about the class and taking initiative to do well in it. They're more likely to help you out in the future if they see lots of effort on your part!

3. Call your family.

They will probably want updates on how you're feeling, if you're drinking enough fluids, what your last temperature was, if you're getting enough sleep, etc. They'll feel better knowing that you're doing alright. You'll feel better too knowing that they're still taking care of you even from far away.

4. Ask for help.

It may seem that since you're a college student now and living on your own that you have to get through this alone. Even if it's something as simple as the cold, don't be afraid to ask your friends for help. Learning to start taking care of yourself while you're healthy is already a hard enough task, taking care of your sick self is even worse. Whether it's asking your roommate to pick you up some soup or Gatorade, or asking the girl that sits next to you in Biology for her notes, there's no shame in getting some help. Chances are, down the road they'll need some help from you too.

5. SLEEP.

There's no way you're going to get healthy if your body is running on empty. The less sleep you have, the harder it's going to be for your body to recover and the easier it's going to be for your body to get sick again. Take advantage of your one or two days off from class and sleep in. Your body will thank you and get to feeling better much quicker!