The Coachella sickness is not a joke. The common cold? Nope. Feels like covid? I wish. With flu-like symptoms, including a raging headache, extreme nausea, loss of appetite, cough, sore throat, body aches, and more, the Coachella sickness is present. Yes, you can obtain this beast from events outside of Coachella, but that is where I, Ryleigh Snow, picked this one up. It’s contagious, as I gave it to my whole family, and it will knock you out of school and life for a week. Catching up on school is going to be a pain, but it’s the consequence of my own actions. As I sit here writing this in between coughs and chewing throat lozenges, I can confirm that it’s not a fast recovery. I missed labs in science, 3 tests, and classwork that my teachers haven’t emailed me back about. But the real question is, was going to a 3-day music festival worth this pain? Let’s ask Collin Rose, who had the same experience. “Coachella was so fun and yeah I would say it’s worth it. I wasn’t out sick as long as Ryleigh was and I am able to catch up easier because I went to classes later in the week.” Although I was jealous that Collin got away with not as bad of a case of the Coachella cold, I was glad that he was able to get what he needed because Collin is taking difficult classes and it’s almost AP tests. Another student who experienced this go down first hand was Kinsley Sahlin. She says, “I didn’t get sick but I got to take care of Collin because he got sick the second day. Ryleigh at least waited until she was home, so I didn’t have to take care of her” I don’t know how the other students that went to Coachella have recovered and made it back to school, or even if they have, but regardless, it’s important to anyone who has this sickness to take the time they need to recover. I can only imagine what the Stagecoach illness will be after this weekend with half of the school’s population there. Stay healthy CdM!