For any SiSA student traveling to India next summer, I strongly recommend bringing as much bug spray as possible and using it continuously. This certainly won’t prevent bug bites but will of course reduce the risk of mosquito and bug borne illnesses. I say this due to my own brush with a mosquito – borne illness, dengue fever. I am certainly not eager to discuss my experience in detail but I will say that I ended up in the hospital with some warning signs of hemorrhagic complications.

I ultimately decided to cut my time in India short by about two and a half weeks upon my discharge.

Even though having dengue sucked and was very scary, I think it was worth it given how much fun I had and how much I learned through my experiences.

A special shout out to everyone at Selco who visited me in the hospital and to the medical professionals that helped me recover.