I won’t try to point fingers and place blame on the person who got me sick, but there has been a bug floating around the group and it has claimed its newest victims.

Sophie and I woke up yesterday with the same typical cold symptoms. Congestion, headache, small cough and a runny nose. We had a terrible night’s sleep trying to cope with our inability to breathe and frequent coughing.

However, we both strangely and inexplicably exhibited a symptom seemingly unrelated to our common cold. Two nights ago, I woke up in screaming pain because of a charley horse in my left leg. The next day, Sophie woke up from her nap in screaming pain because of- wait for it- a charley horse in her left leg.

I did some research about our mysterious matching leg cramps and came up with a few possibilities of what the causes could be:

  • We overused our muscles walking all around Athens. It was our first full day in the city and we were excited to see as much of it as we could. Athens is much more fast paced than Thessaloniki and is filled with multi-colored street art, musicians and vendors that brighten up the long walks.
The streets of Athens
The view from Carlene’s apartment
  • Exposure to the extreme heat of Athens. This one is a stretch since its only about 80-85 degrees during the day, but the sun is strong and Sophie is from Minnesota. I also forgot to apply sunscreen, and came home a little bit burnt.
  • Being dehydrated from our extraneous adventuring around Greece. Climbing Mount Olympus, walking the city of Meteora, hiking up to monasteries and walking up to see ruins in Delphi are only some of the things we’ve gotten to do in the last few days. I’ll also admit that I forgot to fill my water bottle on our second travel day to Athens.
My one true love Olivia and I, looking adorable.
Meteora
Exploring the monastery.
Sophie, unknowingly posing for a photo.
The view from Kalampaka’s Old City.
Kalampaka
  • Standing for a long time, sitting for a long time, or putting your legs in awkward positions while you sleep. Okay WebMD, normally I stand by your expertise but this one is a bit of a stumper. When we aren’t adventuring around Greece, we’re sitting in classrooms or in a desk doing work. I also can’t control the positions I sleep in. Sophie, if this is the underlying cause of our leg cramps- we might be in trouble.