Gluten Free Things

Hello!

I apologize for my long absence.

I have been studying abroad in Ireland this term and that has been keeping me busy, on top of being sick a lot.

I’ve developed the symptoms of throwing up and hyper- sensitivty to cross- contamination on top of my other symptoms, which has made traveling with Celiac Disease a lot harder.

It took me the first five weeks of the term to learn that I can’t eat the french fries at the hotel I’m staying at. Some waiters said they were gluten free and some said they weren’t, but having to retreat to my bedroom right after eating and sleeping the evenings away with exhaustion gave it away.

On the weekends, I have been doing a lot of traveling.

I’ve really enjoyed exploring all of the local grocery and health stores for GF European brands and always brought biscuits and rice cakes with Nutella with me wherever I went.

During the week my class went to Rome, my friend got my gluten free pasta and I got her gluten-y pasta. Since I’m not used to the stiffer noodle texture, I didn’t know until I was sick on the streets. Other than that, I made frequent  use of my allergy card and really enjoyed the Italian’s awareness of Celiac Disease and gluten.

Last weekend, I went to Paris, where I could eat next-to-nothing. I spent a lot of time on my iPod trying to research restaurants, but without much luck- especially since all of my friends were on budgets. I expect to pay more for things, and even though they’re really helpful, I didn’t want to burden them with extra cost.

One night when the waiter brought a gluten dish, my friend swapped me for her salad, for which I could not have been more thankful.

Although I’ve seen tons of amazing places (and loved trying all the different ways the Irish use potatoes), it’s been a challenging trip.

Two weeks ago, my parents came to visit. It should have been a lot of fun, but I was coming off a lot of prolonged glutenation and had a possible stomach flu, so there were lots of things my mom wanted to do that I simply couldn’t and I feel awful. And to top it off, my Dad caught a cold during the later part of their visit.

Now, I am now catching the cold that is being passed around and there’s tons of homework this week and a mandatory class and a day trip tomorrow. I hope that I’m able to go.

I’ve been keeping a list of gluten free things on my iPod as they happen, and will be updating with those over the next several days.

Thanks for sticking with me,
Katie