<p>I will be a attending the University of West Florida as an exchange student next year (I live in The Netherlands/Amsterdam right now). I'm really psyched about it and I can't wait. </p>
<p>However, I was born with a curse. I have a severe food allergy. And I do mean severe. If I eat or drink anything that contains milk or peanuts, I can die within 15 minutes. It's definitely not something I can ignore or wave away. I once had to be taken to a hospital after I made out with a girl who ate some peanuts at the bar ten minutes earlier; just to give you an indication about how serious this it.</p>
<p>I currently live with my parents and everyone here is used to it. I know the supermarkets here and I know the stuff that I can handle. Last year I went to New York city and all the supermarkets there had good info on the packaging as well (even better than we have here). </p>
<p>So, my question is, how hard is it to get a meal on a college campus where I can be 100% sure it'll be safe? I'm a pretty good cook, so I can make my own **** as well, but is it safe to eat out? Over here in NL when I ask in some cafe's, they look at me like they just saw water burning. No understanding at all about it and treating me like I'm some sort of retard. Really ****ing frustrating, I can tell ya. </p>
<p>After my 5 months college time in Florida, I'm planning on doing a road trip to the west coast. Again, how hard is it to get a decent meal that is safe for me at a restaurant or road cafe? Does anyone have experience with this?</p>
<p>It’s actually fairly common. basically, I lived in West Florida for 5 years. I don’t know about outside cafes, but the cafeteria actually allows you to specifiy food allergies when paying your for your meal plan and you will be able to (pursuing to federal law) to actually check each product if its a dairy product. When I waas there for two years, the menu actually came with little pictures next to each available item which specified that. while your allergies are severe, the basic allergy itself is common enough so that tschools are sensitive towards people such as yourself.</p>
<p>I dont know about the road trip though. If its life threatening, I would probably skip the trip and get an internship instead at a Big 4 Accounting Firm, building your network and constructed your resume.</p>
<p>The trip has been a dream of me since forever. I’m really planning on making it happen because I know I’ll always regret it when I don’t do it now while I’m still young.</p>
<p>There is a website about surviving college with a food allergy, but I forget what it is. Hopefully someone can answer.</p>
<p>You need to check with the college campus. Some cafeterias at my school are all buffet and nothing is really safe. But you can talk with the nutritionist on staff and they will make sure I have something I can eat at every meal, in a to go box if necessary. This is important enough that you need to check to make sure the school you intend to go to/visit is equipped to handle you. Do not assume everyone will be.</p>
<p>call the head of dining services first…they are usually the ones who coordinate this stuff…in addition, you need to speak with housing/disability services to ensure you get a roommate who will honor the no nuts/etc issue…</p>
<p>fwiw, all colleges in the US are dealing with the increase in allergies/Celiac/etc in their own way…you need to figure out how your school will/will not accomodate you…</p>
<p>I carry my Epi-Pen in a Leg-Buddy Carry holster on my ankle. I have also contacted the head chefs of the main dining halls to talk and meet with them. They offered to give me their personal phone # so that stuff could be coordinated. Another thing is that in the Dorms @ A&M, some of them have Chick-fil-A
s in the common areas. If you are not familiar with Chick-fil-A they use peanut oil to fry their chicken. I contacted the building managers and found out that the ducting is seperate so there should be no problem.
However, you should check with wherever you are staying. Good Luck! </p>
<p>PS. I will post the link to the holster if you are interested!</p>
<p>Tell them immediately and explain what ground rules you have to set and EXACTLY what will happen to you if they are broken. Then discuss it with the RA when you get to school so that if there is a conflict the RA is aware that your roommate was forewarned very early on and that any conflict arising from the matter (which there likely won’t be any) is not your fault. If they seem unwilling to deal with it, you take the issue to the housing office and find a solution, be it a new roommate or a single.</p>
<p>I told my roommate via email over the summer, not in my first email but soon after, that I have a life threatening airborne allergy to processed and artificial fruit-- especially candy and fruit snacks. I have gone into shock over an unopened package of fruit snacks that had a defect in the packaging, which wasn’t even visible until someone REALLY looked for it after I’d been sent to the hospital. I told her this. I told her my throat would swell up until my airway closed and that I would go into shock. I also told her that I have only ever had a reaction a couple of times, and that sometimes even I forget and make a mistake and that is normal. It scared her a little, but she needed to be scared. She needed to understand the severity of the issue. I’ve found that when I am not painfully clear how dangerous it is for me, people do not remember and will not watch out for me as they need to be doing.</p>
<p>In hindsight, I wish I’d considered going through the disabilities office and requesting a single right from the start. My roommate has been really good about my allergies, for the most part, but she is embarrassed to police her guests for some reason and THAT has caused huge problems. And she does not understand that she can’t just eat the candy while I’m not home and throw the wrapper in our garbage. She just doesn’t get it.</p>
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