Obviously I'm bored today

Well, I was looking at the school medication website and I'm making up a shopping list for next month. They have so many cheap over the counter medicines that I'm thinking about stocking up before going to Sweden.

ACIDOPHILUS CAPS 100 $3.60
BENADRYL CAPS (generic) 24 $1.40
SUDAFED TABS (generic 100 $2.80
SUDAFED 12 HR CAPS(gen) 10 $4.10
NASAL SPRAY (saline) 15ml $1.40
DAYQUIL CAPS 12 $4.10
NYQUIL CAPS 12 $4.10
ZINC GLUCONATE lozenges 100 $4.50 (2 packages, I think Peter wanted some)
ARTIFICIAL TEARS 15ml $1.80
CALAMINE LOTION (generic) 4oz $1.40
IMODIUM A-D 12 $1.70 (2 packages)
ROBITUSSIN(Productive cof) 4 oz $1.40 (2 bottles)
ROBITUSSIN-DM (Dry cof) 4 oz $1.70 (2 bottles)
MENTHOL COUGH DROPS 30 $1.40
ACETAMINOPHEN 325mg(Tylenol) $1.70 (your guess is as good as mine with how many there are)
ASPIRIN 325mg 100 $1.40
IBUPROFEN 200mg(Advil) 100 $3.00
ALEVE 220mg (generic) 24 $3.00 (2 packages)
THERMOMETER (digital) 1 $4.00
TOTAL: 51.20 USD before tax.

But these are the types of things that cost MUCH more if I buy them at the grocery store or the local drug store. Sometimes as much as 4 or 5 times as much. I have a bottle of advil that is the same number and volume as the ones listed. They would have cost me 11.29 USD if I hadn't bought them on sale... rather than the 3 USD the student store will sell them to me as. I just wonder how strangely the student store will look at me if I go in there and drop 50 or 60 dollars on over the counter medicines. I guess if I explain that I'm studying abroad and Sweden has crappy expensive medicines available for over the counter they'll understand.

Swedes have this odd idea that when you're sick you should suffer, Americans try to make you able to work still. Swedes get a cold and they whine for 3 weeks, Americans get a cold and whine for 3 weeks, but still go to work and are mostly functional. I tried getting cough medicine there... all it did was make me cough more. At a certain point staying awake coughing 24/7 for weeks on end is not healthy, I don't care if it's a productive cough. Not to mention the fact that the drug stores are NEVER open when you need medicine. They seem to keep bank hours! The one nearest where I will live is open 9 to 5 on weekdays, closing for an hour during lunch. That's just perfect as long as you need medicine during those select hours. I wonder what you do if you need a perscription filled when they aren't open? Suffer? Drag yourself to the other side of town, coughing and sneezing on as many people as possible? Sometimes I wonder about those odd Swedes!