Confessions of a Germophobe

Today should have been the first day of classes but I am still trying to get everything I need for registration i.e. an AIDS test performed at the center for desease control. I swear I will never bitch about the NHS again. I shouldn't have freaked out, every student has to go through the motions, but if you guys think IMSS or the reception hall of University College Hospital in London are dodgy, eeks this place is not even finished! There is no no reception hall, no take a number and wait, you just pop in to one of the two offices/labs at the entrance tell them what you are there for and voila!
This means you get to involuntarily watch as other people get their blood drawn, there are a bunch of people coming and going, they keep the samples (all of them) on a table next to the desk, you get the picture. I had quite an emotional reaction to being there. I know everything will be ok, every student does it -Edouard told me about it yesterday- but I am still hyperventilating from the experience.