My recent excitement over the beauty of nature and walking among the ancient beech trees ended with a total reality check. Although the forest near Walcz looked like a fairy tale, coming home from it turned into a complete nightmare. It was all due to my own recklessness because in my rush to get the perfect shot for the blog, I threw on a pair of short shorts, completely forgetting that tall grass and ferns are not a fashion runway. My style choice cost me a ton of stress and hours spent waiting in a crowded line at the local clinic. The worst part about the whole situation was that this tiny intruder was completely invisible to the naked eye. It was only when I got home, felt a slight itch on my leg, and looked closely at my skin that I noticed a minuscule dark dot. I pulled an old magnifying glass out of a drawer, and only under magnification did I see that it was a nymph tick—a microscopic, semi-translucent juvenile form of a tick that is barely the size of a poppy seed. I panicked because removing something so tiny with regular tweezers felt impossible, and my dial-up internet at home was loading so slowly that I couldn’t even look up safe removal methods.
lucky girl
I ended up rushing to the local emergency room, which was another shock to the system. I spent the entire evening standing in a giant, stuffy line to see the on-duty doctor, waiting my turn among dozens of other patients. The actual tick removal by the nurse took only a split second, but the whole experience really taught me a lesson. From now on, no more bare legs in the woods—long pants and high boots are the new black if we want to safely enjoy nature.
