A couple of questions come to mind when reading that blog entry:
Who the hel sleeps on the cold ground?
Was there no bug protection (spray, oil, etc.)?
It sounds like the main problem this guy had was just a lack of proper housing and personal care items. I don’t know how that school works exactly, but I would think one of the big things they’d teach is keeping yourself warm, which includes insulating oneself from the ground while sleeping. Sounds a lot like he had problems and didn’t do anything to remedy them. Ideas of asceticism creeping in, I guess.