Welcome to my commute ... pass the Gravol

Thanks to Student Loans and a complicated process of them and SFU deciding how much money I actually need for school, I was royally "messed over", let's say, this semester. Long story short, Student Loans decided to give me some (but not all) of the money I needed to go to school this summer semester. SFU heard how much Student Loans was planning to give me, SFU decided that wasn't enough, so they gave me a generous combination of financial assistance and scholarships. Student Loans found out about this and decided SFU gave me too much, and told me that I needed to give them (Student Loans) what SFU gave me. Sigh. All I want to do is study hard to get into Grad school in September, and this weird triangle of public funding is seriously complicating things. In the end, I was left with $500 to pay for a $7000 semester (living, tuition and all). Fortunately, my folks still have an extra room in Abbotsford, so I will be staying with them to save money on living expenses. As for the tuition? We'll see ... no one's kicked me out of class yet. ha. Since Mom and Dad live in Abbotsford (and I needed to sell Bill - my Honda Civic - back in 2005 to go to school), I now take 3 different companies of public transportation to get to SFU. My day starts at 5am, I leave the house at 6 and get to school at 8h30 - Bus, train, bus. The first train to go back to Mission gets me home at about 5:45pm. Long days. Lots of time to contemplate life. I am (now) OK with the situation -- Mom and Dad have been so generous, and I am sure glad this fiasco didn't interrupt my studies or change my plans for the fall. Food on the table and a safe place to sleep at night - life is good.

Speaking of contemplating life, here is an exerpt from yesterday's musings in my journal ...

It's weird. When I moved here to Vancouver 7 years ago, I was sad to leave family behind, but I was completely done with Nipawin, and I felt like I couldn't leave soon enough. Though it has been my life's dream to live in Quebec, Vancouver has been really good to me, and I know I will miss it dearly. Leaving Nipawin, for me, was 96% a win-win situation (that last 4% being Dad, Mom, Erin and Dan). Leaving Vancouver for Quebec, today, feels like a 51% win and 49% lose situation, sorta like a referendum vote - ha. I think this is primarily because Quebec is an unknown, like a purchase at a CPF White Elephant sale. It has all the promise of a great fit for this next phase of my life, but the dream is so vague and blurry that I hesitate giving up the 'bird in my hand for the 2 in the bush.'

But, the same God that brought me here to Vancouver with a one-way plane ticket, no job, no place to live and very limited cash in my bank account back in 2001 is the same One that is leading me to 'la belle province.' I could never have anticipated what my life here in Vancouver turned out to be, and I am sure that same will be true in Quebec. The only difference, I guess, is that the next chapter of my life will be written in French subtitles.

KNL