An update, plus the roommate story!

Wow, am I behind! Sorry guys, I wanted to update my blog sooner, but I’m not being very good at time management at the moment, so it’s had to wait…

My life in short over the past couple of weeks: exams, work, deadlines, stress, friends, fun, contemplation, culture shock, homesickness, nostalgia…
:)
I guess I should start at the week my last two room mates left. In case I hadn’t mentioned it already, Alexa left us at the end of September to live in a residence closer to campus. Solin Hall had been her last choice in terms of residences, because she wanted to live close to campus. Now, instead of taking the metro for 6 minutes (which a lot of people find horrible; ‘It’s so far away!’ Yeah, right.), she has to walk up a hill every single time she wants to get ‘home.’ Personally, I’d choose the metro (though most people choose the hill). Anyway, so, the same day she moved out, we got a new room mate, Adrienne. That was a bit of a shock: I left in the morning, helping Alexa move her stuff, and when I get back in the evening, I’m told by Karine and Marilou that we have a new room mate. Wow!

Fast-forward to 2.5 weeks later
Backgroud: From the beginning of the semester, Karine and Marilou had been complaining about how much work university was, and how they didn’t enjoy most of their courses, etc. They did so much work! While I was going out to spend time with friends almost every second day in the first couple of weeks, they were sitting in their rooms, studying. They’d usually go home over the weekend, but they’d tell me how all they did was work. I tried to get them to slow down and do other things, but it didn’t really work. Anyway, that week I was having a really bad week. The weekend before wasn’t too great, and then there was the stress from the 3 midterms I had (2 on Wednesday, one on Thursday). I wasn’t prepared, and was very, very worried and miserable (though they all went quite well in the end)…
Well, Tuesday evening, when Marilou and Karine came home, the first thing that Karine said was ‘I’m leaving McGill!’. They had talked about this a couple times already, thinking about whether or not to leave at the end of the semester, or change programs, or something else. Well, because they changed their minds every other day, I didn’t take them all that seriously, especially when Karine said a few hours later that it was an over-reaction and she’d be around at least another week. The next morning, I left early, because I was the first one to have class, so I didn’t see any of the others. When I got back in the evening and called ‘hello’ and strolled over to Marilou’s room (I saw that the door was open and someone was sitting at the desk), who turns around but Marilou’s mom? Most of her room was packed, and I understood from Marilou’s mother that Karine had already left. Shock!
I went into the kitchen, and sure enough, everything was packed up (Karine had bought everything for the kitchen. Fortunately, I’d bought the essentials, too: plates, cutlery, pans… what we didn’t buy though, was pans and glasses. Ouch.). Marilou came in a bit later and explained that she was leaving that night, and that Karine was going to come back the following Monday to pick up her stuff and leave for good, too.
By this point, I was experiencing everything through a haze. I’d just gotten a load off my shoulder by surviving 2 midterms (that turned out not to be so hard), but I was still anxious about the one the next morning, and then I was faced with this?! My two room mates leaving!

…And that’s the story. Now, I’ve really lost all my original room mates, and Adrienne and I are living in a 4-person apartment. I can’t say I dislike the fact that I get my own bathroom (without a toilet, but still! My own shower and sink!), and at dinner-time the kitchen is usually empty (Adrienne and I somehow always eat at different times). But it’s still weird, and at times lonely. Adrienne and I don’t see each other for days at a time sometime, and we don’t talk as much as I did with Marilou and Karine. Then again, it feels like I have a certain freedom, coming and going without anyone knowing (that rhymes!). But still, it’s weird. Plus Adrienne isn’t the cleanest of people, so while we had no problems with keeping the apartment clean before, now it’s me who cleans, or we live in a mess. We might get some exchange students in January, who will be here for a semester. I don’t know if I should be happy about that or not. On the one hand, it would be exciting to get to know them, and to have a full apartment again. On the other hand, there’s no telling what they’ll be like, in terms of personality (most people in my residence would probably not like me because I don’t do the partying thing – I don’t know most of them, so I can’t say for sure), and in terms of cleanliness.
Anyway, the only way to find out is to wait! I’ll keep you updated. :)


Wow, this is longer than I expected it to be. Well, ever since that week things have really calmed down, though slowly the deadlines are piling up again, so I should really stay on top of my work, or I’ll be in serious trouble!

My exams will start in December. I have one on the 6th, and after that’s over, I have a full week to study, and then I have an exam the 14th, 17th, 18th and 21st (the very last day possible!). I’ll fly to LA Friday afternoon, spend a day with Cristy (yay!!!!), and then fly on to Singapore Saturday night, arriving in Singapore Monday noon (the 24th). I’ll be very tired for Christmas Eve… Oh well! I’m looking forward to seeing Cristy and my family!!! But in general, I’m looking forward to the Christmas season (which should only start December 1). It’s cold here, and this morning I actually saw pieces of ice where the little puddles of water near Solin Hall (on the bike path) had frozen overnight. Last week, on Wednesday and Thursday, there were snow ‘flurries’ (i.e. there was snow in the air, but only very little, and it didn’t even reach the ground, really). That was exciting! But it will be more exciting when I can start listening to Christmas music, bake Christmas cookies and add a Christmas tree to my Facebook profile. ;)

Right, I’d better get going. I should have been doing readings during this last half hour, but after these people who weren’t very considerate sat next to me and started having a tutoring session (in the library!! I come here to have peace and quiet while I study!!), I left. Then I had to check something on the internet, and for lack of anywhere else to go to read in peace, I decided to ‘quickly’ write an update.

Thanks for visiting my blog so loyally, and for your comments! I love you all, and miss you very much!

PS: Sorry there aren’t any pictures with this post. I like posting pictures, but I’m in the library… :)