Where am I today

I am in my final year of my University program. I live with two other girls, one of which owns the house I am renting a room in, the other was one of my old roommates. We are all pretty busy with work, school, or relationships, and all seem to have our own lives outside of the house. So far, there has been no drama, yeah!!

It is so nice to only have to deal with the stresses that are caused from school, and let me tell you, there is a lot of them right now. Since I am in the first semester of the forth year of the program, there is a lot of work involved. It seems that I have an assignment due almost weekly, and have a lot of reading required to ensure that I am able to do the assignments and pass my midterms.

This is probably the toughest semester I have had since I have starting any of my post-secondary schooling, and I am beyond excited for all of it to be over. Five years in school is a long time. I am now trying to juggle my schooling with a part-time job, and still have a social life on top of that! I am ensuring I am keeping my school work as my top priority, I do not want to make the same mistake that I made in my first few years of college.

Since I've started my University program, I have lots of drama, heartbreaks, and let downs. But it seems that the good times far out weight the bad times that I have had. Although I find being in school very stressful, I am glad that I decided to continue with it and not stop after college. I've met a lot amazing people, and have become closer to the ones that I already knew. I am looking forward to what lays in my future, and I am sure, it will be just as eventful as my past experiences have been.

Fresh starts, and lasting relationships!

The drama at the house didn't really start until all of us became busy with school and other things. It seemed that we all took out our frustrations on each other and some of the girls decided they were too busy to keep up with the cleaning. There was many times when some of the girls and I would get into full on screaming matches over the dumbest things, of course, those things didn't seem like nothing at the time.

It got to the point that one of the girls and I didn't even talk for a few months, which made things in the house very awkward for everyone else. We finally ended up sorting things out just as drama was starting with one of the other roommates and everyone.

We all decided that it was best that none of us re-signed out leases for the house and thought it was best to move on from living together. It is really hard living with different personalities and learning how to deal with everyone differently. We all moved out of the house after our year lease was up, and after a few weeks of taking time apart, all starting talking again. The roommates I had in that house I would have to say, even after all the drama we had together, are definitely my closest girlfriends. So I guess, just because you can't live with someone, doesn't necessarily mean that you won't last as friends, because I see those 3 girls in my life for a very, very long time!

New beginnings

The summer of my final year of college was an eventful one, that is for sure! I had two new roommates that had moved in, one I had lived with at my previous house, and the other girl I had just met through my other roommate.

The semester started off great. We had many nights out together, and for the first few months, there was no drama amongst any of us! By June, things started to get really bad with my boyfriend and I. And by the end of June I had decided it was time for us to end things. It was one of the hardest things I had to do, and it resulted in a lot, and I mean a lot, of emotional ups and downs.

We tried to remain friends for the summer, but by the end of the summer, things were not going well and we ended up not speaking together. This time apart made me really miss him and when I decided I wanted to talk again, and maybe actualy try things again, it was too late. He had moved on and found someone else.

I was lucky enough to have my roommates and family with me to help me through this time in my life. It took along time for me to finally feel like myself again. I finished my college program and moved straight into University to obtain my BBA. I kept myself busy with school and made a lot of new friends because of it. I

In the end, I realized that the breakup was for the best and we were both better off not being together. And although it took me a very long time to come to that conclusion and to fully move on from things, I am glad I did. I feel that it made me have to come out of my shell and go out and meet new people in my program. While we were together, I never really did that. I found that since we broke up, my schooling/grades have improved so much.

Starting my University program being single and living with the 3 girls that I did really made me feel that things were turning around for me, that this was a new beginning. But of course, living with all girls, there is also going to drama invovled!

Library times...not so quiet at gc state!

The other main thing that was a large part of my college experience was the library at good ole gc state! This library experienced the goods times, the bad times, and the loud times.
I met one of my best friends there and he can pick me out of a crowd because he saw me yelling at another one of my besties for being rude.

The library has watched many tv shows with me, gave me a place to nap during class, a really wicked setup for poker games, and just a place to chill so we didn't have to go home. No one would tell us to be quiet nor would they approach to try and separate or join us. Our group was pretty much untouchable and took over whatever space we needed when we needed it. Rude of us? Some may say so, but this college was highly overpopulated when it came exam time and we needed the space. Back bones were definitely needed around us.

Great times, great people, great life at GC State. I would change alot of things in my life but the experiences I had...priceless, wouldn't change them for the world!

Jobs...or lack of jobs...in Barrie

Throughout college my work life consisted of working at my co-ops every other term after first year. I started looking for a job outside of a co-op entering into my third year after my H&R Block co-op.

Every January from then on I worked as a CSR for them. In the other terms there were no jobs to be had. I applied to over 100 jobs without one call back for interviews or anything. I was about ready to give up on the battle when I was starting my trek into the Laurentian Business Program and talked to a friend who was looking to hire.

The job was on campus and was very convenient for where I was living and a pretty easy one. I would be making sandwich at the on campus cafe. In August of my last semester I got the job and began to work throughout school. It was easy the first semester to balance a job and classes but come second semester a challenge was posed - I had taken my job at H&R Block back as well.

Working two jobs and going to school can be tiring but being a student money is money and you gotta do what you gotta do to keep the flow coming in. Paying for school by yourself can be very difficult when you're stuck going so long without a job because the one you counted on for so long was only seasonal. Relying on OSAP was out of the picture because up until first year of university I had to claim with my parents.

The 2 job situation worked out in the end though come exam time it was hard, and the 2 weeks that I had to take off for funerals put a pretty heavy cut in the paycheck which took a while to bounce back from. But no matter how much was going on and how much it didn't seem worth it I worked as hard as I could and it paid off in the end. At the end of my first year at my job I got promoted to a supervisor - pay raise, check. more hours, check. I was loving life.

Working and school can always be a struggle but the two sometimes need to happen together. This is where you need to prioritize your time and keep up with all your school work, it's difficult but very possible.

Support is not always there when needed...

The girls moved in and life was going great. School wasn't busy yet so we were able to hang out as a house for a while. We all got together on nights and went downtown, most of the time sober nights. We had some pretty random drunk nights to go along with those but many of those were not remembered.

The house was a great comfortable place to be for the first 6 months of us all living together than as living with all girls goes, the drama set in. People had underlying issues that had built up over time and as many people are to 'talk' about them there would be a fight. So the house became uncomfortable and awkward for all.

I had a lot going on at this time between work, school and life. In the winter semester I had to go home for 2 weeks as the battle that my grandma was having with cancer took over and she passed away. I went home for a visit not knowing that it was going to be my last. While at home my cousin also passed away causing me to be there for a full 2 weeks rather than the weekend that was planned. I missed a lot of school and work and came home to what was the most uncomfortable situations.

When I left my parents house to come back to my own I was excited to be away from family and not have the deaths hanging over my every thought thinking that there would be support here when needed and fun times when wanted. Was I ever wrong, the house was in shambles. I got here and no one was talking to each other the house was disgusting and I somehow was dealing with the brunt of it all. I was the only one that everyone in the house would talk to but it was only about the issues they were facing.

I didn't want that, nor was i ready to be dealing with that. I had support through the whole thing from a few people but at the arrival home everyone was to preoccupied to really help. I didn't end up dealing with it until a month and a bit down the road when it all came up during a severely drunken night where lets just say it was lucky I had my best friend there because I was a hot mess.

After that I brought my issues with the house up with the girls and talked to them all individually about how i felt when i got back. Things got better but not overnight, it was a work in progress but by the end of the summer we were all talking and pretty much all friends when we departed ways to our new houses.

new house, new/old roommates

I was starting my last semester of college and as I mentioned in my last post, I had moved out of the house I was living in, and moved in with two friends I had known my whole life and one I have met first year of college. We all got along great. It seemed that my last year of college was going to be great! No drama, no disrespect, no mess!

By Christmas time, two of the girls were deciding it was time to move out. One decided she couldn't afford the house and moved home with her parents, and the other moved out because she got a job and only came back on weekends. By the time the next semester started, we had a new roommate and one empty room. The new roommate was never home, she pretty much just used her room for a storage room and spent most of the time at her boyfriends house. This of course was fine with myself and my other roommate. We loved having the house to ourselves. We were able to focus on our studies and everything was always so clean!

Things were great. My boyfriend and I had been together for 2.5 years, I lived with one of my best friends, all of my other closest friends lived across from the street. Things were great. Of course, that can never last.

Roommates come and go, some stay in the picture...some not so much

The year at the new house started out with a bang! First long weekend of the school year, living in a college neighbour hood and we had a party...not to smart on our part. The drinks were flowin, the mussic was pumpin and the games were contining throughout the night. Late into the night everyone living at the house had long lost track of time and we were all feeling pretty wicked until the lights came through the fence...yup it was the police.

Two thirty am and the police show up to what you would think first offence would be a warning...but nope that day was not our lucky one...a 500 dollar ticket was issued and drama began. The house was fine but the guests had got to go!!! We got the house emptied and laughed/cried at the rough turn of events in the night. That was the first sign that there was a lot to come out of this house. The first semester brought many fun times with all of us and then two of the roommates had to part ways, jobs took them to another town while the other just decided that the money was not flowing in the right direction anymore and she moved home to her parents house.

The second semester of third year brought an empty room and a new roommate. The new roommate just came to the house for dinner and the odd hang out session but really just lived at her boyfriends house so the house was always neat and quiet. This helped my study habits quite a bit as there were very rarely any distractions.

With this turn of events I became more focused and found that my work was kept up and I was successfully holding a job on top of school. That semester was coming to an end and as the story of my life goes more new roommates were coming into the picture. This time it did not involve me moving, which was the best thing ever!!! More new friends were coming into the house that I had met throughout the last two years of my life.

That year was my first year of university and lets say...drama, cleanliness out the window, and a lot of random drinking occurrred that caused for a very eventful year.

Summer Love

The summer was a much better time for me, from what I can remember of it.

I was back to my old self again. I was happy, and loving life, and loved the new people who moved into the house. There was only four of us that lived their over the summer, all girls. So of course, there was a bit of drama, but it didn't revolve around me, thank god!

My house became the spot to be for my friends that I made in school. And I found myself partying into the morning with them and again, not attending most of my classes. Since I had made friends with people in my program, I was able to still stay on top of my homework and assignments, and started to actually enjoy studying with them.

The only issue I had over the summer was at the end of it with my landlord. When we all signed our lease we were asked to give them a cleaning deposit, that we were suppose to get back at the end of our year lease if their was no damage to the house and it wasn't extremely dirty. Well, there was no damage to the house and since there were only four people living in it, we kept it very clean and tidy. Yet, they refused to return our money to us. We got on the phone with the landlord and tenant board, who informed us that the landlord should not have even asked for a cleaning deposit, they were not allowed. After we informed the landlord of this, they started looking for problems.

They started bringing up things like: you had pets in the house, it is in the lease that you are not allowed to have pets. Again, we called the landlord and tenant board who informed up that a landlord is NOT allowed to tell their tenants that they cannot have pets, whether they sign a lease that states it is a no pet house or not. It got to the point that we all just wanted to get out of the house and not deal with it anymore. We all wanted to end our summer on a good note, and did not want to deal with any unneccessary drama. It really wasn't worth the stress over a couple hundred dollars.

So, after all the ups and downs I had, all the good and bad memories I made, I moved out of the house and started my final year of college with a friend I had lived with in residents and two friends I had known since kindergarten. I was excited to start this new chapter in my life and prayed that I had left all the drama at my last house, but of course, there is always drama when four girls live together...

Roommate Drama

When we all came back from Christmas break, you could tell the dynamics had changed in the house. I was starting my second co-op placement and taking one night course as well. All of my other roommates were starting their second semesters for the year.

Since I was working 40-hour weeks and taking one course, I was pretty tired by the time I got home from work, and by the weekend, I was spent. All I wanted to do was relax in a quiet house, study when I needed to, and go to bed early so I would be able to function for work the next day. Sounds pretty easy right?

Since all of my roommates were just in school, they seemed to have a lot of free time, which they enjoyed partying through. It seemed almost every night they were drinking, blaring their music, and having friends over. That was not the worst part though. I found myself being one of the only non-smokers living in the house, and remember I had 5 roommates...So on top of all the partying, they had become smoking in the house.

I would wake up every morning with every window open in the house (we were now in the winter months) and half empty beer bottles filled with cigarette butts. It was the most disgusting thing. By opening the windows they were trying to keep the smoke from coming upstairs, unfortunately, it didn't work. I found myself being woken up at all hours of the night from them being loud and started to notice that my room reeked of cigarettes, for someone who does not smoke, it is one of the worst smells.

My problems with my roommates started when I starting trying to confront them about their loud parties and smoking in the house. Many of these conversations turned into screaming matches and nothing was resolved. I found myself not talking to any of them and avoided being home as much as possible by staying at my boyfriend or friends houses.

After a few months of feeling completely alone and having feelings of actual depression, winter started to end and spring became. Almost all of my roommates moved out. Some of them trying to avoid the drama that surrounded the house, others found themselves dropping out of school, and some moved home for the summer. The ones the were not planning on coming back ended up subletting their rooms to people.

With this change came a fresh start for me in the house. The people who had made the last four months for me a living hell were finally gone and I had new roommates to start my summer and next semester with. Things really started to be looking up for me!

From Good to Bad then New Surroundings...again

Third semester of second year brought many drunken and stressful nights. The comfort level in my house had completely diminished and I spent most of the summer at my friend's houses or just living in my room. The only thing I did at my house was make food the odd time and sleep.

When things were good in the house I had already signed a lease for the next year to stay in the same house. Things just slowly kept getting worse and worse it got to the point that the two friends that I was living with were no longer friends. We never talked, we literally passed and just nodded on the way by.

I tried to get out of the lease that was for the coming September but this was like 4 tasks within itself. I talked to my roommate and my landlord letting them know that I was no longer comfortable living in the house and to save our friendship I needed to get out of the house. I had a place to move to but to get out of the lease was the issue.

The more I looked into it the more I realized how much some people 'screw' you over, with a lack of a better word, by placing family members in the house. I found while trying to get out of the lease that I had virtually no rights as a 'tenant' living there and better yet I was more so a boarder which allowed for me to get no help. I called the landlord and tenants board which returned no results.

I did everything in my power to get out of this lease and after fighting to get answers of what my rights were the family I was renting from finally gave in and accepted someone I suggested to take over my lease for that year. I went through 4 or 5 people and almost got charged for the ad that was posted for the room that I was supposed to be filling. It was the worst few months of my life dealing with the discomfort I felt in the house and trying to fill the room with the pickiest people showing the room.

The day I escaped the lease it took me 2 weeks at the maximum to finish my semester and move out. I kept my room locked until I left and I moved all of my stuff out and into my 3rd house in Barrie in 3 years. I was tired of moving but after the discomfort i endured while living in this house there was no way I could handle that for any longer...so onto another house with more friends I went.

I ended my 3 years of college living with 3 friends. Two of the 3 were friends from home that were from Kindergarten and the other one was a girl I had met through them that it was friendship at first sight. The four of us together, we knew it was going to be a year to remember!

New People, New Place, New Adventures!

My first year at Georgian flew by and into my second year I sprinted. Mid summer after my first year I moved out of the house with friends and moved into a house that began as acquaintances, into close friends, into pretty much mortal enemies.

The day came and my family and old roomies helped me move to the new house, what an event that was. It took about 3 or 4 trips with the truck full to the brim but I moved in with new people and began the adventure that I call my second year of college.

My life went from all school all the time to running to be on the SAC and just making it to the majority of my classes but not attending them for the full 3 hour lectures. Classes became some what of a nuisance when I found I could be out doing something better. Instead of classes a lot of the time I actually found myself eating sushi with friends. Good ole Aji Sai became a common hangout for our group.

First experience I had with sushi was the funniest and most embarrassing restaurant experience in my life. Everyone there had been for sushi before and knew how to use chopsticks, etc. It was a definite stepping stone for this girl, now i`m pretty decent at handling the chopsticks.

On top of being out of class for lunch I just gained more friends and began to want to hang out with people more while still getting the assignments and readings done. Along with being in a new house and making new friends I also lost the person that got me through a lot of my highschool and postsecondary education.

The friends I made stood by me when the guy I was on and off with for 5 years left for good. I was lead on for many years and had my heart ripped out and stomped on about a million times. It was one of the hardest things that I have dealt with. I tried to not dwell on the situation and make it through the year. This situation never did go away though. I spent time with friends and tried to stay busy but those feelings take a long time to pass.

I was slightly depressed about the situation for a while and it wasn`t until I became close with one of my guy friends that got me through the situation and allowed me to become myself again.

By this time the first semester was coming to an end and I was beginning to work at my second co-op placement and was busy all the time while still keeping in touch with all.

Third semester of the second year was fast approaching and the comfort level in this house was seriously decreasing and the friendships were slowly diminishing. The people you thought would be there forever turn their back and then what...

Beginning of Second Year

At the end of my first year of college I ended up finding and renting a house with one of my roommates that I had in residents. We found a 6-bedroom house that was about 5 minutes away from the school, and was actually down the road from the house that I rented over the summer, which worked out perfectly when it came time for moving.

The summer months flew by and I found myself packing up my things and getting ready to move into my next house, which I would live in for at least a year. I only knew one of my roommates, the other 4 were complete strangers to me. The landlord gave us each others email addresses, so we were able to talk a bit before we all moved in and figure out what was needed for the house.
I was the first one of everyone to move into the house, but left before anyone else had moved in. While I was away my old roommate moved in and gave me a quick overview of what our new roommates were like. She said everyone seemed pretty nice and thought it was going to be a good year. We lived with 5 girls and 1 guy (that poor guy!).

My first semester (which is 4 months), went by really well. There was no drama, no fighting, everyone got along. My boyfriend at the time lived down the street (in the house that I rented over the summer), and all of his friends lived with him. So the first half of the year was spent getting to know all of my roommates and hanging out/partying with his friends.

Again, this semester was spend partying and not so much time was devoted to school, which at the time, I didn't mind. I was enjoying my new life with the new people that I had met. By the time first semester ended, was when things started to change. Slowly, everyone started to not get along and the drama started. Since I am the type of person who speaks my mind and has a hard time knowing when I should not say something, I seemed to be the one who had to deal with most of the drama.

I thought that once we all went home for Christmas break that things would go back to the way they use to be, when everyone got along and there was no fighting. I thought we all just needed a break from each other since we spent almost every day together. Some of the roommates and I talked over Christmas break, but things did not seem to be getting any better, there was still a lot that we all had to say to each other, and no one seemed to be able to put the past behind us. The next four months were when things got really bad in the house, to the point where I was not even friends with anyone anymore and barely talked to any of the roommates...

Transitioning and finding your place

After my first year I moved home for the summer which is when I fully decided that the University program I had attended was not for me. I looked into programs that were more suited to my interests and came across Georgian College which was close to home.

Moving to another new town was the same initial feelings all over again. This time it was a more familiar town and I was moving into a house with all friends from home. The biggest fear was the choice to go to this school was made without visiting the campus so day 1 was a day of wandering around aimlessly until I found the rooms I needed to attend for orientation. And being the stubborn person I am I did not want to ask anyone for help in navigating so lets just say I spent a lot of time turning myself around and heading into a new direction.

My first year at the college was the year of my 19th birthday so the thought of drinking and bar hopping filled my parents heads and of course they worried about their little girl being in a strange city that she did not know. I managed to get through my first year at college being of legal drinking age and attending bars just a handful of times. Instead I devoted all my time to school work and came out of that year with honours. Mind you it was my only honours year but it was one that I was very proud of.

It was within the first couple of weeks that I met people of a crew I knew I would be with through the long haul, this was my place here. This campus had the same feel as the University one, small and a close feel to it. It was through these friendships that I began the battle of living with friends soon to become just people you pass on the street and found the people that would be by your side through good and bad.

first year coming to an end

My first year of college flew by. I made a lot of new friends (some of which I am still very close with), and a lot of memories that would last me a life time. Most people decided to move home over the summer, but I decided to stay in Barrie.

I was in the 3-year Accounting Co-op program at Georgian, which meant that I needed to complete a co-op placement over the summer months. I found my first co-op with the Township of Innisfil doing their Accounts Payable. I won't go into detail about that, since most of you probably find accounting a rather boring subject (don't worry, I don't blame you).

My summer was pretty uneventful, and was actually very boring since all of my friends had moved home. I was renting a room out of a house and lived with one other person, who was barely ever there. All I seemed to do was work, and work, and work. Which was great for me, since I still hadn't learned my lesson about partying my first year of college and would need all the money I could save to fund that!
And that brings us to my extremely eventful second year at Georgian College...

First Year Residence Life and Issues

Growing up with an older brother and always being closer to boys throughout my life caused for my first year to be a real life changer. Living in a residence with all girls took me through the stereotypes and the out of the ordinary ways of life.

On my floor in the residence there were more than enough issues from people causing issues with our don/RA, to messing up our lounge, to issues on campus. The issues began with the girls on the floor having an invisible line the separated the girls into different groups. From there more issues developed and it ended with all the girls on the floor being locked out of our lounge which was our means of watching tv and making our meals. So basically we all just mingled with our groups and went to the caf or got take out.

Along with issues in the residence for me there was an issue of health. Being in a new town all alone was a hard time for me. I hated being so far from friends and family. I loved the friends I had made but being only 17 and in a new place all i wanted was to go home and be with everyone. While I was there my great grandmother passed away so I had to go home for a while for her funeral and that was what made it worse. Coming back to Waterloo my friend at the other school noticed differences in my behaviour and that I was not myself. For the 8 months that I was there I went through ups and downs almost feeling depressed to no end.

Along with feeling depressed I dealt with an 6 month stint of being sick. I tried everything to kick the colds, infections, etc but nothing would do it and being away from home also made the feeling worse. After 17 years of having someone there to look after you in a room of your own all you want is your mom to be there and to have a bed in your own room so you can just relax and sleep without bothering anyone or being bothered.

Lack of sleep did not help the fact of getting up to go to class. Living in residence meant that I was right on campus which also meant that I woke up literally 20 minutes before class to have enough time to brush my teeth and leave. Pyjama's was a frequent site in my classes because of this fact.

I worked very hard in all of my classes and very rarely skipped one. I successfully made it through my first year at University and decided that that program was not what I was looking to do for the rest of my life. It was going to take me down a path that eventually would get me to where I wanted to be but with a whole lot of information and classes that were not of interest to me. I would have had a degree in something that I had no interest with and would have struggled through for no reason so I switched to a school with a small campus and a lot closer to home doing exactly what my interest and aspirations were.

My first year consisted of many illnesses, issues with people on my floor, and a whole lot of sleeping in and rolling out of bed to get to class. But it lead me down a path where I met friends that would last a life time and showed me exactly what I wanted from my education and lead me to the rest of my college life.

Partying Regrets

First semester, I really focused on school, I kept up with my homework and assignments and rarely missed class and I had the grades to prove this. If only I had kept up with it...

My second semester and part of my second year of college are kind of a blur. I spent most of my time drinking and partying. I hardly ever attended any of my classes, and crammed last minute for tests and assignments. Though I had an amazing time and met a lot of new friends because of this, my studies fell behind and as a result so did my grades. Some of my classes I barely passed, and for the first time in my life I actually failed a class.

By the end of my second year I had decided that I wanted to obtain my Bachelors in Business after I finished my Accounting college program. This was when I started to buckle down to try and get my overall average up. But, by this time it was too late.

Even with my extra efforts, I could barely move my average up. I was lucky enough to just make the cut to get into the University program though. But I do regret all the decisions that I made leading up to this.

My advice to you, go out, have fun, college is about making friends and meeting new people. But also, remember why you are there. Because the decisions you make in the beginning will affect you later on!