Finally

So where to start..

I got on the first ferry, slept on the ferry and drove to Penticton. Fairly uneventfully. Except that I saw a moose! I've never seen a moose in the wild, so it was pretty awesome. It was just chillin', but lots of people were slowing down to see it so it was pretty dangerous. Also saw some mountain goats and a badger. Oh and there was this Badger Crossing sign and I really wanted to change it to say Hufflepuff crossing hehe.

I get to the school to wait because I have a meeting with the Chair of the Biology program to see if they will waive my Chemistry 11 prerequisite, and they do! So I pay off the rest of my tuition for the class and can't stop smiling and head on my way.

Now I need to find out where I live. So I head out to find Oliver. Turns out I'm moving into a mobile home on the outskirts of town half way up a mountain, sweet! I'm really early for meeting my landlady so I do some exploring. There is tons of nice areas for walking and biking, so I think I might invest in a bike for next year. Then I decided I need to take a nap because I'm gonna pull an all nighter and drive to Idaho later. My landlady gets home and she is just gorgeous! We unpack my car into the spare room and she gives me a tour. The place is cool. There is an outdoor firepit, a hammock, tons of property, a nice back deck, washer and dryer, full bathroom, and I have a large room to put all my stuff in. The other bonus is, I wasn't going to move in until Sept 15, and now it's available Sept. 1! I think my landlady and I are going to get along really well. She warns me of rattlesnakes and black widows, and tells me I'll be able to hear coyotes howling at night. There isn't a lot of shade but there is AC! Thank god for that. So it's time to head of Idaho.

Pull up to the border and of course they search my vehicle again, that's what I get for going across the border with idiots years ago, and now I have a big old red flag to get my car searched every time I cross. I've decided I am going to keep my car clean and pack as little as possible for when I go across the border, just to make the time go faster. I head down and I have no internet access, which means no GPS, but no worries I wrote out the directions... 4 hours in I've taken a wrong turn about 2 hours ago... so now I needed to find free wifi so I could figure where I was and get back on track. So where is there always free wifi? McDonalds! So get get myself back on track but now I am tired and frustrated so I decided I need to stop at a rest stop and sleep and continue in the morning. Well an hour later I finally find a rest stop, and I curl up in the back seat of my car. But before I fall asleep driving at night you get to see creatures you don't see during the day like coyotes! Oh how I want a pet coyote, they are so cute! 6am rolls around and I get up, get myself all ready for the day and head out around 7am towards Idaho. I finally make it to Idaho, have a nap and then Cory gets off work and we head down to the river. It was cold and I'm a chicken, so I didn't go in far, but I will another day. I need water shoes, it hurts my little girly feet.

The next morning I wake up and find out that my student loan has been approved for the 3 correspondence classes I need to take! Sweet! Except I'm confused.. It says they are giving me a certain amount of money and 0 goes to school, so are they paying the school and then giving me the left overs? Or is the amount they are giving me needing to pay the tuition. So my next goal is when I get home to wait for the actual papers to come in the mail and if they don't explain it, phone student loans and the school to find out. Well that is it so far. I'm off to a fair tonight! Oh and when I get a chance I'll tell you what Cory made me and show some pictures!

So much school

Quick update.

Started Chemistry 11, woo! Except I have 3 exams I have to take here on the island since I am taking the course through a school on the island, which means I will be back in Nanaimo 3 times in the next 4 months. So good because I can see everyone, bad because it is more money that I don't really have to spend.


The 3 courses I am taking through Athabasca University I am accepted into all of them starting November, but waiting for Student Loans to say "Hey yeah, no problem!"

As for my Biology which is the big trouble one right now, I am waiting to hear back about a few things, then hopefully by next week I am going to be able to register because as it stands only 2 seats left. I hate waiting for the person on the other end to do their stuff, it's super frustrating. Plus I feel like a jerk if I keep calling. But I will call on Monday if I haven't heard anything.

Only 2 Seats

There are only two seats left in the class I need to take this fall. I am getting really freaked out! I've done all I can do and it's now in the school's court but what am I gonna do!

Teacher's Down

So the teacher seems like she is down with me not having English, just gotta call them on Monday! Worked today, nothing much exciting happened. Filled up my pay cheque quota, so gonna have a nice hefty cheque!

Small Setback

The university wants me to have English 12 which I don't, so I emailed the teacher and am hoping the teacher will accept me and persuade the university to just let me in because I am so awesome...

John Stamos Guide to Cuddling

If you love John Stamos, women and good old fashioned advice, then watch this.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6582695/john-stamos-guide-to-cuddling

My options for moving..

So I decided, I'm going to work in the USA because it would be the only way I could see Cory as often as I wanted.. Problem is, I looked into every option and I can't work in the USA. What to do.. I need a 4 year degree or marriage.. Well I'm guessing marriage is a bit sudden, but 4 years..

So hey, why not upgrade to my RN? I started looking into my options. There are no bridging programs here, plus the cost of the ferry to leave it horrendous. Well I have family in Penticton, could I go to school there? I can! I can start my RN bridging program Sept 2012, well I can at least apply. Hmm, but I need to upgrade. Well I can upgrade online, so I don't have to move for a year!

...Oh, I can't upgrade my Biology.. So I have to move in September, and of course get accepted! So I do all my applying and now I'm waiting to hear from the schools. I am going to Okanagan College for my Biology.. except they need me to have my English 12 or equivalent, wtf, it's Biology.. So luckily I did an equivalency a while back, problem now is, was it good enough and is it new enough.. So I ordered it and sent it to the College, and now is the waiting game. The scary part is school starts Sept 7.. what if they don't get everything in time! If I don't do this class, I have to wait a whole year longer! It's good because I can save up money but bad because it means I  have to wait even longer! So crossing my fingers.

On the Road to Boise Idaho

So June 30 I get on the ferry and start my drive down to Idaho. It takes about 10 1/2 hours plus the time the damn border guard pulls me over for. I pull down the road Cory lives on, see him and have my first, what the hell am I doing moment. I'm terrified but so happy at the same time. We casually hang out the first night and it's a bit awkward. We head to sleep and in the morning it was like we had know each other for a thousand years. It was so completely comfortable, it was creepy.
I couldn't believe how well we got along. His friends and family all seemed to not mind having me around and I was able to keep myself busy while he was at work.
July 2 we had a big Keg/BBQ and I was able to meet a lot of people. That night Cory asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend, and I said that if he was too drunk to remember this tomorrow I'd be super mad, but that I would love to be. Turns out he wasn't too drunk and so surprisingly I had a new boyfriend, a lot sooner than I had ever intentioned.
I went and saw many tourist things like the Botanical Gardens and the Old State Peniteniary.

 Together we went to the Zoo and the Fourth of July Fireworks!

And of course I went and saw the Capitol Building. I had a lot of fun, but it was time to head back to Nanaimo because I had work to be done. Plus I needed the money so I could come visit again.. But sadly I am not able to head back until August 23.

Home from Las Vegas

So I am home and I am now single. The ex won't move out, and I'm obligated by contract to stay. So much fun for the next 3 months (not..). When I arrive home from Vegas I have a text message from Cory, the first of about a million. We start texting every day, then realising how much it costs, we start emailing. A few weeks later I get long distance calling and we are talking on the phone everyday. Next thing you know I am planning a trip to go see him in Boise, Idaho, where he is from.
At this point I was not ready for another relationship but I just could not get Cory off my brain. I kept thinking it was crazy and he lives so far away and to top it off he's an American. How on earth was this going to work. Decided not to worry about it and we'd just talk and I'd go visit him in Idaho. I'm headed down June 30 to go visit for just over a week. I'm driving down because I am not crazy and in case he is, I know I have an escape.

It all started one chilly May day in Las Vegas...

It was mid May, and Eden and I were on a plane headed for Las Vegas, Sin City! We arrive and it is cold! We cab it to our hotel, Circus Circus, would have been nice if we knew about the cheap shuttles... but we arrive, check in and head upstairs. We are not impressed, didn't even want to go out.. but we dress up and head out.

Did I mention it's windy and freezing? So we head down the strip and head over to the Mirage, $20 for all we can drink, woo hoo! At the end of this night I have a cut up the back of my heel and Eden has already misplaced her wallet.. We head back.. we find it! We go home and sleep it off.

Next day we hit the strip, taking pictures of everything we can see (which apparently there is like 99% more stuff we didn't see). That night we decide we must head to Freemont Street (the old strip). So we head out there, get more cheap drinks and we are having fun. Today we meet Cory and his friend Kyle, also drunk and their first night in Vegas. So the 4 of us hit the strippers! Free to get in, alright, 2 drink minimum alright, $10 a drink, WTF! The boys left their wallet at the hotel.. sure... So we buy them drinks, Eden makes Kyle pay her back haha. This night I don't remember much after that except waking up with Eden on the floor and me sleeping beside Cory, well rather curled up on one corner of the bed as Cory was passed out and using the whole bed. We head back home and the boys come to use our pool. Eden has a nap while we go down to the pool.

We decide we are hungry and head upstairs to grab Eden, she says I'm gonna have a shower, I'll meet you at the Venetian later. So the boys and I head out for breakfast.. a little time later we realise we need to meet Eden. So we get there, I can't find her anywhere, the boys go home and I' m alone. Finally after hours of searching, I head back to the hotel to use the phone to call Eden. She's across the strip at some souvenir shop. We meet up and make some plans for the night. We are gonna do the rides on the Stratosphere, and then head back to Freemont and then the next morning go on a Grand Canyon Tour.

It's still cold, and up on the Stratosphere, freezing.. We do 2 rides and I quit, way to flipping scary! Then we head to Freemont and get d-runk! We run into the boys randomly again, it must be a sign.. So we hang out with them, next thing I know we've split up and Cory and I are playing Roulette.. then I wake up the next morning, Eden is nowhere to be found and the boys are passed out. Well this is great, I don't know what's going on.

I assume Eden has gone on the bus tour, and Kyle confirms that she left early in the morning to head on the bus to the hotel. (Later Eden fills me in big time on the events of the evening, and these are not to be spoken of online.) To make a long story short, she did not go on the tour, passed out on the bus, had her wallet stolen and was never going to speak to me again. I spent the day with the boys as I assumed she was on the trip and had no way of contacting her. Little did I know Kyle and her had been texting all day. Kyle wasn't impressed with me tagging along but wouldn't tell me that, so I stayed. Eventually I went home to the hotel (would have gone a lot sooner if someone had just said something).

So I get back to the hotel, Eden isn't there, and when she is, she isn't speaking to me. She changes her flight and leaves the next morning. I head home early too the next day, and come home to explain to my then boyfriend the events of the trip. We break up, and that is the end of Vegas.. or so I thought.