The Day I Got Into Law School

Yesterday started off like an ordinary day. Our students have a major essay due tomorrow, so I expected a whole slew of students to drop by my office hours yesterday morning. What possessed me to hold office hours at 9:00 am? Really? And indeed, my students did show up at that hour. It was pre-essay deadline mayhem, actually.

I wasn't expecting it to be a remarkable day. I was really tired. Exhausted. Sleep deprived. I had a presentation for Elections that I was writing and, honestly, I was counting down the days until I would leave Kingston for Reading Week. And yet, just like the old saying goes, when you least expect it, something remarkable does happen. Clutching my thermos full of caffeinated Chocolate Chili Chai tea (it sounds gross, but it really isn't), I flipped open my laptop, logged into my email, and paused in stunned silence.

I found an email with the subject line "(University Name) Offer Letter."

What. What. What. What.

I think I actually stopped breathing for a moment.

Cautiously, I opened the email, and the feeling that came after reading the first two paragraphs was indescribable. When you have worked towards something for almost a decade, when you have dreamed of a certain moment since you were twelve years old, when you decisively wrote in your eighth grade yearbook that you wanted to go to law school, the feeling of achieving that goal years and years later is initially one of numbing shock. And then absolute, utter delight. The kind of delight you feel when something so seemingly out of reach suddenly becomes yours. Twenty four hours later, I still can't describe it. All I know is that I was so incredibly happy.

Grabbing my keys, I rushed to Dianne's office, cautiously opened her door, and, stunned, I blurted out the words, "I got into law school." In absolute delight, we jumped up and down in her office for more than a few minutes. I absolutely could not believe it. Side Note: it was, of course, also the moment that my student arrived (very) early for her appointment and witnessed me giggling like a fool. Ah well.

The rest of the day was a blur. And just when I thought the day could not get better, I checked my email again that afternoon. And, lo and behold, I found a second Offer of Admission to yet another school of choice in the United States. I couldn't believe it. Another school I thought was so out of reach for me wasn't as unattainable as I believed it would be.

Twenty four hours later, I'm still in shock. After spending the last five hours at the QP celebrating, I'm now sitting here applying to the last two law schools on my list. I'm so excited that I can't concentrate on anything else. It's been such a fabulous week full of more surprises than I could have imagined.

Good things happen when we least expect it, yea? I began the week exhausted. Really, I was in a crummy crummy crummy mood. I thought Reading Week would never come. And yet, two days later, I'm elated. As grad students, we tend to get into a routine that leaves us exhausted, defeated, uncertain about the work we are doing. Let this blog post serve to encourage all of us that great surprises and opportunities are waiting for us just around the corner. So take heart!

I think we all have dreams of some sort. We may not all know what we want as a career, but I think we would all agree that we want to be happy with whatever we choose to do. As I went through middle school, high school, and university, I always knew what career would make me happy. Lawyers get a bad rep, but I don't have any doubts that this is something I would love to do for the rest of my life. I've watched and volunteered for enough lawyers to know that it's a job I want to have. I love the work, I love the reading, I love everything about it. And yet, the only obstacle always in my way was the extremely competitive process to enter law school. Last year, I'll admit that I was devastated when I wasn't accepted into the school of my choice. And yet, in the last two days, something that seemed so unattainable was suddenly handed to me.

For the rest of my life, I will never forget the day I got into law school. I've always thought about the moment when I would receive an acceptance letter. And it finally happened. I have no doubt that yesterday was a day that changed my life. Law school is still months away and there are still decisions to be made. And yet I can't wait for all of it to start!

And so, learning a lesson from my own uncertainties, I wish you, dear readers, all the best with finding and attaining that career, job, or program that will make you happy. Things may seem uncertain right now, but you never know what surprises are waiting for you around the corner. Let this blog post encourage all of you to pursue the career or program you want to get involved with. You are all capable of greatness. Of doing wonderful things for the country and the world we live in. And I have absolute faith in all of you.

"Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible."
- Doug Larson

"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love."
- Mother Teresa

First Impressions of Kingston

I've lived in Kingston for a full 24 hours, and I will shamelessly admit that I've lived like a hermit. I've met no one, seen no one, talked to no one. Until today, when one of my housemates finally moved in. Honestly, my street has been a ghost town the last twenty-four hours. I haven't seen anyone remotely resembling a graduate student, save for the drunk, merry group of frat boys down the street, enjoying the last few days of teacher's college Orientation.

However, despite the non-existence of living, breathing human beings on my street, I've utilized the wonders of technology by using Skype to keep in touch with the outside world. Technology certainly has its uses!

First impressions of Kingston?

1. It's cold. I should have brought my winter jacket. All I can think about is how insanely, incredibly cold it is here. I don't know if temperatures are equally freezing in Toronto, but I've already had to bust out my fall jacket this morning.

2. I wondered where I could purchase Asian-like food and ingredients in a predominately Caucasian (ergo, white) city. Much to my delight, walking down Princess Street this morning, I discovered an Asian grocery store. Aptly named Asian Grocery Store. Awesome.

3. The Metro here is a rip-off, moreso than regular Toronto Metros. $6.99 for a small bottle of shampoo? Please. Clearly, the system to rip off starving students doesn't end in Toronto.

4. Think of the prettiest city you've ever been in. Ever. Then come visit Kingston, because Kingston (and it's waterfront) is a hundred times prettier!

5. Kingston's "downtown" consists of a strip containing a Dollarama, a Tim Horton's and a Pizza Pizza. Obviously, the staples of life.

6. There are a total of six small bookshops (a la Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail) on Princess Street. They're so quaint and small-town-esque, I love them.

I'm sure I'll have more to add to this list when I start the School of Graduate Studies' Orientation Week tomorrow.

Side Note: In preparation for registration this week, I've been working away at my course schedule, trying to decide which courses would be most beneficial to take. Global governance? Development studies in the area of global finance? The development of capitalism? Political parties? There are a number of possibilities. And as usual, I'm indecisive. Let's hope that I make up my mind soon.

Next stop, Teaching Development Day, Orientation Week, meeting the rest of my mysterious housemates. Exciting? I think so.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
- Aristotle

My Week of (Memorable) Goodbyes - 2 Days Till Moving Day

It's almost here, friends. I'm moving to Kingston in 2 days. This entire week has flown by too quickly, I've barely had time to prepare as much as I should have. I'm flabbergasted at how quickly Moving Day has crept up on me. This is most likely my last blog post before I move, as I'll be spending tomorrow running around the city, picking up last minute items before my move at 7:00 am this Saturday. So much to do, so little time.

And so inevitably, when one leaves town for an extended period of time, we go through a process that can, at times, be a little hard to handle. Moments that can leave you a tad teary-eyed. A process that tugs are your heartstrings. Goodbyes are a necessary part of life as we head from one phase of our lives to another. Yet the process of saying goodbye to close friends, family members, and those who have been a constant, dependable part of our lives can be incredibly emotional, particularly if we're aware that we may not be reuniting with some of these individuals for months, even years.

I've spent the week saying goodbye to a number of you. The dinners, the late-night coffee (tea?) runs, the Tim Hortons dates, the surprise visits. They've all occurred this week. I've spent the week saying goodbye to those I've come to love at church: the students, fellow friends. I've spent the week saying goodbye to relatives, and will be saying goodbye to my wonderful former boss who, in the past year, has taught me more than she will ever know. I've spent the week saying goodbye to close friends. The wonderful surprises of this past Sunday's goodbye/farewell party reduced me to tears, incredibly taken aback by all your thoughtful efforts.

In a couple of days, some of us will be leaving the city, others will be starting new jobs, continuing old jobs. The day has finally arrived where we all part ways. The time has come to finally move, to begin the new, exciting lives we've prepared so much for. And while these goodbyes are teary, and while the thought of moving to places so far away from home may be a tad intimidating, we should brighten at the fact that these new phases of our lives will lead us to brighter, greater things beyond what we can currently imagine. And while saying goodbye may be sad, the promise of opportunity isn't.

And while this week's goodbyes were comprised of frequent hugs, bursts of tears (usually mine), we can rest on the fact that we will see each other soon. While some of us jet over to England for the next year, spend the next eleven months in Vancouver, at a new job, at teacher's college, volunteering in Sri Lanka, getting ready for next summer's weddings, one thing will always remain the same: our special, lifelong friendships will not wane. Famously cliche as it may be, we part to one day meet again. I rest on the confidence that these goodbyes are merely a process. A temporary separation paving the way for a happy group reunion in the (near) future.

Friends, I will miss you all dearly. Kingston will inevitably be a wonderful experience. But none of it will ever compare to my amazing, lifelong friends and my home.

Next stop, Kingston!

“No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth.”
- Robert Southey

“We will never forget them nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.'”
- Ronald Reagan

How our car will look on the way to Kingston,
due to the amount of stuff I'm taking with me. Too much. Far too much!

Prepping For Kingston -11 Days Left

Oh my god. I move in eleven days. ELEVEN DAYS. So much left to do, so little time! I feel like this move isn't sinking in just yet, since I'm procrastinating finishing off the last few things on my To-Do List. However, I got a jolt of the Eleven-Day-Reality today when my email was bombarded with messages from Queen's regarding Orientation Week, registration, and all that good stuff.

I MOVE IN ELEVEN DAYS. Panic mode? I think so.

Latest Developments For My Move To Kingston:

1) I packed. Half my closet. It's taking two trips to move my wardrobe (in addition to my purses and shoes) to Queen's. Don't judge me.

2) I registered for Orientation Week. Activities include a boat cruise, a graduate & professional student semi-formal, a corn maze & hay ride (what? I know), a speed meeting, a trivia night, a haunted house walk, etc. Why does this seem like Frosh Week all over again? But for old people, obviously.

3) Pack the rest of my life away. Pictures frames, my printer, bedsheets, my six pillows, curtains, clothing, and random little things you never realize you need because they're always there and yet you panic when you realize they aren't (Like dental floss. Or garbage bags).

4) Figure out HOW to get Microsoft Office on my laptop without spending an obscene amount of money.

5) Download Skype. Because I need to keep in touch with all of you while I'm in the boonies. Skype dinners, anyone?

6) I need to buy an iron. My obsessive compulsive need to have my shirts free of wrinkles will go haywire if I don't own one in Kingston.

7) Tuition payments, registration, etcetera, etcetera.

8) Plan my combined going-away party with Mishal and Vania, since we're all leaving town the same weekend.

9) Plan going away dinners/lunches/coffee dates with those I won't have the pleasure of seeing on a regular basis come September. I'm missing everyone already!

That's it for now. But I'm sure there's more.

I'm nervous. But excited. But nervous. And panicking. But EXCITED!

"Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words--- 'wait and hope.'"
- Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Where The Heart Is: Home

As I got off the GO train at Union Station this morning in Toronto, I was struck with a strange sense of homesickness. I was homesick for Toronto, in Toronto. Does that make any sense? At all? Anyone?

I think the reality of my move to Kingston truly hit me yesterday afternoon when I started packing. I methodically set aside winter clothing, important books from my bookshelf, old notebooks from classes in undergad, school supplies, picture frames, and other items to the point where parts of my room (really, my bookshelf) looked relatively empty. Exciting, but obviously quite scary at the same time. Come September, everything I've known for most of my life will be miles away. Remnants of my life's previous phases will merely sit in photo frames and in old notebooks I'll be taking to Kingston.

And this morning, as I walked out of Union Station, with the reality of my move just three weeks away, that wave of homesickness made me realize how much I'll really and truly miss Toronto. Queen's is a beautiful campus, and I'm sure that Kingston will be an awesome city to live in. But I will, without a doubt, miss my morning GO train rides, the insanely busy Tim Hortons on Front Street and University Avenue, the hustle of Bay Street workers running to get to work on time, the bustle of city life, and the familiarity of a city I've attended school in and travelled to work to for the past five years.

I will miss Toronto and Mississauga very much. I didn't realize the potential to miss my awesome home cities would be so great, and yet here we are. I suppose leaving home for an extended period of time has such an effect on us, but I would like to convey how much I love these cities and how much I'll miss its familiarity and dependability when I'm gone.

Really, it isn't until we leave a person or place that we realize how much we've grown to care. Our affections grow with time, whether we're aware of it or not. And no matter where I go in this world of ours, whether I jet off to England or Boston or an unknown destination for law school next year, whether next year's EUROPTRIP 2011 to Barcelona and Madrid will transpire, whether I travel anywhere else for academic purposes (or otherwise), it's a great comfort knowing that I'll always have dear old Mississauga and Toronto to come home to.

And wherever any of us go in life, that's where your heart will always be. Cliche as it is, you'll always have it waiting for you when you desire to return. Home.

“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one. Stronger than magicians ever spoke, or spirits ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.”
- Charles Dickens

Kate Spade's "Book" Bag

The Kate Spade "Book" Bag - Fall 2010 Collection, revealed in a Chelsea showroom earlier this year

I've been trying to figure out how I'll be lugging my stuff around this September. My TAs always had huge backpacks or messenger bags filled with student papers, research essays, readings, etc.

I still have no idea what "TA bag" I'll be using in September, but as I was looking around online, I came across Kate Spade's Book Bag collection. Isn't it awesome? She's designed regular clutches with covers of different literary classics.

The nerd in me wants a clutch for either Jane Austen's Emma or Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. And how amazing is that Great Expectations clutch?! I want it.

Guess how much they are though? Almost $400. Yep, definitely too much for this student budget. Let's act like sensible TAs and just stare and appreciate for now. ;)

For a brief article on Kate Spade's Book Bag collection, click here.

Home Sweet Home in Kingston!

I'm officially not homeless in Kingston next year!!!! And the house I found isn't in the Student Ghetto!! I'm so relieved.

Sooo my parents and I drove over to Kingston a few weeks ago to house-hunt. Honestly, despite all the warnings that house-hunting would be stressful, I didn't find it that difficult at all. I scoured the Queen's Community Housing website, craigslist, Kijiji, etc., and lined up about 9 appointments for that Saturday.

You know how people always say that you know something is meant for you when it *feels* right? Like a wedding dress, a pair of shoes. I think that feeling applies to homes too. The minute I walked into this house, it didn't feel like a dorm. It actually felt like a home. Most importantly, it was very clean. You guys have no idea how many places we saw that were overpriced dumps.

The house is actually very pretty. It's newly renovated, three floors, a ten minute walk from campus, a five minute walk to Princess Street (aka Kingston's "downtown"), and the rent is more than reasonable. Plus, my landlords seem really nice. I googled them and found out they used to own a hotel and restaurant in Kingston, so I know they aren't scam artists. ;) Obviously we have to check on these things!!

My first impressions of Kingston? I loved it. Queen's is the complete opposite of what UofT was. It's small, cozy, and feels exactly like those picturesque university towns that we always see in the movies!

I guess my only concern now is that I have no idea who my housemates are. There will be six of us in the house. Six total strangers living in a new city, attending a new school, knowing absolutely no one. Come to think of it, doesn't this sound like a reality show? Or something that should be on MTV? Heehee.

A month and a half till moving day!

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaiïs Nin