How to get away with money

I guess I am becoming a full time Canadian citizen: I now have a place to live, insurances, a bank account, a Canadian phone number and even a little water kettle.

My schedule for this week seemed rather boring so I decided to spend my time “course shopping”. I went to several classes that I am not officially enrolled in just see what they were like and with the possibility of enrolling. Unfortunately, none of the classes really met my expectations so me attending those lectures was a onetime only.

Thankfully, I still had Swahili class to look forward to. Although I was told that I couldn´t enroll in the course as it is a full-year lecture I decided to go anyway. I did send my professor an email asking him permission in advance but never got an answer. Never mind, that would not stop me!

Upon my arrival at the class I tried to keep quiet and listened carefully but somehow I was really disappointed. I thought this would be fun but instead I did not know anyone and could only hope that it would not be of any problem that I was not officially enrolled.

Apart from this, there was not a lot going on at Uni the past week.

Therefore, I had to keep myself busy with other stuff. I got registered at the gym, for example. I was really motivated and enthusiastic about this but when I got to Tait McKenzie (the gym) the place was heaving. There were just too many people around. Nevertheless, being as I was really motivated I made my way through the building looking for the gym. I found the swimming pool and the ballet room, I also found several squash rooms and training rooms but I did not find the gym. Totally lost and confused I nearly stumbled into the men´s changing room. That was when I decided to go back home. Instead, I put on a video on youtube and did a solitary work out in my room.

I even made new friends this week. I was walking from my residence to York Lanes one evening when I saw something rummaging around. When I looked, a masked fluffy face peeked from behind a tree, his little paws grabbing the tree bark tight. It was a raccoon! He was truly adorable: he was ever so chubby and fluffy and curious. I kept still and slowly the little raccoon felt confident enough to leave his hiding place.

A little later at the exact same place I spotted something again. Thinking it was Mr. Raccoon I kept still. But instead there was an animal with huge eyes and an even bigger nose. It was an opossum! To be honest, I think he was really shy because as soon as he saw me, he turned around and off he went into the darkness.

Also, I embraced the experience of spending precious time at the laundromat. I definitely think I should do my laundry more often. Not that it needs washing but the basement is the perfect place to be super productive. While watching the laundry and listening to the hypnotizing rumble of the washing machine I got a lot of my reading done that I had to do for this week´s lectures.

Although I am getting used to living in residence (I mean I even tackled the laundromat without shrinking my clothes!) there was still one big issue bugging me: the tea problem. As I already mentioned there are no kitchen facilities at this residence. That means that I must walk across campus to York Lanes for every meal and every cup of tea/ coffee I want. This is not only quite expensive after a while but also annoying. There is nothing worse than laying in bed in the morning gasping for a cup of tea and knowing that to get that I have to get out of bed, get washed and dressed and walk 10 minutes to York Lanes. Not to mention that it would soon be winter! There was only one way to solve that: I needed a water kettle! I know that officially I am not allowed to have a kettle but honestly, I could not be bothered. So, I treated myself to a kettle, tea bags and coffee.

But the biggest achievement of the week is yet to be mentioned: I opened up a bank account! I went to several different banks to check and see which one had the best deal. One of the employees at the bank was really friendly. She was only young and it turns out she studies psychology at YorkU, too! After comparing schedules and a great deal of chit chat I ended up with an account with one of the biggest banks in Canada that would even pay me $300 as a welcoming present! I will definitely invest that money wisely in future trips and travels.