The Waiting Game

Well, I can't say I didn't warn you. I don't write on these blogs too often, but I suppose that's mostly because I haven't had much of a change to write about, until recently.

Right now I am waiting on a few things: Phil & I are still waiting on this J1 visa (more elaboration in my previous post). As of right now, it is looking pretty hopeful, but nothing is a sure thing until he is actually here.

Since we are sick and tired of waiting, we have taken matters into our own hands - screw the government - and I am going to visit him in 9 days!! Considering the fact that I haven't seen him since the end of May, this is quite exciting for both of us :) Once I return home from the visit, I will be bidding farewill to this little town that has welcomed me for the summer & the warm home my dad and stepmom have provided to me, to venture back home and finish up my Bachelor's degree. It has been a great summer.

Speaking of my undergraduate degree, my school has not been so welcoming this summer. I was quite surprised to receive a letter in the mail recently, stating that I will be charged out-of-state tuition for my last year. Seeing as I have lived in the same state since I was 7 years old (the same one in which the University is) I was quite puzzled. Turns out that since neither of my parents live in the same state as me I no longer qualify for in-state tuition. The fact that I am paying my way through college on my own and haven't lived with either parent for years (save for this summer visiting my dad) does not seem to matter at all. Who knew a multi-billion dollar company could be so greedy? I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

So now that I can tack on another 30k to my future debt, I guess you could say life has brought many changes this summer:
*Phil has found a job in the US (he just needs to find a visa)
*My University doesn't want my support as an Alumni (ya know, since they'll be getting it in one chunk of 30,ooo dollars)
*My dad & I have cut many pieces of cloth to patch up old wounds
*I survived a job in a small town (and it wasn't that bad!)

Suffice to say, this is one more summer that I have enjoyed and savored. The taste is sweet.

A little update, well, ok, a BIG & long update!

This is new for both of us, so bear with me. Not that writing in general is new to, oh no, I've been a diary/journal writer since I was about 7. However, I'm not one to normally publish my personal thoughts on the net.

Well, I've decided to give it a try. Besides, what else is there to do? I've checked all my every-day sites and I've even checked the new games at addictinggames.com (I know, I'm pretty bored, eh?). Both of my sisters & dad have some sort of blog/website and it seems to be a nice way to keep in touch with all of those people that you-just-keep-meaning-to-call-to-tell-the-latest-news-to-but-now-it's-too-late-so-I'll-call-tomorrow. Yeah you know we're all guilty of it. But that's the nice thing about the 21st century, no more guilt needed! Now if you're faced with the "um, why didn't you tell me?" question, you can retort with "Yeah, that's been posted on my blog for weeks now...why didn't you read it? o.o" Nice, right? Maybe not, but I suppose it will have to do since I'm bored at this moment and wanted to start a blog.

Soo...for a general update in my life: I'm on summer break from college, woohoo! I'm staying with my dad and stepmom in Pennsylvania for the summer in this teeny-tiny town where everybody knows everybody. Yes there's a local diner, theatre that plays 1 movie, and restaurant that everyone in town knows about. Where does that leave me? At the local ice cream shop of course! Actually, it's a pretty sweet job (I couldn't resist). We serve food & ice cream, which means I can pack it in every time I work, nice!

When the summer is over I'll be entering my Senior year in University. Let me take a second to tell you how weird that feels. I keep thinking...is this really my last year in college? Well, yes Rebecca it is. Yeah, I know, but it just went by so fast! You'd think that I would be ecstatic about finishing school, never having to study again, starting in the "real world" (what the heck IS the real world anyway? Am I living in a "fake world" until I get a full-time job?) but that is not the case with me! I am an oddball who absolutely loves being in school. Yep, I'm the one who gets excited about buying new books, the first day of class, memorizing my schedule that I made myself the previous semester. However, although my undergrad degree is nearing its end (I DO still have a year left though), I am quite excited about the next step, which will be graduate school! I plan on focusing my studies on School Psychology so I am probably looking at another 2-3 years after I graduate with my Bachelor's (yahoo!). Although I know it will be different, I hope that I love it just as much as I have my undergrad, if not more!

In other news, my boyfriend Phil has been trying to move to the US for about over a year now. (Little background info, in case you didn't know: I'm dating a Canadian, we've known each other 7 years now, he's graduated college and is trying to find a job in the States) Well, on July 1st Phil got a job offer in Horsham, PA! As excited as we were (and still are), we had NO idea just how much work this moving process would entail. Well, apparently, a whole heck of a lot! First there's the job offer, then there's figuring out which visa (out of like a million) you apply for, then there's getting approved...the list goes on. In order to save you about 3 pages of reading and me 3 pages of typing, I will put the latest news in a nutshell if it will fit. Phil & his parents went to go get the first visa (a TN visa, specified for Canadians) but Phil was rejected on the grounds that he doesn't have a Bachelor's degree, he has a 3-year degree. Apparently, that's not comparable. The next step was to apply for an H1B visa (much different than a TN), but again...things didn't work out. There's a limit to how many H1B visas are given out per year and the quota has been reached already this year (the fiscal year restarted even just in April). So now we are holding on for dear life with our last resort, the SWAP program that issues J-1 visas. The J-1 visa is basically a "foreign exchange" program for recent graduates to gain experience in other countries at specified jobs. As of now, Phil's future boss (hopefully, if all goes well) Chris is looking into it and is willing to try it out. It seems as if he's still really interested in bringing Phil here, which is a good thing. I won't have any news on this visa for a few weeks at the least though, since there's processing time for everything.

I guess that wasn't a nutshell, but I know I've told a lot of my friends and family about Phil's job and it's hard to keep track of who I have and haven't updated!

All that to say that life is going pretty well right now, I am just praying & hoping that this last visa works out! Also, if you haven't found that special someone yet...my advice is to try and limit your search to the same state that you are in ;)