Half a Cup of Chai: 4 Stubborn Adults + 1 Equally Stubborn Child + 6 Hours in a minivan = the following

Monday, July 03, 2006

4 Stubborn Adults + 1 Equally Stubborn Child + 6 Hours in a minivan = the following

So I made it Here. Here being Michigan.

After a lot of tantrums and heated arguments on the prospect of me moving out, I have arrived (forcefully) in Michigan, my "home" for the next 3 years. And that's exactly what we've come for, to search for my new place. It's not that I'm not excited about law school. I am. Am I? Yes, yes I am. It's just the nerves talking. Though I won't admit it to my family, who thankfully doesn't read this, I am nervous about what's coming up in the next couple months. I remember back in high school all the kids who couldn't wait to get out of their homes and go to a school further away. They purposely chose to apply to every out of city school so they'd have to home. I, on the other hand, chose to apply to schools within the Greater Toronto Area - all the ones I could commute to and indeed ended up going to one that was about a half hour drive from home.

Now that I'm 23 (and a half) my parents are growing weary of my presence at home and support (a little too enthusiastically?) my leaving for school. I know they actually are happy about the law school part and not about my leaving (save your consoling speeches).

But leaving the safeness of the parents home (you mean no one will cook for me anymore!?) is unnerving me enough that I find myself going through the commonly believed "5 Stages of Grief" : Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.

At first I didn't want to believe that the closest place I got in to law school was Michigan - the one state I loathe (for many, valid reasons) and I denied I got that specific acceptance at all. I wished it away; scrunched my eyes tight and willed it to be an error, that some other large manila coloured envelop was on it's way. Obviously I should've scrunched my eyes and willed a little harder because I'm in Michigan as I write this.

I was angry at myself for not doing better in school, on the LSAT and at the situation it self. It didn't seem fair that though I had the grades, I didn't get into any of the Canadian schools I wanted.

I bargained with myself that in the year that I had off I'd do something major to turn this situation around. The most I did was win an award at work for my sales and service.

Then the depression set in. I was, in order to fulfill my aspiration to study law, going to have to move to Michigan and leave my sanctuary of a home to do it. Everything seemed bleak and I got angry at the mention of the keywords of "law", "school", "Michigan", "moving" and any combination of those or related words. That was until about yesterday.

Today, as I sit curled up on the chair of our Holiday Inn suite, I'm coming to terms with the situation and at last accepting the fact that I am here. I will have to move away from my home (my poor baby sister...), family and friends (love youuuuuu). I will be here for 3 years (hey, time goes by fast these days, right?), and God-willing, will be moving back the second my degree is handed to me.

So I had a long time to think all that over. Not what I would write, but about the situation itself, on the long drive here. Normally it should take about 4-5 hours from my house to Lansing, Michgan. But it took us about 6+ hours to make it to our hotel. We planned to get here Sunday afternoon, check out some of the nearby stores and familiarize ourself with the area before going apartment hunting the next day. We were supposed to leave at 10am, so natuarally about 1pm, we set off on the highway towards our destination.

Two rest stops, on account of my sister and brother having too many drinks in the car, 2 chip bags (French Onion Sun Chips and Mrs.Vickie's Jalapeno flavored), a lot of poking (I think have some faint bruises on my arms), yelling, shoving, arguing and laughing (all inevitable side effects of having my brother, sister and myself alone in the back of a minivan), and a 3-hour Indian move later we made it into the state of Michigan.

My mom planned it out so she, my dad and I would split up the driving time, but as my dad would have it, he drove the whole way. Which may have in part accounted for us getting lost a few times before we found our hotel. Funny enough, we found out that the whole time we had been lost we actually had been making circles around our hotel. The last time we actually stopped to get directions at a gas station it ended up that we were standing across from the hotel.

My dad seems to fall under the age of stereotype of men and direction-getting - i.e. that he won't stop to ask for any, despite the consistent request from my mom.
Lansing is...interesting. There is a lot of farmland around some areas, and some areas that have a really nice small-town-America feel to it. At the moment I haven't seen the school itself so I don't know about the area surround my school, though it is downtown, and Lansing being the capital of Michigan, I imagine there'd be a lot more traffic and people.

That's all I can seem to type now. I can't sleep well in strange places, hotels included, and I'm an owl when it comes to nights so this is why I have all the patience to write so much in one sitting. And I've been told that my posts are not as long as they used to, and should, be.

Wish you hadn't said anything now huh Furheen? ;)

Written at 12:30 AM by AKA.

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