What a DAY.....
Recently, I enrolled for Spring classes at DCCC so I can get into West Chester by fall (must... spin... flag... perform... COLORGUARD!).
Anyway, I registered and got a schedule. Yay community college: made to be affordable... right? WRONG. It's affordable if your parents are paying for you, which they aren't, in my case. And you also can't get financial aid without a parent (students under the age of 24 are still considered dependent under their parents -- go figure).
So, you would think that, being the "affordable" community college that thay are, they would have some convenient payment plans.
They have only ONE payment plan: pay half of tuition up front at registration. Then you can pay the rest in installments.
Sure, tuition is a lot more expensive at bigger schools, I understand. However, I had to somehow get about $1,200 in three days. I've never even seen my bank account get over $500 at the most! And Mike can't afford to help me right now (he said he would when his paychecks were bigger, but lately they haven't been looking so nice).
Today, it was my duty to go to DCCC and see what I could do about financial aid... can I take classes here, or what?
I woke up early and missed the SEPTA bus twice. Finally, I ventured outside into the pouring rain with my umbrella just in time for the bus. Suddenly, a huge wind gust blows my umbrella NOT ONLY inside out, but also BENDS it in HALF.
So, I board the 117, frantically trying to bend my umbrella back. I just closed it best I could and didn't use it the rest of the day. I got off the 117 onto 22nd street in Chester at a gas station. I was unaware that my wallet was open, and my change spilled all over the ground. And it's not like I could just stop to pick it all up: I would have been run over, and it was scattered all over in puddles.
Instead, I crossed the street to the next bus stop without haste; I was expecting the 118 to be arriving very soon.
After waiting almost 30 minutes in the pouring rain, I crossed the street to the gas station to warm up a little. As I was paying for a snack, the cashier said to me, "Did you know that your bag is open?"
Sure enough, my bag was wide open, and all my papers and things were wet.
I waited for the bus under the awning of the gas station for after that.
I had waited a full hour for the 118, and finally, I got to DCCC.
Financially, there's nothing I can do except wait to take summer courses instead. Then there will be ample time to make and save money, and deal with FAFSA (it apparently takes a very long time to get information established with the government, almost a month).
So, even though there's a chance I might not be able to reach my goal of going to WCU by fall semester, at least I won't have to constantly stress over being so deep in debt that I can't get out. That's most important -- I'll just be patient instead of frazzled, which is a lot healthier, I must say.
With that, I left DCCC to catch the bus back to Chester. I got off the bus at 22nd street and waited for the 117 to pick me up. I didn't wait too long before a strange man in a white SUV rolled down his window and started yelling to me as he was in traffic. I couldn't hear him, but I found it suspicious, so my guard went up.
Especially since this man pulled into the parking lot next to the bus stop, still yelling stuff out his window, but I still coudn't understand what he was trying to tell me.
"Come here!" he said waving his hand.
"Do you need directions?" I asked, not entirely serious.
"Where you headed?"
"Home"
He didn't need to know where I was going.
"Come over here!"
"Is there something you need?"
"No, just come closer."
"Um, no, sorry... did you want me to give you directions somewhere?"
"No, come here! Where you goin'?"
"I'm going home."
"Why don't you come closer??" he asked again.
"What for?"
And he wouldn't tell me. He just wanted me to come closer to his car, enough so that maybe I'd get IN the car with him.
I was taught better than that!
He got impatient, pulled out of the parking lot, and drove down the road so I'd think he was gone. However, I decided right there I wasn't waiting for the bus anymore. I left as fast as I could into the next parking lot and turned a little toward a street. Sure enough, he had done a u-turn to look for me! He saw me head toward the street after he pulled into the lot a second time. Then he made another turn so that once I got to the end of it, he would already be there. But instead, I kept going straight ahead after he turned, as fast as I could. I put my hood up so he wouldn't notice me as well if he kept looking for my pale-white face and glasses and hair. Anyone could be wearing a black hoodie with blue jeans.
Boy, getting the "stranger talk" when you're a kid is REALLY important no matter what age, especially when you live near a place like Chester (no offense to anyone who lives there).
So, maybe next time I'll talk about my new job and my new boss, because this entry is more like a book at this point.
Till then, bye people!
Anyway, I registered and got a schedule. Yay community college: made to be affordable... right? WRONG. It's affordable if your parents are paying for you, which they aren't, in my case. And you also can't get financial aid without a parent (students under the age of 24 are still considered dependent under their parents -- go figure).
So, you would think that, being the "affordable" community college that thay are, they would have some convenient payment plans.
They have only ONE payment plan: pay half of tuition up front at registration. Then you can pay the rest in installments.
Sure, tuition is a lot more expensive at bigger schools, I understand. However, I had to somehow get about $1,200 in three days. I've never even seen my bank account get over $500 at the most! And Mike can't afford to help me right now (he said he would when his paychecks were bigger, but lately they haven't been looking so nice).
Today, it was my duty to go to DCCC and see what I could do about financial aid... can I take classes here, or what?
I woke up early and missed the SEPTA bus twice. Finally, I ventured outside into the pouring rain with my umbrella just in time for the bus. Suddenly, a huge wind gust blows my umbrella NOT ONLY inside out, but also BENDS it in HALF.
So, I board the 117, frantically trying to bend my umbrella back. I just closed it best I could and didn't use it the rest of the day. I got off the 117 onto 22nd street in Chester at a gas station. I was unaware that my wallet was open, and my change spilled all over the ground. And it's not like I could just stop to pick it all up: I would have been run over, and it was scattered all over in puddles.
Instead, I crossed the street to the next bus stop without haste; I was expecting the 118 to be arriving very soon.
After waiting almost 30 minutes in the pouring rain, I crossed the street to the gas station to warm up a little. As I was paying for a snack, the cashier said to me, "Did you know that your bag is open?"
Sure enough, my bag was wide open, and all my papers and things were wet.
I waited for the bus under the awning of the gas station for after that.
I had waited a full hour for the 118, and finally, I got to DCCC.
Financially, there's nothing I can do except wait to take summer courses instead. Then there will be ample time to make and save money, and deal with FAFSA (it apparently takes a very long time to get information established with the government, almost a month).
So, even though there's a chance I might not be able to reach my goal of going to WCU by fall semester, at least I won't have to constantly stress over being so deep in debt that I can't get out. That's most important -- I'll just be patient instead of frazzled, which is a lot healthier, I must say.
With that, I left DCCC to catch the bus back to Chester. I got off the bus at 22nd street and waited for the 117 to pick me up. I didn't wait too long before a strange man in a white SUV rolled down his window and started yelling to me as he was in traffic. I couldn't hear him, but I found it suspicious, so my guard went up.
Especially since this man pulled into the parking lot next to the bus stop, still yelling stuff out his window, but I still coudn't understand what he was trying to tell me.
"Come here!" he said waving his hand.
"Do you need directions?" I asked, not entirely serious.
"Where you headed?"
"Home"
He didn't need to know where I was going.
"Come over here!"
"Is there something you need?"
"No, just come closer."
"Um, no, sorry... did you want me to give you directions somewhere?"
"No, come here! Where you goin'?"
"I'm going home."
"Why don't you come closer??" he asked again.
"What for?"
And he wouldn't tell me. He just wanted me to come closer to his car, enough so that maybe I'd get IN the car with him.
I was taught better than that!
He got impatient, pulled out of the parking lot, and drove down the road so I'd think he was gone. However, I decided right there I wasn't waiting for the bus anymore. I left as fast as I could into the next parking lot and turned a little toward a street. Sure enough, he had done a u-turn to look for me! He saw me head toward the street after he pulled into the lot a second time. Then he made another turn so that once I got to the end of it, he would already be there. But instead, I kept going straight ahead after he turned, as fast as I could. I put my hood up so he wouldn't notice me as well if he kept looking for my pale-white face and glasses and hair. Anyone could be wearing a black hoodie with blue jeans.
Boy, getting the "stranger talk" when you're a kid is REALLY important no matter what age, especially when you live near a place like Chester (no offense to anyone who lives there).
So, maybe next time I'll talk about my new job and my new boss, because this entry is more like a book at this point.
Till then, bye people!