The Christian Sisters Graduate!

The Christian sisters graduate!

As my papa pointed out, I can now write my name, “Nicole Christian, BA.” This week graduation day finally came around! Danielle, Dominique, and I walked across the stage one after the other, with only me wearing the white arts colours among a horde of green-striped business students. Strangely enough, Biff Naked was also there receiving an honorary degree. She seemed like a nice lady. Considering I knew almost zero of the business students, it was odd that everyone seemed to know who the three of us were, one woman actually asking, “Are those the Christian sisters?” While I had a vision of a group of nuns, she was actually excited to get a photo of us for UFV’s alumni page. It just goes to show how unique it is for three sisters to graduate together.

The following night we hosted a grad party with a live band—Broken Triangle, my mom’s boyfriend’s brother Jeremy’s band—a fancy cake from my mom’s friend Cheryl Arsenault’s Caked, and the event at a local club thanks to Danielle’s boyfriend, Tank. The party was more fun than I even anticipated, and thanks to such connections, was free! Many lovely gifts and visits were had; thank you to all!

The one tricky aspect of graduating is that I now have to pay back my student loans. In British Columbia I get a six month grace period after graduating, which means my first date to pay is November 30th. However, interest still gains during this period. It is just another reason why I need a job nearly as soon as I walk in the Irish door. While it is difficult to rely on your family, when it comes to an important life experience such as living abroad for a year, I think the best option is to accept their generosity, be grateful, and just be sure not to abuse it. Mum has offered all the money she received from selling our beloved tent trailer to loan me the money and avoid interest. I will slowly pay her back at the government’s minimum payment level! The loan must be paid from a Canadian bank account, so I will be sure to leave her with all the information I gathered from the National Student Loans Service Centre.

I will also leave her with a copy of both my Canadian and British passports, which I photocopied today along with my long and short birth certificates, my degree, and my Social Insurance card. The copies of the last three will be travelling with me.

This Friday I am retiring my car with Nanny and Papa. I have to purchase storage insurance beforehand. Then I start my year without my own transport! This is another goody I will miss about home. Along with Gon Sushi’s Red Dragon Role, which Dale is going to treat me to one last time on my birthday. Dale and I hope to get bicycles to travel around on in Ireland, or use the Dublin Bikes Program. For a fee, the program allows you to pick up a city bike and drop it off at any other station. I am actually pretty stoked about cycling around, especially in the summer!

I have at last purchased my insurance! I went with Travel Cuts because so few places actually offer a year’s worth of coverage. The cost for the whole year was $435. I went with Plan B, which does not cover my baggage. True, it’s a risk, but I’m going to trust the airline. Tomorrow I will call BC Medical again to see what further coverage they might offer me. I have already informed them of my dates of travel, but because I have not made enough money this year I wouldn’t have to pay for their coverage regardless of whether I was away longer than their six month allowance or not. It is important for me to have insurance while travelling because I have already experienced three years’ worth of serious back and neck trouble thanks to fainting while on a camping trip. I landed gracefully on my face and on gravel, and have the scars (thankfully small) to remind me that freak accidents do happen. It’s scary to be relying only on my exercises to keep my spine in shape, but I will be devoting serious energy to the stretches so that this year will be possible. But if any more accidents come up, I'm covered.