I’m back.  I have been done exams for just about two weeks now.  I have about 3.5 weeks left until I start summer school.

I cannot remember for the life of me on what personal finance blog I read this, but someone wrote about the irony that we like to write more when things are going well, and less when they are not.  I concur completely.  If I had some great news to report, I’m sure I would have been more motivated to bring myself to post, but I can’t imagine anyone wants to hear me write about how things have been going so-so lately.

I finally feel like I have things to write about again, so I’m back an excited to get back to posting.

You haven’t missed out on much in the past 2 weeks of my life.  I got paid about $400, which I put towards my summer goals, and that’s pretty much it financially.

The reason that I haven’t been feeling great about my finances is that my plans have changed slightly.  My parents were going to give me $7000 towards my tuition for the upcoming school year.  It’s not a huge amount compared to the total $36,000 I pay each year in tuition, but it’s still a big chunk of change.  They also still have a mortgage, which they have had since they bought their first house before I was born.  It actually hasn’t shrunk at all since they got that first mortgage, and has in fact grown.  Whenever they get enough equity in a house, they just get a bigger house.  My dad, in particular, doesn’t see a mortgage as a bad thing.

Obviously, I have been nagging my parents for years and years about paying off the mortgage.  Their current mortgage owed is about equal to the amount that I would spend on my first home, but they still have a ton of equity in the property, because we live in a monster home.  With retirement rapidly approaching, I have been bugging them more than ever, my advice has finally gotten through to them.  As a family, we have agreed that they should not give me any money, and that I should handle tuition completely on my own.

Overall, this is a positive for my family, but it does mean that I have to come up with $7,000 that was not previously a part of my BIG PLAN.  There is no particular rush on this money, and I know I will be able to get it saved, so it seems pretty silly the amount that I have stressed about it over the past two weeks.  I’m not entirely sure when this will fit into my plan, but I will be sure to keep you updated.

My other stress has come from unexpected expenses.  I’m going to a conference next week and it’s going to cost about $300 just for the registration.  This stresses me out even though I know I can afford it.

I’ll cut off my rambling here, but I promise I’ll be back tomorrow with fresh craziness!

I write my second exam of four this morning, so by noon I will officially be halfway through exams.  This time in December I was totally freaking out about exams, but this time around I am much calmer.  Law school is a different beast than any other kind of school, so I spent most of this year just figuring out what it was like, but now that I know it’s not so scary.

You may have heard stories about competition in law school, and unfortunately, at least for my program and my year, that it totally true.  People don’t want to help each other because all of our grades are curved up or down as a class, so you really don’t want others to do well.  This attitude completely shocked me coming from my liberal arts major because I had never been on a bell curve before and so there was no disincentive to helping others out.  It’s hard that those you see every day don’t want you to succeed, and some can be downright mean, but I’ve gotten used to being on my own here.  It helps that I have a fantastic support system back in Hometown.

From here, I have one open-book and one closed-book exam and then I have 5 weeks off before I move to a big new city and start summer school.  I’m not excited to still be studying, but am very excited that the end is finally in sight.

Still in the trenches studying.  Just wanted to take a second to jot down my thought of the day.

I’ve never kept a lot of food here at law school since I moved here in August and have tried hard to keep my grocery bills as low as possible because I know it’s going to be a lot harder next year.  I don’t really want to move any food home with me, so I’m trying to end up with nothing just in time to move home.  But I’m worried that I’m going to run out of food before I run out of exams to write.

I have over a week left still, and I still think I can make it.

My first exam (of 4) is this morning, so I have had to say goodbye to all of my free time.  I do not at all like hitting the books from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, but it is made a lot easier by knowing that I will soon have a break from all this work and stress.

On the personal finance front, things are very quiet.  I get paid this week on Friday, but it’s not very exciting knowing that it will only be about $100.  I’m slowly packing up my little room here (in my study breaks), and I’ve done laundry and groceries for the last time here (hopefully).  I’ve even packed some of my cash envelopes and my big finance book where I keep track of everything.

I still have a week and a half left here, but I don’t really anticipate spending very much (if any) money before I move back home.

This is a tad premature, but I think I found a place to live, and I’m so excited about it!  The only hurdle I have left to pass is the financial credit check/approval process.  It’s tough being Canadian and going through these American processes, because I’m always afraid of getting denied.  I have lots of money in the bank though, so my fingers are crossed that things will work out.

The rent comes in at just slightly under budget, but after all of the deposits and application fees, I will probably be slightly over budget for the year.  I’m not worried because it won’t be by much, and I can easily save up the difference.

It’s about double the size of what I have now, but still plenty cozy.  I will be living higher up in the air than I ever have before.  I am by far most excited about having a kitchen, although the building used to be a hotel, so the kitchen is a glorified closet.  I’ve never lived all by myself in a place that wasn’t dorm style before, and if I like it, I will stay put for two full years, which makes this girl who has moved countless times in the past 6 years VERY happy.

The location is perfect and walking distance of most things I need to get to.  I’m excited to decorate and to bake and to get to know a new city.  It’s the perfect time to move (end of May) because it will make coming back for summer school a little bit more palatable.

Cross your fingers and say a prayer that everything gets approved!  I’m only in this area for another week, and I’m in the middle of exams, so I don’t really have time to find anything else.