Moving Out, Part II (see below)

I was in a big hurry to get out of my parents' house by the time Friday arrived. I hadn't spoken to my mom all week, and only a few words to my dad. I don't know if I mentioned the fact that I had two exams coming up (Monday) and a paper due (also on Monday.) There is a point where stress becomes too much for me, and I just give up on something. My sorority had a dinner banquet on Thursday, and I had to install a treasurer and membership educator, and plan the trip to the international convention in Chicago. I've since decided not to go. At first, I thought it would cost about $250, but since only 7 people are going now (instead of 13 who were originally planning to) it will be free or mostly free for all of them. And I guess, if it were free, I could technically afford it. But I'll be working...

That's right, no vacation for me, not all summer. I might be off for 4th of July and Memorial Day, but other than that... You see, that is how tight my money will be. Financially, I was not in any way ready to move out, and that was part of why I panicked. I was planning to take a class this summer (one that I had given up on (failed) early on in this spring semester to concentrate on the others) and work part-time, about 25 hours a week. That would be enough to pay for school over the summer, and I thought the fall would be covered. Such is not the case. I'm now going to be working full time (thank God my boss has no problems with that.) and am currently not registered for classes.

My plan now, then, is to save up money to actually go to school again in the fall, but only part-time so I can still work. I really hate this. I never liked having to work and go to school at the same time, but it was nice that I didn't have to cover the expense of rent. But having to work nearly full-time while still taking a full load? I don't know about that. If I continue to do poorly in school, I really think my job may be in jeopardy. But God willing my supervisors will understand, and not be too upset that my graduation date keeps moving further away.

But anyway, I am pursuing an option for taking classes in the fall, which is to take humanities courses at a community college and only my engineering courses at the university. That's because going full time at NCSU is about $2400, for 12 hours. At a community college, it's about $40 per credit hour tuition plus about $15-25 total in fees. Going part-time at NCSU at 8 hours (2 4-hr engr classes) would be $1200, including fees. Goign part-time at tech school for 6 hours (2 3-hr humanities) would be $260. I can do that and still technically be a "full-time student" with 14 hours spending about $1000 less for school.

Now what to do with my free time? There are 168 hours in a week, and I'll be working 40 of them and sleeping 56, inshallah. So what to do with the rest of my time? I looked into taking a summer night class, but didn't see any available. The mosque was teaching Arabic classes on Sundays but stopped for the summer... isn't that ironic? But maybe I can learn a little bit on my own (practice hard) and find some Arabic speaker to help. A number of guys have offered to help, but... we'll see, I guess.

And of course, I have not exhausted the Islam section at the bookstore, lol! I will probably just devour books this summer, inshallah. And even if that gets boring I can read about other religions. There is so much I have wanted to read...