January
I started out the new year as a newly single woman... but it didn't last long! Less than two weeks after the end of 2007 I met a fantastic guy, Jacob, and we quickly became a bit of an item!
However, prior to our first date, after a rather large turning point in my life, I decided to complete my application for the Criminology master's program at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. It probably wouldn't be far from the truth to say that the last of my paperwork arrived at the university the same day I met Jacob.
I told myself at that point that I needed to start thinking about myself, and what I wanted to do with my life. That I needed to stop putting my desires on hold for a man (which was, unfortunately what had occurred in the past). Jacob knew from the start about my pending application, but we decided there was no harm in spending time together... we kinda liked each other after all!
February
My relationship with Jacob continued to evolve. For Valentine's Day he took me on a weekend getaway to his parent's beach house in Waldport. I absolutely love the ocean, and this trip was no exception. However, it was definitely an added bonus to be staying in a house with a large picture window that looked over the beach... perfect for hot chocolate and nights watching the ships go by.
March
I received notice in March that SFU had accepted me into the Fall 2008 program and I had less than a month to make my decision and pay the deposit. My thoughts were on how fast everything was happening! I had a lot of very difficult decisions to make in a very short amount of time... however, the first step was to actually go SEE the school! (I had only learned of the program via Peterson's College Search based on the location of the school and the fact that they were the only university on the western side of the "country" to offer a master's program in Criminology).
April
My mom and I decided to take a road trip up to BC to check out the university in April. I remember my eyes getting big when we drove by the city and I saw all the tall buildings in the downtown area. Growing up in Junction City, Oregon, buildings with more than 3 stories are pretty rare... and here skyscrapers with floors in the double digits!
When we pulled into the parking garage and I first saw Simon Fraser University I remember thinking how ugly it was; it was all concrete and gray (later I would find out that they refer to it as the Concrete Jungle). But once we got un-lost and found our way into the actual university (the campus is almost completely enclosed) my opinions changed and I could see myself walking those halls, studying in that library, and looking at the fantastic views from the mountain that the university resides on.I called Jacob that night and told him that I thought I wanted to go to SFU. I told him that I wanted to be selfish and ask him to come with me, but I knew that it was too early in the relationship to do so. I told him how much I wanted to be with him, but how scared I was to do the long distance "thing". He assured me that everything would work out.
By the time I got back home to Oregon, he was already telling people that he was moving to Canada.
May
We celebrated my Dad's 50th birthday in May over the Memorial Day weekend. His sisters threw him a party in Bend, OR... Hawaiian themed. It was nice to have my whole family together in one room... even if we did have to travel all the way to Bend! All of my brothers and their significant others were there and we all stayed together in a little house that Jacob's parents set up for us, while my parents got a hotel room. It was nice to get the opportunity to spend more time with the women that my brothers had chosen to spend their time with. I never had sisters, so my hope was always for good sister-in-laws!
June
My baby brother graduated from high school this year! No more Boyers at JCHS to hassle teachers and make a ruckus! =) In addition to graduation, June was also the start of the sand volleyball season! My friend Holly and I put together a team of friends and relatives to play in the city league. We had fun... we'll leave it at that!
July
July was full of all kinds of fun! The summer was finally here which meant picnics, rafting trips down the river and camping at the coast! I also got my fill of fireworks with displays at the Em's game, the rodeo and at the beach.
Unfortunately, the coming of July meant that my time in Oregon was getting shorter. Jacob and I were living together by this point (my stuff remained in boxes in his living room as I knew that I would be packing everything up again soon) and trying to figure out how the whole thing was going to work. He wanted to come with me, but I was concerned about his job, his duplex and visa requirements for the two of us (I also had to get all my paperwork together for my student visa). I was also stressing up about living arrangements and how difficult it was going to be to find an apartment from such a distance.August
To address our housing worries, Jacob and I took a trip to Vancouver at the beginning of August to try to nail down a place to live. It was a complicated process and I think I may blog more in depth about it later! lol
After returning from BC, Jacob and I both finish up our jobs and then took off with 4 friends for goodbye weekend away in Las Vegas. We stayed in condo off the strip and took the shuttle in every day to explore and see the sights (and usually a cab back since we stayed out a bit late!).
The last two weeks of August flew by in a whirlwind of activity. We packed up Jacob's house, had to say goodbye to all our friends and family, and moved everything we owned to Jacob's parents place in Sandy, Oregon. I started orientation at the end of August, but our apartment wasn't going to be ready for us until September, so our stuff would be stored and I needed to find a place to stay for a few days in BC. Thankfully the university set me up with a "Partner in Crime": another grad student to be a mentor and answer any of my questions. And, thankfully still, she had a spare room in her apartment on campus that she offered to me while I waited for mine.
Orientation went by in a blur. I remember getting horribly lost... a LOT!
September
September was a busy month as well! Amid all kinds of apartment related stresses (which you'll here about in a different posting), Jacob and I moved our things into a 3rd floor, 2 bedroom apartment in North Surrey, BC. For those of you who know Eugene, Surrey is the "Springfield" of Vancouver... both by location and reputation.
We were here for only a week or two before returning to Oregon to celebrate our birthdays and attend Jacob's annual family gathering at the coast. After a week away from BC, we made the 8-hour drive back, looking forward to some relaxing time in our new home.
October
I started to make new friends right away at school. The cohort of incoming grad students is pretty small (about 14 of us I think), and pretty much all of our first term classes were together, so we saw a lot of each other! October was spent continuing to form friendships, figure out the grad school thing, and explore Vancouver. Over the first two months in the area we tried to take a few different "tourist" days... roaming around the Historic Gastown neighborhood of downtown Vancouver, taking a ferry out and hiking around Bowen Island, and exploring the Green Timber Urban Forest that is pretty much in our backyard.
It was also in October that my friend Josie and her husband flew back to the west coast (Seattle) from their home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We met half way to go bowling and eat Chinese food. It had been over a year since I'd seen Josie and I was really happy to have the opportunity for such a good, close, old friend of mine to meet Jacob and give her opinion! lol.... he passed her test!
FYI... Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October. When asked what the story behind the Canadian Thanksgiving is, one of my classmates looked at me and said she had no idea! lol
November
November was a rush of finishing term papers and group projects. The semester ended the last week of the month, when I should have been home celebrating a US Thanksgiving with my family. Instead I convinced my mom to postpone Thanksgiving until the following weekend and finished up my first term as a grad student.
In addition, early in the month Jacob and I took a belated birthday trip to Victoria, BC. We spent several days exploring the harbor and taking in the sights... and just relaxing in the condo we stayed in!December
Jacob stayed in Oregon when we went back for Thanksgiving, but I had to return for about a week to finish grading papers, so I took Amtrak back up to BC. It was pretty lonely. Jacob was with his parents and my cat, Scout, was with mine. I left my car in Oregon, so I had to rely on public transit, thus I didn't want to leave my house after dark by myself. It didn't take my long to finish grading however and I was back in Oregon less than a week later.
December was filled with family, friends, and holiday festivities. The Pacific Northwest was hit by a freak snow storm with ruined many of our holiday plans. Jacob and i were going to meet his family at the beach for a Christmas Eve celebration, however road conditions were not good so his family decided to have the celebration at their place in Sandy... and then they got snowed in. His family ended up postponing their Christmas until New Years Day. My family was going to have Christmas day celebration, but my relatives in Portland also go snowed in and didn't feel safe driving to and from on Christmas, so our celebration was postponed until the following weekend... even though we still had a Christmas dinner with my Grandmother. So, in the end, Jacob and I had 3 Christmases this year!
It was also nice to be able to spend time with friends again. We went out to dinners, went ice skating, played pool, and overall had a great time with great people... with whom we ended the year right. New Year's Eve was spent out with friends listening to live music at the Cooler in Eugene, talking, laughing and having a great time.
2008 was a great year, and I'm looking forward to 2009!
If you are interested in seeing more pictures of our life in Canada, you can check out my albums:
Life In Canada 1
Life in Canada (Part 2)
Victoria
Vancouver Apartment Hunting
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