My nerd heart rejoices.

Upon arriving at King's at quarter to ten yesterday, I was terrified because as of lately, I've reserved my greatest moments of panic for (1) the thoughts of IB exams and furthermore (2) any thoughts of university and what decisions I must make between now and August.

A few months ago, I briefly made progress with the university thing when I finally definitively decided on the program I want to take (Journalism) and then proceeded to narrow my search down to two universities, both with distinct advantages which made them come out pretty even in my mind. This made for quite a frustrating situation.

Considering one of the universities I had only ever seen on paper, my parents planned a trip to Halifax this weekend and these few days between semesters. University of King's College surprised me with something: it is practically perfect in every way. I actually fell in love with it. I shit you not, this place is the most happy place I've ever stepped foot in. King's is a miniature campus in the corner of the much larger Dalhousie campus, and in my eyes, a little arts haven with really pretty buildings. The two students giving us a tour won my heart a little more by throwing the occasional Harry Potter reference into their spiel. But one of the HP references, considering that the guy who is head of residence, who literally puts people in houses has the last name Hatt, the nickname 'The Sorting Hatt' was more or less inevitable.

We sat in on a first year lecture on Kant and metaphysics where my mom alternated between looking at the floor and the ceiling and my dad wikipediaed Kant. I found out that I'm more knowledgeable about metaphysics than I originally thought. The lecturer repeatedly dropped pens to demonstrate his points about metaphysics and I particularly liked when he stated that Kant wasn't freaking out about pens, but rather the existence of God and "Now that's something that can keep you up at night." I love metaphysics and lectures and bah it's all so beautiful.

Everything about that school is small, a little eccentric, and about independent thinking. The students definitely give off that vibe, as they look like the epitome of arts students. Everyone in first year has four out of five classes together and the curriculum isn't conventionally set up into different classes, but rather so that everyone in the entire first year reads a ton of literature, beginning at ancient Mesopotamia and working up through the ages until modern times. Then, all together, the first year students have lectures about the texts examining them from points of view from English to Philosophy to Sociology to History to whatever else they can come up with. After the lectures, they divide into tutor groups of around fifteen people plus a mediator for discussion of the texts and lectures. For the papers that are due every two weeks, they want you to write about your thoughts without using any secondary sources. I've had years of IB English to prepare me for this and I'm excited. Also, for the Journalism program, the majority of the forth year is an internship. My nerd heart rejoices.

Also, they aren't super big on sports like STU seems to be which makes me feel a bit more at home, as I don't sports. Some of King's notable clubs/societies were the Doctor Who Society and the Communist Knitting Society. I think that was a deciding moment when I heard about those. I'm a foolish human being like that but I feel you guys understand the bond of passionate Whovians. Theater and music are also a big thing there and even though I'm not planning on taking those, there seems to be plenty of extracurricular opportunities in those.

The biggest problem that I see with this is whether I'll be able to keep a job in university with my very likely booked tight schedule. I suppose I have a few months to figure that out. I theoretically want to keep a job so (1) I'm not dirt poor through all of university and (2) I'd feel pretty damn guilty if I didn't contribute to the seventeen grand for each year of school. But I also feel, if it happens that I can't humanly maintain all my activities, it would be a bit of a dick move if my manager and I went through the hassle of transferring my job to a Halifax location and then I decide "Nope. Can't deal." But there's a high possibility that there are just not enough hours in a day for my life.

And dear Lord, seventeen grand. $17 000. I'm crossing my fingers for lots of scholarships. That's roughly a $5000 difference from STU but my parents are fine with it on the terms that I work hard for those scholarships.

However, it does feel good to finally know for sure where I want to go next year, just knowing the pros and cons instead of weighing them against another option. That's a weight off my chest. And as soon as I get to school tomorrow, I can apply to send a transcript with my most recent marks on it.
Hearts,
-J-