End of an era
So, after a summer of fretting about it (in an excited sort of way), I’m finally heading out tomorrow to start the “Ottawa” chapter of my life story.
I’m looking forward to it, to be honest. This is something I fought hard to make happen against the odds (against the odds because my early life grade just weren’t very good at all, so getting into law was a very far shot), and a much needed change of scenery – after all those years in the Montreal suburbs, being pretty much in the middle of Ottawa will be a very significant change.
I’m also looking forward to it because the room I’m renting, in the middle of Ottawa, is perfectly placed – in the middle of everything, closer to the National Gallery than my house in Beloeil is to the local grocery (for those not aware: the local grocery is on the same bloc as my house) , just north of the main market, and within maybe a 15 minutes walk of just about everything in Ottawa and most of Gatineau (the town on the Quebec side of the Ottawa river) as well. It should be perfect for discovering a new city…which is one thing I love to do.
Plus there’s the whole “A new life with new people” angle. The last twenty-nine years have been largely defined by the one group of people, with very few changes; it’s time to find new people (while still keeping in touch with the old, of course), and university should be a great place for it (it would have been, last time around, perhaps, if there had been any stability to my classes group, or programs lasting more than a year).
Still a few things to fret over – I’m leaving a few people behind that I’d rather be there for if it could be helped at all (I’m not giving names as I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want to be identified as such), and I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to communicate with the owner of the house I’ll be living in (he’s still living in it too) – my spoken english has limits, and his apparently carries a heavy spanish accent according to my father who has met him (I’ve only met his wife). Then again, maybe that will be an occasion to learn some Spanish. We’ll see.
