Remember my "I don't believe in omens" post? Well, that mantra lately has been what's been keeping me sane. One would have thought that only so much can go wrong in a few days... but that "so much" is so much more than I thought it could possibly be. Now, don't get me wrong, in hindsight all the little glitches along the road were just those: glitches. There was nothing huge and serious, nothing Earth-shattering, but nothing I was really prepared to deal with in the last few days, either. And piled on top of the fact that I'm in a new city, in a different country, and completely out of my element? Yeah, the last few days have been more than a little frustrating.
Let's start with the fact that it took us FOREVER to get through Pennsylvania. No joke. I'm pretty sure Pennsylvania is like the black hole of the U.S. Just when you think you've escaped, it sucks you back in. Point in fact: during our second day of driving, we got stuck on the interstate for AN HOUR, literally not moving. Then, when we finally did get moving, it was only to realize that the entire interstate was closed because of some sort of accident. Yes, they CLOSED the interstate. Which meant a lot of back-roading, driving down roads that I'm not even sure were roads, and somehow ending up in Gettysburg (about 2 farther west than we should have been.... seeing as we were travelling east). Then, when we finally made our way to another interstate, we got stuck in traffic for ANOTHER hour because of construction. So it took us probably about 6 hours on our second driving day to get through a state that we should have left far behind on the first day. Which meant an exhausting day all around, but overall not too bad.
The real problems started the day after that, when I was supposed to be moving in to my new place. The first order of business that day was getting a cell phone, since roaming on my Canadian phone pretty much costs a fortune. Now, I did my homework before leaving. I looked up all the different U.S. phone services I could think of, checked out the service maps to make sure I could get good reception in my area, read suggestions from other Duke students as to which cell companies worked best in what areas, looked at long distance rates, figured out who had the cheapest phone plans that could be combined with Canada calling, and finally decided on Sprint. I even knew what model of phone I wanted, and where their biggest location was in the Durham area. So, having punched the address into my trusty GPS ("Mandy"), we were off to a good start. But, when we finally got to the Sprint store, we had to stand and wait for a clerk who assured us "I'll be with y'all in a minute!" So, we waited. And waited. And waited. And.... you got it!... waited. Finally, about 20 minutes after walking into the store, the clerk wanders over and drawls "what can I help y'all with?" (yes, I'm truly in the south!). So, I tell her exactly what phone plan, long distance plan, and cell model I need, feeling sufficiently organized. However, my organization really didn't seem to matter, seeing as the clerk informed me that none of their phones in the store supported long-distance calling or roaming, and if I wanted that I would have to buy the newest Blackberry (the "Curve" I believe?), which would have interchangeable SIM cards. And to my "but... but... the Internet told me!" argument, she replied that the phones and plans I saw on the Internet were only available if I ordered online (which wasn't posted with the plans, so how would I know that?). But since I really don't have the time to wait for my phone to be ordered, and shipped, and (with my luck) probably lost somewhere along the way, I had to sadly decline.
So, next stop was Verizon Wireless, where the clerks were nice and attentive, but the phone plans were horrendously expensive. So, U.S. cell companies: 2. Robyn: 0.
So back to the car to search for another phone company. The boiling hot, full-to-the-brim, fogged-up-with-humidity car. The car which WOULD NOT START. The car which had been serviced THREE DAYS EARLIER, and had a full system check, and that I had to pay a ridiculous, heart-stopping amount of money to replace the worn-out brakes for. Yup, THAT car. So I'm sitting in the parking lot, with no idea who to call or what to do. Luckily I remembered that when I had my car in at Campbell Ford 3 days earlier I had asked about dealerships in Durham, just in case anything like this were to happen, and they had nicely stapled a list of 4 or 5 in the area. So, I picked a random dealership off the list and started dialing. They told me to call another dealership. So I called the other dealership... they told me to call U.S. Roadside Assistance. So I called them, went through all the automated steps, stayed on hold for 10 minutes (melting, by the way, and all this on my Canadian cell... I REALLY don't want to see my phone bill...), and they told me to call Canadian Roadside Assistance, since my vehicle was Canadian. So I called THEM, and they told me they'd call AAA and call back to let me know when a tow-truck was coming. They never called back. So I was STILL sitting in the boiling hot car, in the Verizon parking lot, with the hood up (although I had no idea what I was looking at anyways), waiting for some kind soul to take pity and help me out. Luckily the same Verizon clerk I had been dealing with earlier noticed my pathetic situation and offered me a boost, which meant I could drive to the closest Ford dealership myself and hopefully get my car looked at. I finally got Chazz to the dealership down the street, where after half an hour of waiting they informed me that the battery had died (duh) and they could replace it within 5 minutes. So, one battery and an unexpected car bill later, I was back on the road and heading to my new apartment.
Quick happy interlude: the townhouse I'm living in is small, but GORGEOUS. My roommate is really nice and I think we'll get along fine, and my room is pretty great. I have my own bathroom, and the closet is HUGE (which is good, because there's no dresser to put my clothes in. And I have A LOT of clothes.) So the rest of the day was spent unloading my car, bringing my stuff up to my room, trying to unpack, realizing I had a lot of stuff I needed to buy (ie: hangers) before I could actually unpack, then driving to a Super Target to pick up a bunch of stuff.
Right beside the Super Target was an AT&T store, and although I said that I would never sign on with AT&T again (I had some issues when I was with them in Boston), my roommate said that they were pretty good in this area and they were pretty much my only other option, so I decided to check it out. The whole process of finding a phone and plan was pretty easy actually. I had figured out what I wanted about 5 minutes after walking through the door. But the problems came when I was actually trying to create my account. Since I'm Canadian, and don't have a Social Security Number, they REALLY didn't want to give me a phone. Not even when I had already had a phone with the company, 8 months earlier. Not even when they found my existing account on file, and saw that I had already built up a decent credit rating with them. No, since I didn't have an SSN, they wanted a $500 deposit, which I would get back after a year. But, even after I agreed to pay the $500 (not happily, but I really do need a phone), they somehow couldn't sign me up, because I was missing an SSN and the generic SSN they use for people in my situation wasn't working. So it was literally an hour before they could get me all set up, but I DID get a phone in the end (with the deposit bumped down to $100, since they decided my credit rating from my last AT&T phone was good enough), although they informed me that I would have to call customer service to add on the $3.99/month Canada Calling feature because for some reason they couldn't do it in the store. No problem, right? WRONG. Once again, because I don't have an SSN, to get this $3.99/month feature added to my plan, I would either have to go back to the store, have them fax in a copy of my passport, driver's license and lease agreement (which I really don't want to do... why does AT&T need a copy of my passport??), and then call customer service back again and MAYBE they could set me up. Or, I could wait 3 months and try again. So, as it stands, I don't have the Canada calling plan and it's ridiculously expensive for me to call anybody that I know. (But I have unlimited texting, so that's good!) Overall, tres frustrating.
The next couple days were spent getting to know my roommate, unpacking more, sitting through a stats review, getting lost on campus, sorting out my student card, getting registered with the university as an International student (which I had to try to do twice, because the first time I went they wouldn't let me register because I got lost and was a few minutes late), and just trying to settle in.
Then, Thursday I was supposed to go to an International students orientation, which I decided to skip because I took a look at the schedule and it was all "Learning English U.S. Greetings" and "Name Pronunciation", and I figured I pretty much have that down pat. So instead, Mom and I decided to check out the shopping at this huge mall. But in the mall we got separated, and in trying to call her on my brand-spanking-new phone to see where she was, I realized something: IT DIDN'T WORK. I couldn't dial out, I couldn't text, I couldn't get any calls in... I was lugging around a useless piece of plastic. So, after finding each other, Mom and I drove back across the city to the AT&T store to figure out why they sold me a faulty phone. As it turns out there wasn't anything significantly wrong... they just needed to reset it, and they showed me how to do it in case it happens again. And while I was there I asked about the Canada calling thing and why AT&T were being such assholes about it, and they chatted amongst themselves for a bit and decided that one of the staff members had an in with a guy in the International Calling department, and they'd get it sorted out for me within the next 72 hours and give me a call to let me know what was going on. (They never called... but I'm going to worry about that later).
So, we grabbed some lunch at a nearby restaurant, then headed back into the Super Target to pick up a few things I had forgotten I needed (like a small tool set... a girl can't live without her screwdrivers!). Then back out to the car to head home... the car that once again WOULD NOT START. Chazz has decided he likes leaving me stranded in parking lots, apparently. This time, in the rain. Once again, the battery was dead... but nobody else in the parking lot seemed to have jumper cables to give me a boost (although looking back I'm pretty sure Super Target probably had some I could have bought... damn hindsight.) So, once again I have to call the dealership to let them know that the battery they installed 2 days earlier is dead, and I'm stuck AGAIN. They ended up sending a tow-truck to boost me and follow me to the dealership to make sure I got there ok, then after a half hour of waiting to see what's wrong they inform me that the alternator went, and they somehow missed it 2 days earlier when they did the full diagnostic check. And the part won't be in until Monday (luckily, it's covered under warranty. And I think they're going to reimburse me for the new battery, which I didn't actually need). So now I'm driving a teeny-tiny blue Toyota Corrolla (which the dealership is paying for, thank god) and hoping that picking up my car doesn't interfere with the orientation activities next week. Although ironically when I was waiting at the Ford dealership for said tiny little car, I made friends with an incoming Duke Law student, whose car also left him stranded in a parking lot. So I wasn't the only one!
Anyways, like I said it's been a frustrating first few days... but I've finally finished unpacking and organizing, my car troubles should *hopefully* be done with as of Monday, my phone is somewhat sorted out, and I have all the forms I need to get a Social Security Number (I need one, because I'll be working for the university). So things are getting done and sorted out. And I refuse to let any of this get to me. I'm in the beginning stages of doing what I always said I wanted to do, and that in itself is an amazing thing. And really, dreams are dreams because you have to work for them, right? I'm going to call this "paying my dues" and move on, because in the end it will all be worth it.
And next week, the real work begins!
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