Introductions

So, it's the first post of a new blog. I might as well start here with who I am and what I'm doing here, right? I'm a college-aged young woman living in the Midwest of the United States. Currently I'm trying to survive the financial crisis (which all the politicians are so willing to remind us is not a recession) and make my way up to Canada. I've already got a family up there willing to sponsor me, and knowing that they're ready to take me in and help me out when I get there makes that part of the process so much easier, but at this point it's hard to see me getting there.

I don't have a college degree, even after five years of college, and I work 35 miles (that's about 56 km for you folks who think in that) from where I live. Add to that the fact that I'm only part time at work and gas prices are ridiculously high right now, it's no small surprise that I'm struggling to make ends meet. No, let me correct that, I can't make ends meet. At all.

Here's the best part of it: I live at home with my parents. I don't pay rent, and they buy all the groceries. All I have to pay is student loan payments (which are what's killing me), my cell phone (because the home phone is now a cell phone, they don't let me use it, and left me to pay for my own), gas to get anywhere I need to go, and any time I eat out, or go shopping on my own. I also cover medical expenses, and as soon as next summer comes around, I won't be on my dad's insurance anymore. I've got slight medical issues, but without insurance, the cost of my maintenance medication is going to be in the hundreds of dollars a month. Compared to about $50 now for all of them. (And no, this isn't the main reason I'm moving to Canada.)

This blog isn't going to be about the gory details of my personal life, it's more to document the problems that I'm going through as I try to survive in an economy that's not just tanking, it's capsizing. I'm also trying to contemplate expatriating and moving to another country, and all the problems inherent in that when it has to do with a person being afraid of change.