well... (そう です...)

This post might be a bit more eclectic than usual; I've got a lot to cover and only one post to do it in.

But anyway, I'll start with the rant: Over the last week I've been repeatedly hindered by the fuckwits that are the Student Loans Company. Their work rate meant that they were dealing with a backlog of correspondences from 2 months ago - not hugely useful when I sent my signature form in early August. I rang them to see if there was any way of speeding up my application, letting them know that I ticked the box to receive my money early, but no joy. I then resorted to the (poorly designed, hard to use and overall shit) website for help, but found instead that the 'ask a question' tool was like Mirage Island in the old Pokémon games; it was only present 1 times in a million, and the chance was reset each time you went away.

Bugger.

So I phoned them again. This time to change my bank details, and I wasn't surprised to find there was some issue to stop them from doing so: their systems were being updated, rendering them unable to deal with ANY queries. This was at 11.30am on a MONDAY. Great. So I waited, and rang back an hour later, to find that they couldn't do that over the phone; I'm sure the original operator could've informed me of this without looking it up on the almighty system.

But never mind, it all turned out well (I think). I managed to track down the elusive 'ask a question' tool, and asked away. Several DAYS later I got 2 replies, both on the same day, at roughly the same time: one said my application hadn't been approved and gave me a long list of things to do to solve the problem, the other said my application HAD been approved. Despite the contradictory responses, I figure it has been approved, and am now just waiting on my payment schedule letter now so I can finalise my Toronto expenses spreadsheet.



Now for the good stuff. Alongside the aforementioned farce, I've been sorting out the last minute things for my upcoming exchange to Toronto. I've decided on 2 travel insurance policies to get, emailled everyone I needed to email, found the best exchange rate, and even looked through my guidebooks for possible things to do there. But perhaps most importantly, I've found accommodation!

It's a room in a family's apartment, 30 minutes from Downtown by subway, and with a double futon bed, a desk, a tv and a chest of drawers. Nice.

The rent is cheaper than I expected as well, and now my daily budget is £6.82 (about $12.50).

All the last minute preparations are going as planned; I've got loads to do in the last week, people to see etc, and it should be amazing. I can't wait to go but at the same time I don't want to leave!



I might expand on this later, but I want to post one last post for August, so here goes!