I was filling out a survey earlier (I'm on MySurvey.eu so ever so often I have to answer strings of odd questions in exchange for Nectar points) and it asked me what best described my occupation. I almost put "student" but then I realised that in two days I will no longer be a student, so I went for "part time employed".
Guys, in two days I'll no longer be a student. Well, pending August and results I guess, it's fairly certain I'll carry on being a student in the autumn but for now, education is finished with. This will be the longest holiday I've ever had, with the most independence (my mum and her partner are going away for more than two weeks next Wednesday) and the most work. Then I'll be leaving home.
I don't think I'd really appreciated how close all of this is, but after spending my whole life looking forwards to going to university, to moving out and to being self-sufficient, it's actually happening. Sure, I'll get student loans (if they ever sort themselves out) but beyond those I'll be paying rent out of the money I earn, and the money I've saved in the last year. I'll be buying my own food, not just snacks but all of it, and all the little things like tissues and toothpaste and plasters. I'll have to remember to wash my clothes and change my bedding and clean my room (I do do those things already, but normally I'm prompted). I'll have to pay bills and get a credit card and fill out tax forms and god almighty get a pension. Insurance. There are so many things I have no idea how to do, things I hadn't even realised I had to do (council tax? What is that?).
In other news, my best friend's grandad died yesterday. He rang me this morning and woke me up to talk about how our exams went yesterday, but I think really he just needed to talk about his grandad. We'd known for a while that he wasn't well but I hadn't realised how ill he was, and it was a shock. We never met but my friend is devastated. In a lot of ways it was a good time, because my friend's dad (the grandad's son) had just visited from Canada and the decision had been made that the grandad had to go into a home, which he would have hated. Also my friend is going to Canada for the summer so he wouldn't have been around to visit and look after him, so things would have been worse.
I've always been told I was quite mature, but I know I couldn't handle this situation anything like as maturely as my friend is doing. He is more adult than most adults, he's been the primary carer for his grandad for a while now, he handles the finances and has even dealt with social services and the courts when there were disputes over home help. And now he is sorting out a funeral, with the help of his uncle, all in the middle of his exams (which he has been working for consistently and conscientiously for several months). I'm so proud to be his friend, I'm going to miss him like hell next year
