School
Today I woke up late after a truly epic Starcraft match the night before and after having my daily oatmeal and shower, headed off to the Financial Assistance office. Student loans have been an ongoing issue at this school, thanks to some unnecessary red tape this school wraps around its process. Rather than determine my loan qualifications from the get-go, the school checks my qualifications one at a time, leaving me with a two or three day wait between every checkpoint, between which they determine if I applied for loans, then how much loans I want, then whether or not I qualify for the loans I asked for, and then once again if I don't qualify for those loans, how much of the loans that I do qualify for I actually want. And then apparently there's another behind-the-scenes investigation where they totally ignore everything we talked about and invent new, totally unrelated values and tell me to suck it.
So today when I discovered that my loans no longer covered tuition, needless to say I was a little frustrated, but like the responsible person I am I went to the Treasurer's office to set up a payment plan. Tuition is due on the 15th of this month, and if I don't pay my classes will be dropped. Being a little short on cash, and with multiple bills coming up, I assumed that if I got on a payment plan it would postpone my bills long enough for my bank account to fatten up a bit. As it turns out, the first payment is due on the 15th of this month, which means that I'm still left scraping the barrel until I have a steady job, only 75% less than I would be if I didn't set up a payment plan.
Work
Still unemployed, thanks for asking. A résumé is a tricky thing to write when your combined work experience is as unfocused and patchy as mine, but I'm applying wherever I go until I have one I like. With any luck, a hotel will hire me and let me work a night shift.
Life
After clearing away all things school, I went on a hunt. A friend recommended an obscure little place called Hope and Union, a local coffee shop hidden in an unassuming house in a mostly residential area up the northern part of St. Phillip Street. From the street, the only identifying marker is a very plain sign reading "COFFEE", and on the door, in a small, lowercase Garamond style font, read "hope and union". Like most businesses around here, it's set in a slightly modified Charleston house, so entering was a little intimidating; I felt as if I was walking in uninvited in someone's home while they were having their afternoon cup of coffee. My presence was unusual, but not unwelcome. Everyone seemed to know each other and acted like a real person you'd want to know. Usually when I go in a small business like this I feel like a complete outsider, and I get the sense that the service is just an annoying duty that comes with getting to hang out with their friends all day. But then, most independent coffee shops I've been to are run by hipster 20-somethings with fake dreadlocks and tattoos of assorted pagan symbols, and find ways to smoke weed in the back undetected. Hope and Union, on the other hand, was run by a clean-cut man probably in his mid to late thirties, and when I went in he was talking to cop about funny calls he took on his patrols. While I was waiting for my cup of coffee to be hand-prepared on the spot (not poured from a carafe or squirted from one of those coffee jug things they use now), I got to hear a hilarious story about a man in his thirties driving to Myrtle Beach with his girlfriend, who stopped right on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge and called the police because he was too terrified to cross.
Even with the homey atmosphere and distinct lack of indie pettiness, the place is pricier than it's worth. By Charleston standards it's not extravagant, but for a poor student from Aiken, $6.75 is beyond my morning coffee and croissant budget, and I'll probably stick with oatmeal and tea. Still, next time I want to impress my friends and look like an informed local, I know where to go.
