Living in the Lower Mainland for most of my life, I should be accustomed to walking around at night. I grew up in Surrey, right around Guildford Mall. The area was peaceful, but always known for gang activity. My family kept me indoors at night unless we went out together. But still, I was never afraid really. Late at night, I could walk from our house to the Mac's store three blocks away without being scared. It was a breeze to me.

In 2012, I moved to East Richmond so I could be close to my college and my parents closer to their work. I started using public transit alone for the first time to get to class every day. I was always hyper aware on transit, protecting my bag and keeping an eye on those around me. When my classes ran late and I had to take transit at night, I began to feel nervous. Thank goodness my college was right next to a SkyTrain station. The only worrisome part was waiting for the bus home from the SkyTrain station nearest to my neighbourhood. But it happened to be well-lit and often transit police hung around that station since it was such a popular stop.

Now that I'm taking French night classes in Vancouver though, I have to walk quite a few blocks to the SkyTrain long after dark. The people look different without daylight to reveal their features. I'm sure most of them aren't bad, but you can never tell a person's intentions especially in the dark. My route is not really well lit despite being in the downtown core. I walk by quite a few bars and their rowdy patrons too. I feel as if each passer-by gives me a strange look, their faces distorted by the shadows. My fears seep in and suddenly all those people who seemed normal in the day could be potential threats. Is it the darkness that creates these monsters? Is it my own mind? I know to be aware in general as anyone can be bad. They could steal your belongings or hurt you for the sake of it. Overall, though, I should not fear all people because you can't live like that. Besides, even though we all have the capacity for evil, I doubt the majority are any different from myself. Still, late at night on my way home, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. My stomach flip-flops and I hug my bag tighter. I guess I'm going to have to start walking with my keys between my fingers, just for peace of mind. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I was sure thankful one of my friends lives near by and is willing to take me part of the way home some nights. The shadows might be in my mind, illusions of the dark, but I would still prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

Dana~

So job hunting is never an easy task. I mean, with my skills and experience I could enter a variety of fields... It's just that my resume competes with 2000 others every time. Too few jobs here for way too many job seekers. So after almost a year and a half without steady work, I decided to step my game up. Time to learn a new language!

As a writer and professional communicator, second languages are always a bonus on your resume. Especially since I live and hope to work in Canada, where we have a diverse population and businesses that must communicate on an international level. While I have always had a particular interest in other cultures and I've pick up a few words in Japanese, Korean, Russian and Spanish from my reading addiction...I am not fluent in anything other than English. Like most Canadians though, I studied French in school. I wish I had kept it up, but the skills I did keep allow me to read most French writing and understand the concepts. I figured that was my best bet to learn a second language since I already had a fairly good grasp of the basics.

Next I had to decide on how I wanted to learn. Should I pursue a university degree in French? Should I hire a private tutor? Should I move to France and immerse myself in the language? Well, all of those were great ideas and sounded like wonderful learning experiences...However, I am broke. First of all, student loans aren't a good idea considering I can't guarantee repayment after I graduate. As for private tutors, they charge high fees for each individual lesson. Finally, a second move abroad is not only expensive up front, but dangerous as I have no connections or people to stay with over there. With all my French fantasies quashed, I had to look elsewhere for a solution.

After hours of research, I happened to discover adult education courses. They ran at a community college in the city at night and didn't use a regular grading scale so I could learn at my own pace. They also had a low one time fee that I could afford. Each course came with a certificate of completion as well. It's perfect. I start in a few days and I can't help it... I am practicing on my own now too. My conversation is clumsy but I have the passion and drive to improve. I will get this right and be able to put French working proficiency on my resume one day.

Dana~