Student life, I know for a fact is one of the most exciting parts of life
that most of us may wish to relive. The fun, the independence,
the sudden shouldering of responsibility, the freedom, the parties…

Studying up to late hours and hard work put in to build a promising
future are all part of the same game. Students living away from home
especially, have great experiences to go through.

But along with this new found freedom comes responsibility
and that’s something you cannot opt out of (unless you’re like me).

I dropped out of college in my junior year and got a job working
on a ship traveling around the world… Italy, France, Spain, Holland, Beirut…

The adventure was intoxicating.

But after working 8-10 hours/day, 7 days a week on a ship mostly
out at sea, doing hard, manual labor (with no women on board)
gets old faster than one might imagine.

No family, no friends - just a bunch of drunken sailors, …no television,
and no land because you’re out at sea in rocky waters most of the time.

After you’ve seen the new cities several times each and hung out
at the same bars over and over, some of the magic disappears.

You get lonely. You get homesick.

And then reality sinks in… 30 more years of this crap!
So I decided to go back to school and finish college.

But this time without the financial support of my parents.
They took advantage of my situation declaring me independent and
cut off any further financial (fun)ding… I was on my own!

So I did as most other students do, took out student loans and
credit card loans. I worked part time and funded the shortfalls
with my credit cards.

I rented an apartment paying basic electricity, gas and store bills.
I had to pay my credit card bills and had several other regular expenses
that were necessities and some simple enjoyments.

I finally graduated, got a decent job as a computer programmer in
Boston, Mass and started living as a responsible adult.

All was going well until I left my job as a computer programmer in snowy,
freezing ice-cold Boston, and decided to relocate to the…

Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas.

My bachelor degree was in Architecture and I found work with a fellow
classmate in sunny Nassau, Bahamas … Ah- The good life… Sun and Fun.

I rented a beachfront bungalow and found work on Paradise Island.
Life was good…

Until one day I found out that I needed working papers to continue working
and could not apply for them while I was living in the Bahamas.
i would have to apply while out of the country.

The Bahamians know how to take care of their own.

To get accepted for the working papers, I would have to fly back home
to New York City and apply for the working papers there.

Once they receive my application, The Bahamians would then run
an ad in the local newspaper for the job.

If they could not find any qualified Bahamiams for the position,
only then would they grant me the working papers.

Thus began my saga of my living off credit cards, defaulting on
student loans, credit cards and other financial disasters
which have haunted me my entire adult life.

And that is why I am writing this story of w(owes).

So that you can avoid the mistakes that I have made and
have taken me decades to correct.

Next time: What Happens when you Don’t Pay?

This entry was posted on Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Student Loans, Credit Card Debt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.