i am not immune to grey’s anatomy

The plot :

One Drawing Per Week: Thirty

SUBJECT: Alice (2009)

i owe ab r$ 130.000 to my university. every year i Don’t Pay the bills and owe them a huge amount of money and then they let me pay like 1/5 or even 1/6 of what i owe to be able to enroll in the next school year. i’m currently starting 4th year of med school (it’s 6 years long). this time they said they’d only do that thing where i pay a fifth of what i owe now and leave the rest to pay “later” if i use a credit card, which i don’t have — all my payments have always been thru debit yk. and i can’t get a credit card cause i owe the bankS (plural, i owe money to like every bank in the country) like over 200k from loans i’ve taken before, which i’ll never pay them back probably (it’s okay, i don’t have anything to my name so they can’t legally take anything from me cause of it). which is why i obviously also can’t get a loan.

i currently have about 40k. i’m selling my shitty car for 7k, i have a solid buyer, so i guess i have ab 47k. i’m trying to sell a shitty studio apartment in a bad neighborhood for 70k, even though it’s worth ab 120k, just to try to get it sold as fast as possible. i work a part time honest job for less than a minimum wage and i use that money to “pitch in” and help pay the bills (i live w my mom and she pays for everything but sometimes we fall short).

and i sell stuff on the side. how much i sell is directly related to how much extra cash i need that month, but it’s usually around 1k. if i really put myself out there i can make much, much more, and i usually avoid that so i don’t get too well known™, but recently (since like november) i’ve been doing that, and making ab 5k a month (which is how i’ve been saving money these past few months), and i’m currently facing the opportunity of expanding that further and maybe even make up to 10k a month from selling my stuff alone, but i’m not sure if i’ll do that cause i think people are already getting too comfy introducing my services™ to other ppl, and i even got a street name. that was sort of a wake up call for me. i sometimes get texts from strange numbers that’ll be like “hey, [insert friend’s name] gave me ur number” and i check with that friend if they’re cool before selling etc, but lately those ‘friends of friends’ all started calling me dr. hu, and it sort of caught on, and ppl who aren’t in any way connected to those ppl told me they’ve heard my “name” (dr. hu) being brought up by strangers in a couple of hang out spots in my neighborhood, and that really made me rethink the whole thing. it’s okay, my neighborhood is pretty chill, there’s not much activity here, there’s only a few parks where young ppl go to have fun, there aren’t any territorial gangs or anything, so at least i’m safe from that. but still.

also, “dr. hu” is a reference to this guy (i didnt get it at first, i thought they were saying dr who first few times i heard it):

ANYWAY. back to the point. i’ve been going to class even though i’m not officially enrolled in this semester yet, cause that’s what my lawyer told me to do, cause we’ll try to get a judge to demand my uni to let me pay in installments w debit or cash or a fucking check like it’s fucking 2007, whatever, just not credit. (idk if it wasn’t clear before, but they let me pay in cash if i pay the entire amount at once, i just don’t have that rn). but if we can’t get a judge to do that (we should find out by next week), my only way out would be if i can sell the apartment until before my exams start — and they start on march 15. otherwise i won’t be able to take the exams and i’ll automatically flunk all my classes, so.

my second option (if both the apartment thing and judge thing fail) would be to transfer to a different uni. that would hurt me deeply cause i like my uni’s curriculum better, it’s the best in the state, and i know i’d be transferring to a uni that isn’t as good. and mostly cause i’m already so integrated in my uni, i have my friends and my academic leagues and i’ve been a pharma TA (which gives me a 20% scholarship) and intended to keep on it, and i write papers for it and i had big plans to write ab some of my special interests in pharma (yea drugs are a special interest to me fr lol) and get to show them in medical conferences etc.

and there’s my bf. he’s the best thing ab uni to me tbh, he’s the reason i wake up in the morning exhausted but still excited to go to class cause he’ll be there. and it’s hard for us to see each other cause we both have jobs that demand a lot from us (i work as an “assistant” to er doctors — they pay me directly to do their work part time so they can sleep or study for residency undisturbed during part of their shifts, and he works with politics). so we only rly see each other out of class like once a week; and it’s fine cause we see each other in class almost everyday and we skip class to get high and make out on campus sometimes (like fucking teenagers ik ik), but all of that will be gone if i transfer. i’ll be lucky if i get to see him for a few hours a week. and it kinda feels like my world will colapse if that happens. i know it’s dramatic but idk, he’s kinda the light of my life rn. i know i’d get over it, i’d get over him if i had to, but i don’t want it to come to that, i really don’t, cause i’m in love & i genuinely believe we could have the life of our dreams together soon enough

anyway. transferring would genuinely be horrible but i’d get used to it. i’m already getting used to that possibility. yesterday it felt like it was the end of the world, i sobbed like a child just for considering it for a second, it felt like when ur a kid and everything gets taken away from u and u find out the world is a cruel and unjust place for the first time (i got sent to an international boarding school at age 6 man idk that’s how it felt like). but now i’m already more accepting of that possibility. i’d survive it, i’ve survived much worse, and i’d learn to enjoy it (in a bittersweet way). i’d probably lose touch with my best friend from uni (which SUCKS ASS cause he’s one of the best friends i’ve ever had, friends like him are hard to come across yk), but i’d make new friends eventually. maybe i’d find a way to make my relationship work. and i’d get to Not pay 130 thousand reais to my uni; bitches didn’t let me pay my way, they ain’t ever seeing money from me again. which would be pretty nice

and my third option, my worst option, is taking a gap year. just pausing everything. i finished 3rd grade in 2022, and i’d start 4th grade in 2024. a gap year. it’d come to that if the couple of unis i’d consider transferring to need me to take extra classes (essentially “repeat” some classes i’ve already taken) because of curriculum differences. it’d suck so, so much, but i’m still tryna prepare myself mentally for that possibility. honestly med school is my life. idk how i’d cope without medicine. honestly i skip class all the time and i hate some of my classes and i hate working with clinical medicine (which i’m required to do as a student) but still, my life kinda revolves around the fact that i’m on my way to becoming a doctor. it’s kind of what i live for. i’m not a straight As student, i’ve never been a pleasure to have in class, i get Bs and mostly Cs and i don’t study for my classes like i should, i don’t turn in my assignments, i’m essentially a very Bad student, but medicine is still my life. pharmacology and anesthesiology are my special interests. reading the entire goodman & gilman book for fun several times kinda thing. and i feel like that’s what i’m worth. i know it’s not healthy, but my entire sense of self worth is based on my academic life. which is ridiculous cause i’m not even a good student! but having mediocre grades and only studying for the few classes that i actually enjoy somehow is enough for me to feel ok ab myself. not great, i don’t have awesome self esteem, but okay enough yk. but my self esteem will go to zero so fast if i simply don’t have an academic life anymore.

and what would i do with a gap year? i’d probably work more, and maybe sell more, and maybe, just maybe, i’d work on myself. study more ab the things i’m interested in, go to the gym, help my mom w her garden. but the truth is i’d probably fall into a self destructive pattern of sleeping all day and binge eating and doing drugs. letting dirty dishes pile up all over my room, wearing the same set of pjs for weeks, not washing my hair like ever. eventually stop going to work, never leave the house. start getting social anxiety, avoiding all my friends, shutting down completely. going days without eating or seeing a single person irl. it’s happened before more than a few times, i know how i can be. i’ve had enough clinical depression episodes. and i think it could go harder than ever before (the worst one i’ve ever had was in 2017, when i spent 2 months in bed).

i won’t use law terminology™ cause i barely know it in my mother tongue, let alone english, but the fact is: for a judge to CONSIDER forcing my uni to let me re-enroll (immediately) this year, i need to pay them (the judge and their minions) about 20% of what i owe to my uni. so, ab 26.000. i only have ab 40k, and the enrollment itself costs 12k; ok, so 40k would cover the law costs AND the enrollment costs (in case the judge does decide on that; they could also take my 26k and say lol no, i’m not forcing your uni to let you re-enroll, fuck you and goodbye).

according to my lawyers, it’s a 50/50 chance. it’s a 50/50 chance that i’d be throwing 26k im the trash. but alright. ok. anyway. the thing is, if the judge DOES decide to FORCE my uni to let me re-enroll, it’s most likely they would make a document demanding that AS LONG AS i also pay 1/5 of what i owe to my uni right away. yeah, 1/5 is 20%, which is 26k, which would be the exact fucking amount of money i just fucking spent on “law fees” or whatever, so i wouldn’t have it anymore. and if i don’t pay it right away, it’d be interpreted as giving up and automatically losing the whole thing, all for nothing. now, what does “right away” mean? depends on the judge’s mood. could be in 24 h, could be in a week. could i get that money in 24 h? no, absolutely not. could i get that money in a week? not legally. but yeah, maybe, yes.

so, i had someone ready to transfer me the money. it was all good to go. i went to my uni, said i’d like to pay my entire debt. they took it out. and said that, if i wanted to pay in debit or cash rn, they would have to add a 30k fee. (????????). the whole thing would be around 170k now.

you have. no idea. no fucking idea. what i had to do to get 140. i had to work so much, put so much of myself into it, fight so hard, and get involved with people and things i didn’t wanna get involved with. and for nothing. cause now they’ve decided 140 wasn’t enough, they want 170k. it would be extremely hard for me to get 30k now, but that’s not even the hardest part; the person who was ready to give me 100k is very stubborn about only giving me that money if i use it immediately, (they have their reasons i guess, whatever, anyway), which i was about to do, but then i couldn’t. they would still give me the money, that’s still a valid way for me to get 100k, but what i’m trying to say is that that money is not in my hands rn. it could be soon, but it’s not. and i don’t trust it if it’s not already with me, yk? who’s to say they’ll still give me the 100k if i get the 30k that’s missing? they said they would, i think they would, but i can’t trust that.

now, to make things a thousand times more complicated: my uni said that, even if i pay my debt, they can’t be sure they’ll let me re-enroll. they said probably, but it’s already march, and exams start next week, so they don’t know. i would have to pay the debt and then find out. but i’m not fucking risking throwing 170k in the garbage, i’m not paying the debt until they say they’re certain i’d be able to re-enroll. they said they’d get back to me about that in a couple of days (ARGH.). and my lawyer said that if i pay the debt and then sue them, a judge would definitely make my uni let me re-enroll, but i would have to pay for that (and i obviously wouldn’t have the money), plus it would take a while, and my exams start next week.

and there was the apartment. i almost sold it. i almost fucking sold it. i was so close. but the guy chickened out last minute. so that was another thing that almost happened. but it didn’t, so whatever, i’ll forget ab it.

my plan B also fell through. i checked with the other couple of unis i would consider transferring to, and they’d accept me, they’re even cheaper than my uni, but i would only be able to enroll next semester (august), AND i’d have to take a few extra courses because of differences in the curriculum. i don’t know how many extra courses, but definitely more than a couple. i’d be willing to do that, but only if i don’t have to postpone my graduation by more than the 1 semester i’d have missed, and that’s not certain. they said i’d have to already be enrolled in the uni (aka paying 12k) to find out.

so my most likely outcome rn is plan C, aka the worst case scenario. i’m not upset ab that rn cause i took 12 mg of bromazepam today, so i’m kinda high and just generally not feeling anything at all, but when it wears off and i’m actually able to think, i’ll be devastated. at least that way i was able to eat, i just had 2 cucumber sandwiches and a couple of cookies and that’s all i’ve had since sunday. i’m unfreezing some meat to have later as well. i’m losing too much weight lately (like, 5 kg in a few weeks, and now i’m almost underweight and my mom says i look sick), cause i don’t eat when i get high on opioids, and i’ve been doing that like 3 times a week. and honestly i’m on the verge of going on a bender, so i gotta get some calories in so i don’t lose even more weight this week. ok i’m done venting for now cause my benzo intoxicated brain isn’t working anymore lol