Moving to Canada for School
Donation protected
Hello everyone!
At the beginning of August, my husband Tom and I will be moving from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to London, Ontario. As many know, I have been in college for seven years. I earned my BA in 2016 and just finished my MA with a perfect 4.0 GPA in May of 2018. My ultimate goal is to earn a PhD in Women’s Studies. Over the last four years, I have become heavily invested in researching the lives of women with invisible disabilities. During my MA, I won the Eliana Berg Award for Graduate Research for my paper entitled “The Freak, the Ugly, and the Invisible: Strategies of Disabled Performance in a Variety of Disabled Bodies” and I recently successfully defended my MA thesis “Invisible in More Than One Way: Attending to the Ignored Performance Strategies of the Invisibly Disabled." The guiding theme throughout my work is that people with invisible disabilities experience being disabled differently than people with visible disabilities. The body of research on the large population of women with invisible disabilities is upsettingly limited, and my goal is to produce this needed knowledge.
I am also passionate about teaching Women’s Studies. I have had the privilege to teach Women’s and Gender Studies for the last year and a half. The experience has been exciting and gratifying, and I have learned that I was born to teach. It is a pleasure to guide students in developing their critical thinking skills and watching them light up as they think about the world around them in new ways. I also emphasize personal growth and transformation for my students, allowing them to affirm their lived experiences and advocate for themselves.
In February, I moved one step closer to my goal of a PhD. I was thrilled to receive an admission offer to the Women’s Studies and Feminist Research PhD program at the University of Western Ontario. I’ve spent the last seven years working towards this goal, dreaming of reaching this point in my education and career.
While this time is incredibly exciting for Tom and I, it is admittedly stressful. Moving internationally is incredibly expensive. While Tom and I have been saving, this is more of an expense than we can take on ourselves. Money was already tight, and my teaching contract ended at the end of May, so we will be losing my income. Further, we had very little notice for this move. In total, we will have had a little under six months to plan and save.
While Tom and I pride ourselves on being hard working, independent people, we realize this is a situation we need help with. It is simply more than we can financially handle on our own. If you can help through donating or sharing, it would mean the world to us. Below, I give a rough estimate on where funds will go.
Expense breakdown
Moving company (estimate- $4,700)- Moving our things is more of a task than we can take on ourselves. I deal with chronic pain and mobility limitations after breaking my leg in a car accident, which prevents me from being physically well enough to help in moving our belongings. Tom cannot move our things on his own. We have a moving estimate of $4,700. We are still looking for cheaper companies, but this is undoubtedly the largest expense we have.
Legal paperwork ($350)- We will need to file paperwork with the Canadian government for work and school.
Medical exams ($500)- Tom and I are both required to get medical exams. These exams are not covered by insurance. $500 is the estimate for both medical exams and both chest x-rays.
Vet ($150)- Both Daphne (our dog) and Maxwell (our cat) needed to go to the vet to get a rabies certificate and medication for the nearly nine-hour drive.
Rent/ security deposit/ initial apartment costs ($2,000 ish)- One of the scariest things about this move is that Tom will need to find a new job. While I will have a guaranteed job, my job does not pay enough to fully support us. Tom is a hard and dedicated worker and he will be hitting the job hunt right away, but we do not know how long it will take for him to find employment. This means that the first month or two of rent will be hard to swing.
Travel trip to apartment hunt and meet with my new school ($500)- Tom and I will be traveling to Canada in the beginning of June to find an apartment and meet with my new school. I was lucky that my new school will help with transportation expenses and one night at a hotel. However, Tom and I will be up there for a few days, which means more hotel costs and things like eating out (we will try to do that as inexpensively as we can, but it will add up).
Our fundraising goal will help us meet some of the move expenses so that we can develop a small savings account to get us through the first few months, which will be rough. Anything towards this goal is incredibly helpful and very appreciated. If you would like to donate another way, let me know and we can make a plan.
I would love to thank you for your help! If you would like me to send you a handmade thank-you card, please message me your address on Facebook.
Thank you for reading and sharing. You are helping me accomplish a big goal and dream.
At the beginning of August, my husband Tom and I will be moving from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to London, Ontario. As many know, I have been in college for seven years. I earned my BA in 2016 and just finished my MA with a perfect 4.0 GPA in May of 2018. My ultimate goal is to earn a PhD in Women’s Studies. Over the last four years, I have become heavily invested in researching the lives of women with invisible disabilities. During my MA, I won the Eliana Berg Award for Graduate Research for my paper entitled “The Freak, the Ugly, and the Invisible: Strategies of Disabled Performance in a Variety of Disabled Bodies” and I recently successfully defended my MA thesis “Invisible in More Than One Way: Attending to the Ignored Performance Strategies of the Invisibly Disabled." The guiding theme throughout my work is that people with invisible disabilities experience being disabled differently than people with visible disabilities. The body of research on the large population of women with invisible disabilities is upsettingly limited, and my goal is to produce this needed knowledge.
I am also passionate about teaching Women’s Studies. I have had the privilege to teach Women’s and Gender Studies for the last year and a half. The experience has been exciting and gratifying, and I have learned that I was born to teach. It is a pleasure to guide students in developing their critical thinking skills and watching them light up as they think about the world around them in new ways. I also emphasize personal growth and transformation for my students, allowing them to affirm their lived experiences and advocate for themselves.
In February, I moved one step closer to my goal of a PhD. I was thrilled to receive an admission offer to the Women’s Studies and Feminist Research PhD program at the University of Western Ontario. I’ve spent the last seven years working towards this goal, dreaming of reaching this point in my education and career.
While this time is incredibly exciting for Tom and I, it is admittedly stressful. Moving internationally is incredibly expensive. While Tom and I have been saving, this is more of an expense than we can take on ourselves. Money was already tight, and my teaching contract ended at the end of May, so we will be losing my income. Further, we had very little notice for this move. In total, we will have had a little under six months to plan and save.
While Tom and I pride ourselves on being hard working, independent people, we realize this is a situation we need help with. It is simply more than we can financially handle on our own. If you can help through donating or sharing, it would mean the world to us. Below, I give a rough estimate on where funds will go.
Expense breakdown
Moving company (estimate- $4,700)- Moving our things is more of a task than we can take on ourselves. I deal with chronic pain and mobility limitations after breaking my leg in a car accident, which prevents me from being physically well enough to help in moving our belongings. Tom cannot move our things on his own. We have a moving estimate of $4,700. We are still looking for cheaper companies, but this is undoubtedly the largest expense we have.
Legal paperwork ($350)- We will need to file paperwork with the Canadian government for work and school.
Medical exams ($500)- Tom and I are both required to get medical exams. These exams are not covered by insurance. $500 is the estimate for both medical exams and both chest x-rays.
Vet ($150)- Both Daphne (our dog) and Maxwell (our cat) needed to go to the vet to get a rabies certificate and medication for the nearly nine-hour drive.
Rent/ security deposit/ initial apartment costs ($2,000 ish)- One of the scariest things about this move is that Tom will need to find a new job. While I will have a guaranteed job, my job does not pay enough to fully support us. Tom is a hard and dedicated worker and he will be hitting the job hunt right away, but we do not know how long it will take for him to find employment. This means that the first month or two of rent will be hard to swing.
Travel trip to apartment hunt and meet with my new school ($500)- Tom and I will be traveling to Canada in the beginning of June to find an apartment and meet with my new school. I was lucky that my new school will help with transportation expenses and one night at a hotel. However, Tom and I will be up there for a few days, which means more hotel costs and things like eating out (we will try to do that as inexpensively as we can, but it will add up).
Our fundraising goal will help us meet some of the move expenses so that we can develop a small savings account to get us through the first few months, which will be rough. Anything towards this goal is incredibly helpful and very appreciated. If you would like to donate another way, let me know and we can make a plan.
I would love to thank you for your help! If you would like me to send you a handmade thank-you card, please message me your address on Facebook.
Thank you for reading and sharing. You are helping me accomplish a big goal and dream.
Organizer
Jill Hoffman
Organizer
Milwaukee, WI
