“Well. There are 3 semesters in one year. Winter， Summer， Autumn. Each semester you may choose 2-3 courses. For you are new here， My advice is to choose 2 courses in your first semester. No need to push yourself too hard at the beginning. Just slow down a bit. You have to make sure that you are able to pass the courses you’ve chosen. Because whether you can get the certificate of the master degree or not totally depend on your average score. To graduate， your average score must not below B. That means if you got a C on whatever course you choose， you got to get an A to balance. And an A is highly unlikely to get for a normal student. So choose your courses carefully. My advice not only for you， but also for all the students consulted me this question， is to be practical. Don’t only choose the course you interested. Choose those you sure you can pass cause to be honest， an average B is not that easy to get.”
“Un-huh. Average B huh?”
“Yeah. Average B. The CS major of Concordia University is very famous in Canada. Even Mcgill university can not match. You know Mcgill right?”
“Yeah I know.”
“Most of our professors are members of the government program. They’re real good in their field. That makes the course quite high standard and not easy to pass. We got to make sure that students graduate from Concordia are always the best in whatever field they are.”
“I see. Looks like I got to try my best to get the certificate.”
“You got that right.”
“OK. So what about the courses?”
“Sure.”Halina从抽屉里翻出几张纸递给我，我接过来，是打印好的课程表，上面有课程的编号，名称及简单的介绍。
“These are courses available in Winter semester. You may choose 2 from them. Ah…almost forget， you must choose COMP 491 in your first semester. Computer Architecture， That’s a pre-requisite course. Everybody in this department got to take that course when they start their study here.”
“So I only need to choose one course.”
“Yeah. What do you like?”
看了半天列表，“This one I guess， COMP 6471， Software Design Methodologies.”
“COMP 6471 huh?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not a easy one.”
“Ah…It’s OK. I’ll try.”
“OK.”她很快的把课程信息输入电脑。
“It’s done.”她把student card递给我，“And I just opened a new student account for you. Here’s your username and password. You may edit the password when you get back home.”
她递给我一张写有用户名密码的纸条。
“Ah…How am I supposed to use it?”
“You go to concordia website. There’s a Concordia Portal frame on the right. You enter your username and password. Then you’ll get in your student account. You can pay your fee in there. And you can edit your information， check your status， get notification， everything. You give me your email address. I’ll put you in the CS mail list. Then you can receive notification from me online.”
我写给她我的邮箱地址。
“OK. Pay the course fee as soon as possible. And don’t forget if you feel the course you choose is too hard for you， quit it immediately， you must quit it before the deadline. If you fail to quit it on time， you have to finish it. If you fail that course， you put yourself in a real bad situation. Is that clear?”
“Yeah I got it.”
“Good. Ah…I guess that’s so much for today. If you got any questions， call me or come here directly.”
她递给我他的名片。
“Thank you so much.”
“Anytime. Have a nice day.”
从Halina那里出来，回家。刚一进Guy-Concordia地铁站就听见急促有力的键盘声回响整个地铁站，往里走，一个披头散发的高个年轻白人艺术家在疯狂的弹着键盘，只见他五指翻飞，竟看不清动作，完全的忘我，长发随着急速弹奏的节奏甩动着。他选的是一种金属音色，弹出来有种异样的空灵的感觉。电子琴就是有这种好处，左手BASS，右手旋律，加上电子琴自带的鼓声，自己一个人就是一个乐队，而且还可以选择任何音色。周围有很多人驻足观瞧，不断地有硬币落下，艺术家微微的向投硬币的人点着头。
坐在地铁上，脑中不断浮现艺术家那忘我沉醉的神态，忽而一幅图像映入脑海，那个人就是我，我在忘我的弹奏着白鸽结尾的solo，眼泪大滴大滴的落在地上，弹起来，摔碎了。
那solo太飘逸，耳中回响的音也将我带出很远。出神了很久，已经到站了，我站起来走出地铁，眼眶竟已湿润了。
从地铁站出来，又站在了这个视野开阔的地方。天空依旧高远，蔚蓝，冬天更透露出一种清新和清澈。不同的是，我已经习惯了头顶有这样的天空，家里的天空是什么颜色已经想不清楚了，恐怕只有回去看了。风很冷，站不住，我转身往回走。
我不断的找房子，不断地看房子，可总是不是太贵，就是房间太差，竟一直没有合适的。一次我去看房，在我这边附近，11街，是两口子，都在家，男的很英俊，女的奇丑无比，简直是歪瓜裂枣中的歪瓜裂枣，呵呵，真奇怪这男的是怎么看上她的。女人很有礼貌，带我看房子，我不敢看她的脸。房子和我那里一样，小二楼，这种单栋的是House，只是没有院，这边管陈先生家那样两栋连体的别墅叫Condo。屋里挺乱，他们解释说也是刚到这边，租下了整个二层，一住起来觉得有些贵，他俩可以住一间，空出一间来出租。
我那间屋很小，我一眼就否了，男人拿出烟来抽，我一看盒挺亲切，红塔山。
“这烟从国内带来的？”
“是啊。”
“还有么？”
“有啊，你想要？”
“还剩下多少？”
“没多带，还有两条。”
“哦，都卖我吧。”
“哦，那卖你一条吧，剩下的我还抽。”
“行，多钱？”
“50。”
“这么贵？”
“都这价，哥们，洋烟抽恶心了吧，国烟不好弄，就得有人带。”
“40吧。”
“45。”
“O了。”这哥们也和我一样，懒得太讲价，他老婆倒是白了他一眼。
他进屋去拿烟，我跟他老婆聊。他俩从沈阳来的，移民，刚到这边几个月，都没找到工作，貌似情况不太妙，所以要降低开销，我说打工这么难吗，他说工作倒是能找，就是受不了那份苦，他朋友给他介绍一个工厂流水线的活，做两天不做了，男的倒沉得住气，一直家猫着，她天天说他，他也不嫌烦，嘚吧嘚嘚吧嘚倒跟我这絮叨了半天，我开始明白他俩为何成一对，存在即真理。
男人把烟拿出来，我如获至宝，捧在手里，暖在心里，真是久违了，哥们！
我下决心买一台电子琴，在蒙城华人网上搜了很久，终于发现一个卖二手电子琴的，帖子很久了，一直没卖出去，冷门货究竟难出手。卖主住在downtown，离我上课的地方很近，是一个apartment，楼层挺高，我敲门，他的女儿开门，很可爱的小女孩，大概7、8岁的样子，扎着两个小辫。卖主个不高，戴着金丝眼镜，挺斯文，张嘴便知是东北人。他很客气，邀我坐下，看来想聊聊。
