Paying for convenience

As a graduate student in a country where the dollar is taking a beating, I have to come up with ways to save money once in a while. However, I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and we realized that sometimes it's worth it to pay for convenience.

For example, when I had to move my room for the Easter vacation and couldn't put my stuff in an alternate room (I wouldn't be back in time to move it all back), my first action was to email my friends to see if I could store stuff with them. My friends were very good and all offered to take some stuff, but of course they do not have room to store all of my stuff. I decided that, instead of storing a few things here or there, I would pay for private storage. I paid about $150 for 5 weeks of storage (so about $30 a week), and I feel like it was definitely worth it. A friend of mine had a car, so we loaded it all into the car and drove it to the storage facility, where we loaded it on a cart and onto an elevator. The locker had plenty of room, and the whole thing took about an hour including paperwork. (When I came to pick it all up, it also took about an hour.) I felt like it was much easier to put everything in one place, so I wouldn't have to waste time delivering individual bits and pieces to different friends and then making arrangements to get it all back when I returned.

Another example happened the other day. I was in line for dinner, and the line was taking forever. After the line had barely moved in 10 minutes, I realized it was because two high school girls (who were visiting for an Open Day, considering applying to Oxford), were trying to pay for their dinners with cash. Girovends (student dining cards) are the preferred currency in the dining hall, so the cashiers were having a bit of trouble with the cash. I finally handed my card over to one of the workers and asked her to put the dinners on my card. I didn't care how much it would end up costing (I knew it wouldn't be much) - I had to be somewhere and I wanted the line to get moving.

I told these to my friend because he is going through a similar situation himself. He is about to move across town, and he called a taxi to take him and his luggage. I told him our friend with the car (who is a friend of his as well) could have done it, but he knew that calling a taxi would guarantee him a ride for that time of day.

Even though money can be tight, I think time and peace of mind are things you don't want to scrimp on. Do you have any examples of when you've paid for convenience, even though there were other options that could have saved you money?

FAQs

One of the questions I get asked most often around here is, "Did you watch the football match?"

Let me answer the question for you: "No."

The answer holds true regardless of the team or the match. I've become accustomed to quite a few British/European traditions during my time here, but I just can't get into football/soccer. I don't like to be judged on the traditional American stereotypes, but when it comes to sports preferences, I am 100% all-American.

I like baseball. I like college basketball. I watch the Super Bowl, but only for the commercials. And I watch the cheesy sports that Americans do well in at the Olympics, like gymnastics and figure skating. But football/soccer just bores me.

I did go to the Varsity (Oxford/Cambridge) Football Match once. It was fun because I was with friends and there was the whole rivalry thing going on, but the game itself was boring. Only one goal was scored, and I think it was because the goalie (called "keeper" here) wasn't paying attention.

I'm sure the Brits and other Europeans feel the same way about baseball. I know that some countries now are having such a hard time recruiting players for their Olympic baseball and softball teams that they're now taking on Americans who have teeny percentages of said nationality in them. But I guess you just like what you grow up with.

Oxford Celebrity Sighting #978

My college has this position called the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre. It's usually held by someone very prestigious who gives a seminar, workshop or lecture every term. This year it was held by none other than Patrick Stewart, and in the past it has been held by Tim Rice, Ian McKellen and Cate Blanchett.

I got to hear Patrick Stewart speak twice: once last year, once this year. He was amazing. Well, look who will be taking his place in October.

06-07-08

Sorry for such a delay between posts. In case you haven't heard me mention it 16,000 times already, I went home yet again this year, this time for 10 days, for something very special:

My sister Kelly tied the knot this weekend. June 7, 2008: 06-07-08 in American dating. And I got to be the maid of honor.

It was amazing and perfect in every way. I'm on my way back to the UK tomorrow, so details to follow either while in the airport or when I return.

CONGRATULATIONS KELLY AND JOHN!!!!! I love you!!!!!

Reunions

When I went to San Francisco over the break not only did I get to hang out with Chrissie, but also with Adam and Christian, two other fellow Catz postgrads (one former, one current). I couldn't help but think about how cool it was that we were meeting up for a mini-reunion over 5000 miles from the place where we all went to grad school together. Most of the time, when you go to grad school, your classmates are pretty local. Here in Oxford it's very international, meaning you can get together to meet up almost anywhere.

Not long after I got back I heard about another long-distance meetup: Dan, Gwen, Mélody and Patricio got to meet up in Chile, over 7000 miles from Oxford. Mélody was visiting Patricio, and Dan and Gwen were trekking through South America, so it only made sense that they met up. :)

Even though I'm more likely to end up with my high school and college colleagues as neighbors once I'm done with this place, I think it's awesome that I can go pretty much anywhere in the world and be able to meet up with people from Oxford.

*Photo swiped from Gwen, with thanks. :)