What made me start thinking about money and how much it affects our lives is the fact that everywhere I go while I am abroad in Oxford, and everything I do while I am abroad revolves around how much money I have. I was fortunate enough this summer to have a very good job as a waitress and to be able to come over here with a large sum of money so that I did not feel as though I was missing out on anything, but I still find myself being so cautious about what I choose to do with my time on a day to day basis. I wish that I had loads of money so that I could travel to all of the places that I want to go in this short time of 4 months, and that I could try every pub in Oxford at least once so that I could compare them all and see the differences. But the fact is, that's impossible. It's a bit of a pessimistic way of looking at things honestly, but think about it, has anyone gone an entire day without mentioning the word money? It's sad, but true how much we depend on those little sheets of paper every single day.
On the other hand, money has so much to offer us. It is what makes the world go round. It creates controversy in the world which in turn makes this world a much more interesting and exciting place to live in. Yes, we all have our ups and downs in life and much of it is a product of how much money we obtain, but that's the beauty of living. If we didn't have controversy and something to work for in our lives, then everyone would be the same, boring, most likely miserable people. It gives us something to work hard for, something to gain knowledge for, a reward for doing something right. Money is something that is needed and wanted by every single person in this world. Now i'm not saying that "money buys happiness" but I am saying that when people use it the right way and don't abuse it, money can play a very important part of one's life.
I just booked two more trips over the next few months. One to Barcelona to visit one of my best friends from school, Allison, that is studying abroad there, and the other one is to Prague with a few of my really good friends that are studying in Florence for the semester. I was getting a little anxious about looking at my bank statement after I had booked these flights and made these plans. The thought of the amount of money that was leaking out of my bank account was very frightening to me. But then I realized, when am I ever going to have another experience like this where I can travel to so many different countries for such a cheap amount? Most likely NEVER. I want to be able to live it up and have a great time, not worrying about how much money is in my bank account while I am over here. If I need to borrow money from my parents then i'll worry about that when I get back to the states and start working. But for now, this is my time and I need to enjoy it! That is probably the best advice that I could ever give my fellow classmates that are studying abroad or thinking about studying abroad; never have any regrets, do what you want to do because in the long run, "people never remember the nights they stayed in."
Last night was another huge eye opener for me as far as money goes. We were invited to go to this crew date party by some girls from Stanford and meet some random boys from Oxford University. My friends and I had no idea what it was that we were getting ourselves into but hey we had each other and we figured it'd be fun to meet some new people and switch it up for a night. We end up walking to meet up with the girls from Stanford and then walking all the way to this Indian restaurant on Cowley road. None of us had been there before so we were a little bit sketched out when we were being taken to a random restaurant to meet these random strangers. We walk up to the front door and we see about 20 men sitting in every other chair at the table all dressed up and "posh-looking" all for us. We were told that it was some sort of a "Oxford boys" and "California girls" theme so we were all dressed, in what we thought, seemed like outfits that people would wear in California (short shorts, tank tops, sunglasses, curly hair, colorful jeans, etc.) We poked our heads in and immediately ran back outside to convene with the rest of the girls to figure out why we all looked so ridiculous! Eventually we all sucked it up, walked in and sat down in every other chair so that we could get to know these Oxford boys.
The boy I was sitting next to was very nice, his name was Alex and he was my age but in his second year of "uni". We talked about random things here and there and had a few glasses of wine, and before you know it we're being thrown into playing British drinking games that we had never heard of before! They were a lot of fun such as when someone would toss a penny in your drink you would have to chug the entire thing, or when someone stood up and announced an action, everyone that had done it before had to stand up and drink. It was a pretty cool concept and it definitely gave us a better view of what the drinking culture is like in England for the Brits.
Back to the talk about money, much of this would not be possible without money. We would not be sitting here drinking this wine, and sitting with these British boys that were studying at one of the most prestigious colleges in the world. It's an unbelievable thought that the amount of opportunities that I have been offered here are a direct result of hard work and dedication to obtain as much money as possible so that I could enjoy myself abroad. It also is a great experience to learn how to spend money wisely and when to conserve it. Responsibility is a key to survival in this world, and there is no better way to learn about how to become better at it than being abroad in another country.
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