Houston, we have a
problem: i have to register for classes a week from today. but in order to register, i first have to pay. but in order to pay, i first have to deposit my stafford loans in a UK bank account. but i can’t open a bank account without showing them the housing contract of wherever i live to prove to the bank that i’m going to be here all year. which is where the problem comes in…
have i mentioned, flats in manchester are NASTY? i’ve been looking around. they’re all crappier than the crappiest dorm rooms in UMass. i know i’ve got to suck it up and deal, but grrrrr…. isn’t there some mature, clean person out there who wants to give me an embarassingly cheap room immediately?
yes, there is. and his name is sam.
sam lives in oldham, alone. he’s 28 and wants to rent out his extra bedroom for an embarassingly cheap price, all bills included. here’s the catch: first, i haven’t met sam yet, or seen his place. we’re negotiating those details now. second:
if anyone could find a posh, huge, beautiful room in a nice big house on a charming, tree-lined street, 15 minutes from the uni, and ditch it all for a tiny flat with some sketchy guy who lives about 2 million miles away from the uni, that person would be me.
here’s my reasoning: if i weren’t getting my masters in manchester right now, i’d be getting some other masters or working or both in new york. most students in new york struggle financially. many live in queens, commute to school in manhattan, and often work in brooklyn. so i’ve applied this analogy to my situation here: it’ll be like living in queens and commuting to manhattan. i mean why pay for a good location when i can spend 1-2 hours on a bus everyday (which is similar to sitting on the subway), and commute to my flat, where i live with only one other working housemate instead of 6 young students who don’t know how to do their dishes or wipe pee off the toilet seat?
if i were to rate the level of panic regarding my housing situation in accordance with the bush administration’s color-coded homeland security chart, i’d say we’ve reached orange alert here in manchester.
do me a favor: go home tonight and look around your place. take it all in: the running water, the working toilet, the furniture, the heat, the pots and pans, the fact that you’re living in america…and be grateful for it, for just a minute, for my sake.
thanks