Istituto Lorenzo de Medici (IDM)

I hardly ever used the telephone; everyone I wanted to contact was either within walking distance, I would see daily at school, or lived in my building. Food was cheaper than at home, since I mostly cooked for myself and rarely went out to eat, except for small, inexpensive meals. Housing was just a bit more expensive than where my home university was - but in general, the rent I paid in Florence was much less than I would pay in a large American city. Nightlife was inexpensive as well, since I mostly visited inexpensive pubs and cafes, and not clubs. Travel was definitely the most expensive thing on my agenda - but I only traveled during breaks, so this probably broke even with the amount that I spend on gas money every day in the United States. Train tickets at the time were not very expensive - what gets expensive while traveling is eating in restaurants, hotels or hostels per night, and entrance fees at any public or private point of interest that you may visit.

I traveled as often as possible - taking a study trip to Bruxelles and a school trips to Rome and the Umbria region, in addition to a bunch of shorter trips in the Tuscan region. Going out was about the same; my Italian friends drank a lot less than my American friends. I ate out more - because the food was so good! But found the grocery stores (like Standa) very reasonably priced. And the foods are much fresher (and better!) than we have in the States.

The cost of living compared to the American cost of living is much different which is why I spent less on the basics but I had the opportunity to travel more which is why I spent more on travel but it was still relatively less expensive.

I did a lot more of these categories while I was abroad. For example, I do not travel as much at home as I did in Italy.

I felt like I would only see these thing or get to eat these things at this time in my life so why not spend the money.

I traveled a lot while abraod...but that was the whole reason that I came to Italy was to see everything...so I didn't minding spending all my money!