Universitat de Barcelona (UB)

I spent alot of money eating and drinking out, regularly. The food and drink was cheap in comparison to England, but I indulged alot more! However, the rent was cheaper, so that made a difference. I think that if a student is sensible, then they could spend less than at home; but the cafe's/restaurants/bars and shops are all too tempting!

I spent more on the phone because I called home about once a week (back to the US). My accommodations were much less because I was renting a room. At the university back home if you rent a room you pay out the nose!!! Nightlife was more expensive since I really couldn't go out at home--I was under 21 (you know that silly rule over here!). Travel was more because I took more trips by train and plane. Back home I would take trips by car. Overall, the tuition and housing came out to be about the same as back home.

I paid a fee that included room and board which was much higher that my room and board expenses at the University of Illinois. The fee, however, also gave me an opportunity to meet a great family, learn about their way of life, taste Spanish home cooking, have my laundry, cooking, and cleaning chores taken care of, and take advanatge of countless other perks of a homestay arrangement. I spent less on eating out because I didn't eat out much in Barcelona, but rather on trips out of town. I spent less on the telephone because I used e-mail to communicate with family and friends back home or I arranged for my parents to call me at home instead of paying higher rates to call them and burdening my host family with the cost. I spent more on nightlife because the bars and clubs in Barcelona are not the cheap campus bars and clubs of Champaign-Urbana. Compared to what I was used to paying when going out, the nighlife in Barcelona was much more expensive. I spent more on travel because I traveled all over whenever I had a chance to do so. I don't travel much out of Champaign-Urbana because I don't have the same opportunities. The overall cost of my experience in Barcelona was high because, in addition to the above-mentioned, the tuition fee I paid Knox College, a private institution, was much higher than that at the University of Illinois.

food was cheaper there, specially fresh fruit an vegetables, phoning in spain is dominated by so calles "toques", means missed calls to agree or disagree. housing was more expensive because in austria i stay at a house of my dad. because of travelling a lot i spend a lot of money therefor.

Euro makes everything expensive. The convertion to real is 2,80 reais buy 1 euro, so everything seems much much expensive. The night clubs were good and actually less expensive that the ones in Brazil, maybe because there are more, and the food is not that expensive to, if you know how to cook.

On the overall I spent more than usual on these things for the sole reason that I was out in the world seeing things that I had never seen before - not on a campus doing the same old s**t. So from that point of view, one is definitely going to be spending more than usual.