Need input on studying abroad

[mrspaha]

It seems that most people say it's one of the best experiences you can have in your college career. And I hear that it's common for the students to take side trips, like on weekends to visit other cities/countries. Does anyone have any recent experience as to how much additional money is spent on the "studying abroad experience"? Like I know the tuition is supposed to be comparable, but what other items must you budget for? And, what is the cost of living like in Europe these days? How do you budget for food and travel? What are "good" (and safe) cities to study in in Europe?

And secondly, does studying abroad have any future value in getting a job? Specifically, this would be for a Business major, probably in Economics.

Would be interested in any experiences you have had -- or as a parent, I would be particularly interested in a parent's viewpoint...

 

[Disney Deb]

It seems that most people say it's one of the best experiences you can have in your college career. And I hear that it's common for the students to take side trips, like on weekends to visit other cities/countries. Does anyone have any recent experience as to how much additional money is spent on the "studying abroad experience"? Like I know the tuition is supposed to be comparable, but what other items must you budget for? And, what is the cost of living like in Europe these days? How do you budget for food and travel? What are "good" (and safe) cities to study in in Europe?

And secondly, does studying abroad have any future value in getting a job? Specifically, this would be for a Business major, probably in Economics.

Would be interested in any experiences you have had -- or as a parent, I would be particularly interested in a parent's viewpoint...

My daughter studied in Rome last semester. I think her extra expenses added up to between $4000 and $5000. Most of that was transportation costs....she flew to some different destinations as well as taking the train. She also bought A LOT of souveniors. She was responsible for her own food as well. She was quick to point out that wine is MUCH cheaper then bottled water.

There is a lot more that I can tell you.....please PM if you'd like more info.

Debbie

 

[monkey68]

I studied abroad in Paris in the summer of 2004, not sure if that's considered recent enough, but I loved it. I had a great time, and it really was one of the best experiences of my life. I did it through a program called Cultural Experiences Abroad, and they had some weekend trips organized every other weekend to different parts of France already included in the price. A lot of places have student discounts for admission, so I didn't wind up spending too much extra. Cost of food was pretty comparable to what I pay here, but it was so much better. You could find some pretty cheap cheeses, and the fruit is incredible.

You need to budget for food, for a travel card, for admission to the must see places as well. What's nice about Paris is that on Monday's, after I think 4 pm, the Louvre had free admission, and since I was there for a while, I could just go in for the couple hours and come back the next week, so if you know the country that you're interested in, it might be easier to get an idea of how much to budget and maybe people know of some other deals like the one at the Louvre. You also need to budget for alcohol and going out in the evenings. And of course shopping.

I loved studying abroad, my apartment was across the street from the Luxemburg Gardens and I would get to walk through them every day to go to class. I made friends with people from all over the world-Denmark, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, all over. I know my parent's were worried sick while I was gone, but I would talk to them every few days and I would send a quick email every day to let them know I was still alive.

I don't know how useful it is in getting a job, but on my med school interviews, they were all impressed that I studied abroad. And it did make me a more independent person. I turned 19 about 2 weeks before I left, and it really was my first time away from home. Sure I lived away at college, but this was completely different because in college, I knew people, I knew the language, I knew where to go when I needed help, and my parents were only an hour away. In Paris, I didn't know a soul. When I broke my foot, I had to figure out where to go. When a gypsy tried to steal 20 euro from me, I had to think quickly. When I got locked in a park with another girl, we weren't able to just call up our parents and have them meet us with a ladder. So were all the experiences great? No. I could have done without breaking my foot and fighting with a gypsy, but I learned that I could rely on myself and do just fine. I would go and study abroad again in a heartbeat.

 

[Jeafl]

I am interested in hearing the answers too. My daughter is going to be in Ireland for her spring term this year. The 12 weeks she is going to be there is going to cost us $12,000 for tuition and room and board (they are staying at a lot of youth hostels). The plan is to stay 3 weeks each in 4 different cities in Ireland. She has about $4000 saved up from summer jobs to use as her spending money. She has big plans, so I hope that it will be enough.

All I know is that I will not be sleeping until she steps off the plane back at home.

 

[RitaE]

My son spent July in Madrid at the University of Madrid and he stayed in the dorms there. They took a weekend trip to France but otherwise didn't travel through Europe.

He ended up with 8 credit hours in Spanish and 1 credit hour in some kind of History. They were in class every morning for 4 hours, then a break for lunch then afternoons were spent going to museums or other places.

Airfare was the biggie cost. Many of his meals were provided at the University - they ate out alot on weekends.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

I have neices that studied in Rome and Sydney...I know they traveled on their own alot but not sure of the cost. They had the time of their lives. I would be more than happy to ask my sisters any questions you may have...

 

[MAH4546]

And, what is the cost of living like in Europe these days?

Groceries are cheaper, but eating at restaurants is typically more expensive.

How do you budget for food and travel? What are "good" (and safe) cities to study in in Europe?

Seriously, every single city in Western Europe is extremely safe, except Naples, Italy.

Rome, Barcelona and Berlin are probably the best study abroad cities. They all have large student abroad communities and are all cheaper than some other cities like Paris and London. Berlin in particular is one of the cheaper large cities in Europe.

Cities in extremely wealthy regions, like northern Italy (Milan), southern France (Nice), Greater London the three main Scandinavian capitals (Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm) and just about anywhere in Switzerland can be quite expensive for the student budget.

And secondly, does studying abroad have any future value in getting a job? Specifically, this would be for a Business major, probably in Economics..

For 99% of jobs, it is irrelevant. Language skills do have future value, but it would be irrelevant if the language is learned in the U.S. or abroad. Though its still a great experience.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

DD's business school requires that you study abroad for 4 weeks and they have specific places that they use. So not too bad there and it can be done over summer.

If you want to boost income potential, getting a paid Internship abroad is supposed to be the way to go. Not sure, perhaps someone else can chime in.

 

[monkey68]

DD's business school requires that you study abroad for 4 weeks and they have specific places that they use. So not too bad there and it can be done over summer.

If you want to boost income potential, getting a paid Internship abroad is supposed to be the way to go. Not sure, perhaps someone else can chime in.

I would imagine those would be difficult to get due to visa issues. To go and stay for a couple months is one thing, but if you want a (legal) internship, I think you need to apply for a working visa. And then I would imagine that it would be difficult to get hired as well, because what company would want to hire someone just for an internship and deal with all that visa stuff? They would train the person and then that person would go off and use that knowledge somewhere else, it's not beneficial to them. So while it may be useful, I would imagine it would be very difficult to get.

 

[englishteacha]

I went to the UK in 2001 for a semester. My room and board were through the university, and my tuition and fees were comparable to home. I believe it cost $2000 more than staying home to go. I did have my summer earnings (several summers, actually) for spending and travel money. We got 2 meals a day through the school, and one meal on weekend days. (the food was awful, though) Our dorm had a microwave and a fridge, and an electric teakettle, so we ate lots of frozen stuff and sandwiches.

My program was different from many, because there were 13 of us from my home university and a professor escorted us there. He also came to check on us halfway through the term. It was nice to have the support of friends, though I admit we didn't spend a lot of time with UK kids (all of us international students were together so we met lots of kids from all over the world...just not many UK kids!).

 

[tink_n_pooh]

I did an international seminar in college, basically we studied in foreign countries during either the winter or summer term but everything was paid for in our college tution. There was a $300 fee for the international seminar and we all had to bring spending money. The school covered everything else - airfare, hotels, transfers, tours, and most food (we were responsible for a few lunches and dinners). We were also given an allowance as well to cover those few meals that weren't directly covered by the university, I think I actually made money on the trip

I went to Ireland during the winter term. I received full credit for a winter semester of classes (12 credits I believe, fall/spring semesters were 16-20 credits). I would do that again in a heartbeat! Sure it was a lot of work, we had projects due when we got back (journal writings and our research paper which was somewhere around 30-40 pages long) but it was well worth it

Oh and this was in 2001... the university still has the same problem but I believe the cost is up to around $500 now

 

[LaurenLC]

I studied abroad in Spain for a semester... It was one of the greatest experiences of my life..... My husband studied abroad in Germany for a year. His was for graduate school so it was slightly more intense, but he loved it! Neither of us would have changed anything!

 

[DisneyGirl421]

I studied in Florence, Italy fall '08. I absolutely LOVED it, and I miss Italia SO much right now.
As for tuition and such, for me, it cost the same as a semester of college minus room/board. My school is huge on study abroad, and has about 20 affliated programs with universities in Europe. Like mine was through Syracuse University Abroad in Florence. As for other costs, I lived with a host family, so I really didn't have to worry about groceries and such, as I got breakfast and dinner 5 days a week. (ps, living with a host family = the best experience ever!)

I did, however, spend a lot of money throughout the semester, both on clothes/shoes/etc and traveling. Most of it on traveling. My school did not have classes on fridays, so we either left thursday night or early friday morning.
Where I went:
All over Italy (mostly day trips, many in and around Tuscany area), Athens, Olympia, Delphi, & Napflia (Greece), Bareclona & Madrid (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), London, and Berlin.
I spent roughly $4000 the entire semester. Yes, I know, that's alot, but I did go ALL over europe, and did it cheaply. I know some people who went less places than I did but spent thousands more. I used RyanAir, Easy Jet, and ClickAir to get cheap flights (seriously, I got 4 flights for a total of 160euro, one of them was 10 euro), and used HostelWorld to get good hostels for cheap. Roughly 25-30euro a night for GREAT hostels.

As for the cities I loved... Florence, obviously. Gorgeous city with so much history. And really safe. Only thing = no subway, only bus, and it ends service at 1:30am. and cabs are EXPENSIVE. But I love it.
Barcelona was AMAZING. You read so much about how 'unsafe' it is, but I saw nothing unsafe about it. Such a great city.
Lisbon was so great, reminded me so much of San Francisco.
Berlin was amazing too. I went the first week of December, and they had all the German Christmas Markets/Festivals going on, so cool.
London was my all-time favority though. Such an awesome city.