My friend and I are planning to study Spanish for a year in Spain. We registered w/ Don Quijote language school, as they have several campuses around Spain (Barcelona, Granada, Salamanca, and a new one in Seville). We arranged for a student visa good for one year. My question is this: What is the monthly cost of living in Spain? We are budgeting around 300.00 per month for rent, is that reasonable?
I know Barcelona & Madrid are supposed to be the most $$ cities in Spain, what about Granada? Salamanca? I guess I just want to feel secure that our living expenses won't exceed our savings that we've alloted for our time there. Any reassurance you can give me about this topic will be greatly appreciated.

Gracias & Salud!

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 02-09-2001).]

Here are some basic guidelines for a modest student in Madrid (Granada, Salamanca, and Sevilla will be less).

You shouldn't have a problem finding a room to rent for $300. Decent rooms range from $200 up, depending on the area and quality of the flat. Try to stay in the center- with only a year in one place, it's not worth saving an extra $50/month commuting.

Transportation will cost $40+ depending on how many taxis you take.

Food is quite cheap in Spain. It's hard to budget though because you'll want to eat out and try the local cuisine. I'd guess $150+.

Entertainment- if you like to go out, as most in Spain do, you'll want to budget high in this category. I'd say at least as much as food (remember, beer is food)! If you like to go to clubs and drink, It will cost around $30-50 a night. If beer/wine is your choice, I'd say $10-20/night.

Traveling is another category that can have no ceiling. I'd budget a trip a month. I'm sure it's an objective of yours to see the country. You can do weekends on a budget. I'd reserve at least $100/month for trips.

Surely you can shave the prices down in every category by not living it up (or if you don't drink)!
Oh, almost forgot, shoe budget- add another $100/month

Just to add some information on the question of entertainment costs: it really depends a lot where you go out and how much you drink. Even though I used to go out a lot, I never spent more than 20 $ a night. Unless it is more of an upscale place (for example, the places on the Castellana and in the quarter Salamanca tend to be more expensive), drinks such as cuba libre, gin tonic etc. usually do not cost much more than 5 $. A small glass of beer, wine etc. in a bar just costs around 1 $ if you take it directly at the bar. And tipping is not as usual as it is in the US. For sure, it is also possible to spend 50 $ for entertainment a night, but I do not think it is necessary in order to have a good time.
Many places do not take a cover charge, or if they do, they give you a drink for free.
All in all, everything in Madrid is pretty cheap in comparison to the US. With the money I spend for a modest life in Boston, I could live like a queen in Madrid...Especially for appartment rentals.
For Spaniards, it does not seem that cheap because the wages are much lower there.
It is still a good time to go-even though the euro is catching up against the dollar now, the exchange rate is still favorable for Americans. One year ago, the euro was at a much higher rate.

Just to put in my two cents, I was in Salamanca for 6 months. Things are cheap there, i.e. no cover charge for clubs, we often drank liters that were only like 600 ptas. But I think $30 a night at the bars was the norm. I traveled extensively and not necessarily the cheapest way, we flew places and could have found cheaper hostels than we did. This being said, and also including the fact that I lived with a family and did not have to purchase food or pay rent, I spent at least $500 every month. Like I said, you can do it cheaper... but my personal opinion is take advantage of it while you have the chance and then work your butt off to earn it back when you get home!

Solsoul....

I am also thinking of going to Don Quijote, although other schools are cheaper. How did you secure your student visa? Did you have to pay for your tuition for a year and presented a letter from the school to the Spanish Consulate? I have inquired with the Spanish Consulate office about their requirements, but I just want to know how stringent they are with the requirements.

First, kudos to MadridMan and everyone else for the great message board. I've been lurking for awhile.

I studied in Sevilla for 6 months a few years ago. I didn't have to pay rent because of the university program I was in and my scholarship covered it. My travel expenses were also pretty low, because our program took us on several trips throughout Spain. I paid for a few weekend excursions, but that's it. So most of my expenses were food, entertainment, postage etc. Because I was dirt poor at the time, I logged every single expense every single day the entire 6 months I was there. I averaged about $44 a week in expenses. I spent around $18/wk at the grocery store, $8 eating out (I dated a couple of guys who paid for a lot of meals!), $6/entertainment (again, dating helps), and $12 on miscellaneous items (postage, gifts, school supplies, whathaveyou). I really don't think you can live much cheaper than that--I was pretty frugal. I didn't buy any clothing while I was there, and I spent virtually nothing on transportation. I walked *everywhere,* and only spent money on transportation if I was travelling outside Sevilla.

Logging your expenses may seem a bit anal, but I found that I spent a lot less once I made myself write it down. I was forced to look at it later and say, "Did I really need that Cola Cao?" It's not something I ever did before (or since). But it's neat to occasionally go back and see what I spent money on.

At the end, I did do an 18-day whirlwind backpacking tour through Europe with a friend. That was about $900. I didn't log those expenses, so I'm not sure where all the money went!

Wow! I thought I was the only anal one of the group. I also wrote down EVERY single peseta I spent while I lived in Spain. I had an 8-column ledger that I used and was very diligent about it. My friends thought I was nuts! I had never done it before or since living there. I wonder why? I guess not having a checkbook may have something to do with it? But, I wasn't frugal and basically did it to see trends in my spending (or perhaps I actually missed balancing my checkbook to the penny)? When I originally posted here I was looking around for the ledgers (7 in all) but I have no idea where they are. After moving around so much, I'm sure they're in some box tucked away. I do remember some months spending more on "entertainment" than food and rent combined! What a life I led there in Madrid, huh!

I too am doing a 3 month Don Quijote course this summer in Barc. I am curious if anybody reading this has experienced it and has any feedback about it

The last time I studied in Madrid was 1992, and they had an "Abono Transportes" which allowed you unlimited use of metro and buses (including buhos-night buses) for a determined period of time. We would buy the monthly ticket at any kisoco. The price then was 5.000 ptas., which was a STEAL. We used that abono so much I still wake up feeling guilty and wanting to send the Metro a check for the difference. You may still need to take an occasional taxi, but within Madrid (and I assume Barcelona) you should be able to get this deal. Just bring a passport-size photo with you, as the abono has your photo laminated onto it.

Using the abono is totally easy, too...just flash it like a badge when you get on the bus or go to the abono line to get through the metro control turnstiles. Not having to rummage around for 125 ptas for public transport is a real brain-saver.

Nice budget tips from all...now, take those figures and DOUBLE them. There's your budget (except for shoes...$100 a month? Estás en las nubes...)

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 03-30-2001).]