Hi there,
I will be traveling for a week after my courses end in Madrid - to Paris, Venice, and Rome (then back to Madrid to fly back to the US)... aside from transportation and hostel costs, does anyone have any suggestions how much I should budget for food/museum & attraction fees/etc? I'm really clueless - but any general insight would be great. I'll be in each city for two days and one night (taking the train overnight between each). Thanks for any help!
Lindsey

You might want to check low cost flights instead of overnight trains for such long distances. It will most likely be cheaper, and obviously faster, giving you more time to spend in each place.

Check Vueling Vueling - They only fly to Barcelona from Madrid, but once in Barcelona they fly to Paris and Rome. 30 Euros one way, 20 euros to Barcelona. I'm sure Ryan Air or Easy Jet have really inexpensive fares as well, that would save you a lot of time in travel. But do factor in the additional cost of a hotel you'd have that you wouldn't have on the train. I don't know train costs, but flying seems like a better option.

Not that that answers your original question!