using mobile phones here in Spain is very expensive, Nasti, as you have discovered. To help keep my mobile phone use in check, I always carry a telefonica card with me to use at the payphones, as well as a EUROCITY card to call to the states.

Text messaging is definitely cheaper than phone calls, but sometimes, if it takes two or three msgs to communicate what you could have communicated in a 1-2 min conversation, it would have been cheaper to make the call. When text msging make sure that your messages are to the point and you don´t have to exchange 3 or 4 of them to get the point across.

Social life is suffering? What about email? Could you communicate the same messages via email as you would text messages (meaning, is their instantaneous response so necessary?). All of these things are things that I have struggled with as I adapted to the horrendous phone charges here.

One final note, Vodafone is one of the most expensive carriers to call... particularly if your friends have telefonica/movistar.

Failure to get a grip on your mobile phone usage would be the most lame excuse for not coming back in the fall!!!!