Finances.

Over the past month or so, I've heard people express curiosity about my financial costs. On the whole, I've been reluctant to talk about that because I'm not very organized when it comes to finances. Maybe that'll be more helpful though, at least for other unorganized people.

This is solely based on my perceptions and experiences. I'm pretty good at saving my money and making sure I don't spend too much, but I don't make budgets. Maybe I should. Perhaps when I actually have a real job and pay taxes and bills. Bleh. Don't want to think about that right now.

Anyway, to begin, my parents gave me 200 euros as a birthday present/aid to help get started here so I wouldn't have to worry about transferring money right when I got here. So that's what I started with, essentially. I was kind of shocked how fast that got spent. You see, in the efforts to pack light, I did not pack things like shampoo and the rest of the products I use for my hair, certain other toiletries, and just some things that I ended up needing when I got here. For instance, I did bring an umbrella, but with the amount that it rains here I decided to buy a pair of rain boots.

To pay my rent, my parents and I decided it would be best to open a Spanish bank account. I have a Spanish bank account right now with enough money to pay my rent as well as some extra spending money my parents were kind enough to give me. I try not to use that money for several reasons. 1) I don't want to spend too much that I can't pay my rent and 2) I'm saving that for trips when the weather is better. My plan for this is to see how much I have left and then I can do whatever I want later on. So many of the other exchange students have been going on trips every weekend and more, but I decided early on to save my money for later in the semester when the weather is better for travelling. I think I'll be glad of this later. Plus, I've already gone on a few awesome trips anyway! It's not like I'm lacking anything.

Furthermore, I don't have food costs and I don't have to pay for things like sheets, toilet paper, etc (I know some people who had to go buy those things). Because of this, I really don't spend that much money. Most of my money spent on a weekly basis goes to coffee and paying for the bus, when I decide to take it. Occasionally, I'll have to restock on toiletries, but overall I really don't spend much on a regular week.

Now, trips are a different story. I try to save as much as I can, when I can, so I can splurge on certain areas. I withdrew 200 euros for my Paris trip as spending/just in case money and only spent about 50. That doesn't include the hotel and plane and bus tickets, which was probably around 180 euros (I got some good deals!). My Portugal trip cost a lot more. I probably spent around 200 euros, including my hostel and part of my train ticket. I ordered my train tickets online, but while I was on the way home I paid 25 euros to upgrade my seat to a bed.

Why did my Portugal trip cost so much? Well I'll go into more detail when I finish my blog post about the trip, but I'll touch on it now. Basically, I blame the professors' and their expensive tastes. I'm kidding, of course (sort of), but we definitely did a lot of things I wouldn't have normally done if I had been planning the trip. We went to several museums, which we had to pay for on Saturday, and then we went to this really pricey dinner Saturday night. It was a dinner with Fado music as entertainment, a Fado dinner if you will. Fado is a type of music typical to the Portuguese and it's characterized by "coming from the soul." A lot of the songs are sad, but others are more upbeat. It just depends. The food was really good and the music was excellent, but it cost 60 euros! I was told it would cost 49, but it ended up costing 60 because they didn't know that 49 didn't include the drinks. These costs were included in the price that the other students who went on the trip had already paid, so they didn't really realize how much it was. Ah well, it was a great cultural experience. As my mom told me, the money I saved by going to a hostel was able to be used for the dinner.

If you're going abroad or are abroad, here are a couple tips that I've learned in regards to money saving.

• Getting a library card. I'm am avid reader and movie watcher. I go into bookstores all the time and see books that I want to attempt to read in Spanish. Same for movies. Instead of buying them, I got a library card. I rent at least one movie to watch per week in Spanish and have one or two books every month. Granted, I don't always read said books because I also have a Kindle and read books on that.
• Trips. Pick and choose. I get bombarded every week with trip opportunities. I want to go on all of them, but then I have to remind myself it is just not feasible. Pick the ones that really excite you and spend the other weekends experiencing where you're living. If you're going on trips everywhere every weekend, you haven't gotten to know you're host city, which is a shame. 
• Transportation. In Pamplona, you save money for riding the bus if you get a bus card. I think it was free, if not, it was really cheap. Normally it costs something like 1.35 euros to ride the bus, but if you have a card it's only 65 cents. You recharge you're card at certain shops whenever you're running low. It's really easy and saves a ton of money. So wherever you are, figure out what's the best way to save money. Sometimes it's a metro card instead of a bus card. 
• Texting/Phones. I happened upon an after Christmas sale for my phone, which was incredibly lucky. I managed to get a basic flip phone for 9 euros including a 5 euro time card. Now, the phones here are normally pre-pay phones so each text message costs money. I brought my iPhone from the states with me and I use it for iMessaging and the apps. A lot of people use an app called "WhatsApp" which is a free texting app. I bought it ($1.99) and put my Spanish number on the app. People with "WhatsApp" can text me and I don't have to pay the texting rate.  Very handy. 
• Food. Even though I don't have to buy food, I've picked up from the other students that you ought to limit how much you eat out. We have a delicious cafeteria at the University and it's so easy to eat there every day. However, it all really adds up, so it's a good idea to eat most meals at home and eat out every once and a while. This is true for back home too, of course, but I think the temptation to eat out more is higher in a foreign country. 

Well, that's all I have for now. Again, feel free to leave comments, including any questions you might have!