So Begins the UK Adventure

I've finally arrived in the UK! I've been planning this study abroad/exchange experience for over a year now, ever since October of 2006 when I thought it would be nice. Since then I've been working out a financial plan to make this a reality and I'm so incredibly happy that I did it.

I had guessed a lot of my expenses for this exchange because there were no published figures. I estimated it would cost $10 000 CDN in total to do it, and a friend who did this said she had set aside $10 000 as well so I suppose I'm not too far off.

I budgeted $7000 for tuition and accommodation fees. Turns out the amount is closer to $7500 (oops) but that's alright because I got two awards. One is for $500 CDN and the other is for £500 (about $1000 CDN). That will help me out a lot in paying for this experience.

Living expenses here are quite high. I was told often by my parents that would be the case, but it's still hard. I'm constantly multiplying all the prices I see by two to get the Canadian figure and it's still quite expensive here. The only things that aren't as expensive, so far, are shoes. £20 for a pair of quality shoes is not bad at all. But the last thing I need is to bring home more shoes for myself! And so far I haven't found anything for my mother.

I had not budgeted for a cell phone either but realized it's kind of important. All the other students use it as a social networking tool and when you're an international student, you need to put an extra effort into making friends and meeting new people. Quite a few people have asked me so far if I have a phone and I've said no. Back home, a cell phone was more of a convenience but here I see it as an expense to make sure I stay socially connected. So I'm looking into it. So far the plans are about £20+ ($40 CDN) per month.