How expensive is barcelona?

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Craig B

Hahaha Jane it appears out posted has ADDED that he is from the UK, it's really annoying when people are not more specific!!

My friend, i am also from England, and i spent 6 months studying in Barcelona, you are right you do not need any Visa's or Permits as they are in the EU. However, there is one particular resort about 1 hour away by train called Salou. It's on the coast and there are a lot of English/Irish bars, restaurants, cafes' etc. the only problem with that is you will have to pay 12 euros per day so it could be a problem as it sounds like you wont have a car. I was lucky when i was there as the family i stayed with the father of the house works for the ATM so he was able to get me a discounted ticket of 3.20 euros per day. I worked in the water park Aquopolis serving slush puppies and other drinks and ice creams etc. a little boring, but it had it's perks! I was there for about 5 months and then i basically left and then used the month i had left over to really do some sight seeing and just enjoy my remaining time there, it was the best experience i have ever had!!

I must also add that im sure you are aware you are staying in Catalonia! Many of it's people are very proud and try to uphold their history one way being their language ' Catalan'. It is very much a mixture of Spanish and French with bits of Italian, but if you are going there it would be adviseable to learn some basic Catalan as most road and street signs are in Catalan as well as a lot of the restaurants will have menus in Catalan too. I'm 21 years old and ive picked it up in bits, i wish i had learnt it earlier!!! :P

Another idea, perhaps could be to try either Costa Caribe or Universal Studios in Port Aventura for work. But again there is going to be a slight problem with transportation.
I'd like to stay positive for you about finding a job within Barcelona but these days most places will only hire if you speak Catalan! They will look past that if you have Spanish also but as you have neither i don't hold out too much hope for you getting work in Barcelona itself.

I wish you the best of luck though, and have a wonderful time in a beautiful city!!!

Jane S

Students can't work while on their student visas. Period.

And you won't "know your Spanish fully" until it's time to leave, anyway. It takes betw 4 - 6 months to even begin to feel fluent. That's assuming that you have studied all the language and grammar basics (about 4 semesters of University or more). Ten months will get you truly fluent.

what sort of housing are you looking at?

It's pretty much the same cost throughout Spain...except for the housing. Everything else will run you more or less the same...about $50US/day for food, and misc. expenses.

Depending on the program you are on, and how they work the finances, you may have all the basics already paid for. When I did it, they charged us this fee up front for everything, then gave us a monthly allowance. We paid everything we needed to out of it. I had plenty for room, board, entertainment (I'm not a huge drinker - cocktails will cost you!) and traveling money. Seriously, I only needed to hit up my savings for a summer tour of Europe.

Check with your officials to find out what they cover from your fees. If YOU arrange your own housing (you have some control that way), and if they just pay for things or they allow YOU to actually hold the purse strings.

But don't go expecting you can get a job. Not part of your visa.

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