Madrid, Spain - Study Abroad - Summer 2010

This is going to be my first time going to Europe! So any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’m studying abroad in Madrid, Spain this Summer. The program is from June 16th – August 6th.

• - I will be based in Madrid for most of time, but plan on traveling afterwards.
• - What I had in mind right now is to fly out of London on the 17th, stopover at Iceland for a few days, then return to the States around the 20th.
• - This gives me 11 days to travel around Europe before I depart from London.
• - I have not purchased a return flight yet, so my return date is a little flexible.
• - My class schedule is not set yet, but I believe it’s 4 days a week, Monday-Thursday.
• - The trips to Segovia and Lugo are pre-planned trips by the Study Abroad program.

Where should I go after the program?

• - Is 11 days enough time?
• - Can I fit in some trips on the weekends?
• - Is it a good idea to fly out of London so I don’t have to double back to Spain?
• - The main places I want to go (off the top of my head) – Paris, London, Amsterdam, Italy, Berlin.

Budget

• - During the study abroad program in Madrid, everything will be payed for except: food, transportation, phones (that’s what my $3,000 budget is refering too)
• - How much would I need to afford purchasing my own groceries + personal expenses?
• - After the study abroad program, I plan on staying in hostels/other inexpensive alternatives
• - More importantly, how much will I need in order to travel around afterwards?
• - What would be a good itinerary that would allow me to visit a good amount of locations for a decent budget?

I always wondered if language be a major issue for traveling around all these places?

And I’m sure plans for Transportation and Housing will come accordingly as my plans begin to take shape

Overall, help planning my itinerary during my study abroad program in Spain and afterwards would be really helpful!! thank you!!

What would you do if you were traveling in my position?

You can take some great day trips on the weekends — namely Granada, Barcelona and Seville.

11 days will give you the opportunity to visit 4 or 5 cities within close proximity to each other. Any ideas?

How much you will need to travel around afterward is dependent on where you’re going…

Cool. thanks Mim.

i was planning on flying out from London on the 17th. so after the program hopefully going to paris, amsterdam, then london.

But what do you think is most logical? does it even make sense to depart from london?

• - should i depart at a later time?
• - or given the 11 days i have right now, where would you go?
• - how would you plan the trip_ if you were completely new to europe_?

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