Just annoying

Six months ago, my idea of the cost of living in Macomb was very different from what it is now. Back in France, we had to decide between DePaul and Wiu, and I chose Wiu for many different reasons. Nevertheless, one of the main reason was that I was convinced that Macomb would be much less expensive than Chicago, and thus would allow me to spend allocate money toward travels rather than housing or food. At that time, the exchange rate was around 1€=$1,40, and then it went better for us every month (not for our american friends unfortunately...) up to 1,60 six months ago; precisely when we had to chose our housing options.

Problem is, we were confident, and our computations led us to conclude that we would have plenty of money in the US, and therefore could afford to apply for "super single room", and the "Dining option 1". I found that the process was very opaque, price-wise, with no clear price along. Well, it did not matter to me because I felt like it was still cheap with the exchange rate (not to mention that I kept reading article from "analysts" forecasting a low dollar for the next 5 years).

Now that we are in Macomb, everything appears much more expensive that we thought for a town of 30,000 inhabitants.  First surprise, we discovered that we had to pay everything upfront for the semester!!!  That-is-to-say $4,500 had to be paid before... the 28th of August! Wow.. and in the mean time, the exchange rate dropped to $1,40 per euro.  It means basically that we have to pay $680 a month for our rooms, and the dorms are closed for thanksgiving and winter break (--> kicked out we are).  In addition, the meal plan costs us about $1,400 for the semester, but actually we have in our dining cards only $750 of purchasing power as half goes to overhead charges... Then prices seem low, but their real price is multiplied by 2 as you paid the same amount for overheads. 

 

Only food and housing costs therefore more than $1,000 a month.

Well, there are still some products that are very cheap at the dining hall: pizzas and cheeseburgers. A slice of pizza costs $0.7 (so $1.4 actually) and is pretty big; on the contrary 50grammes of fruits cost you about $3!  I understand quite fast how is the trade-off working in people's minds.  For an european, it seems so strange than a tiny salad might cost more than 3 big slices of pizzas...

Alright, housing and food still costs much less than in Chicago, where an average student rent costs about $1,100, I heard. We still have to ride the train to travel anywhere, and the system is pretty lame... only two trains a day: one in the morning, one at night (therefore the sunday night train is always around $50 and crowded). But now, I found out that I could not waive the Wiu student insurance, which costs $300 a semester whereas I already have an international insurance that covers much more than what the Wiu's one does. Not very flexible, and these are $75  more each month.

If you had to this miscellanous expense such as move-in expenses, phone, probable cost of winter clothes, and books (around $400), it gets pretty tight... This has really taught me the relative value of money, and I thank this program for granting us with 917€ a month, as well as my family who keep supporting me.

I am not trying to blame everything (except maybe the health insurance....), just show how expenses can be much higher than expected, especially for overseas studies.  I am not planning my upcoming travels much more carefully! To summarize, what I learned from this is: do not rely too much on exchange rates, remember that you cannot think about everything expense-wise, prioritize budget allocations!