1/19/10

Local time: 9:17 PM
Today's high: 65° F and sunny
High point: Eating French fries
Low point: The French fries didn't taste the same :-(
Lesson learned: Keep the bedroom door shut while you are not there.  The room will stay warm!

Story: Rebajas (ray-BAH-hahs) doesn't always equal cheap
I love seeing all the rebaja signs (literally rebate, sale).  It's so hard to pass up a store with stuff for sale.  And it doesn't help when Abigail likes to check out the high-end stuff, like Dior mascara, etc.  I'm content with my cheap Maybelline makeup, which I only wear on weekends so I can make it last the whole trip.  Everyone was right; makeup is really expensive, even the normal stuff like L'Oreal or Maybelline.  Anyway, these signs are on pretty much all the stores, even the Chinatown stores, which makes me laugh, since stuff is already cheap there.  Think I'll go there if I am in desperate need of makeup, it's about a euro for anything I need.

At the normal stores, some stuff can be so expensive, so when everyone is buying boots or skinny jeans for €20-30, I like to remember I got mine for about €13 each at a Chinatown store.  True, they might be low quality, but I'd much prefer that than paying about $30-40 for a pair of sale priced shoes.

So, whenever people say, "Hey, let's go to the mall," I say OK, but I remember that I have a budget, with only a certain amount per month.  I do NOT want to go over my budget, and it's very difficult to do so when others say they have no budget and that they are spending all of their savings and took out a student loan for this trip.  I have also come to the realization that I probably will only be able to go to one other country besides England, first of all because I don't have any other long breaks, and second because I might not have the money to do so.  I'm mostly saving my money to travel around Spain, since it's much cheaper to do so, and I'm not willing to spend an entire month's budget on a single weekend vacation to Paris or Rome.

So, here's another prayer request: that I come home with still a lot of money in my bank account and have extra cash at the end of each month (A.K.A. don't spend the whole budget each month).

Also, to anyone who knows, where is the best place to exchange money from euros to pounds sterling or euros to dollars?

All for now!  Hasta la vista!