Hi /fellow travellers! I am planning to do an exchange semester in the fall and am finding the number of choices overwhelming. I am a Canadian student studying business and I have almost no travel background outside of North America, so I desperately want to get out and explore!

Unfortunately, I speak only English so language barriers may be an issue. I am leaning more toward studying in Europe as it is very diverse culturally and easy to take weekend trips to other cities. I have not made my mind up yet, so I am extremely open to other ideas! Some considerations would be cost of living, university life, on/off-campus housing, centrality, culture…

Some of my top choices so far:

Prague, Czech Republic (very affordable, central)
Barcelona, Spain
Madrid, Spain
London, England (much more expensive, very large, global city that Im concerned may not be vastly different culture-wise than in Canada)
Dublin, Ireland
Melbourne, Australia
Singapore

For a full list: http://students.ubc.ca/career/international-experiences/exchange-research-study-abroad/result?field_pg_university_country_tid=All&field_pg_university_area_study_tid=4179&title=&field_pg_university_term_ubc_tid=All&field_pg_university_lang_tid=All

If anyone has visited or studied in any of these cities and has insights on which would be the most worthwhile Id love to hear them!