I have never heard of international fees, what are they? In the case of studying internationally, as you are, I feel that is something that nations should work together to make it much more affordable, since it is not only the individual countries that need bright minds but also the world as a whole as well.
I don't know why they charge you so much as an international student. I suppose it has to do with preferring their own citizens over others, makes sense.
My favorites are Rome 1 total war and Medieval 2 total war. Empire is pretty good for me. I thought Rome 1 total war is the most fun. Which faction do you prefer playing as? One of my favorite factions to play as is the Germanic tribes in Rome 1 total war. They have Berserkers which are completely insane! They destroy everything in their path of rage! I also like Alexander total war, I even modified it so I could play as the Achaemenids, and on my file playing as them I used cheats to get all of my cities to a very happy level and otherwise had a lot of fun on the throne of my beautiful Persian empire. I also love Rome total war barbarian invasion. One time I tweaked that game to make the Romano-British playable and then I took over Britannia with the exception of Ireland I think and then I started moving my holy armies which consisted of Grail Knights largely to the continental mainland. I had ultimate plans of conquering Gaul as the Romano-British but it was harder than it seemed at the time.
Seleucid. Legionaries + Cataphracts + Phalanx + Elephants = Win
I am a big fan of history as well. History and science are my two favorite subjects. I love studying the reasons why, for example, the Roman Empire declined and/or I also love analyzing historical battles of civilizations I enjoy studying and the mechanics/logistics and troop numbers respectively of them. I also love asking questions to myself, such as imagining if I was the Roman Emperor at a time in Roman history and how I would go about preventing my empire's decline. It's all so fascinating.
I know a ton of stuff about the Roman Empire, Imperial China, etc.
It is all just so interesting.
I'm quite fascinated by the feats of ancient engineering. They did incredible things without many of the tools we have now.