I learned myself too, for the exact reasons you described. The field was to far away, but obtainable, and the money was just outrageous for what I would be doing. So i took matters into my own hands, and learned to fly myself. Before I moved out to grad school, my home had a 4 acre area that i used to fly. My runways werent more than 20 ft wide x 150 ft long, and grass... but it worked fine. You really need a good wide open area, especially if your just learning, because you dont want to feel closed in when your up there. Also, make sure you have a good place to land thats into the wind if possible. Soccer fields arent the best because of the soccer posts... you'd be amazed at how often you could hit those. Same goes of for football fields and baseball fields. My advice would be to go out into the county somewhere, finda rarely used road with fields all around it and just try it there... the worst thing that could happen is you crash in someones field ......plus the road would make a good landing strip, as long as there are no cars coming .. hehehe...