Type of housing: off campus dormitory

Arranged by: Host university

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? Several groups of people rented apartments through the guidence of the university. The University helped them locate the apartment and with any problems that occured during their stay. The dormitory I lived in was a bit to regulated and had quite a few rules. With the help of the campus and the greater freedom, I would prefer to rent an apartment if I was to do it all over again.

Personal comments:
The location was excellent, and they provided many services. For example they did your laundry once a week, had a full meal plan, and assisted in cleaning our rooms. However the only downside is that they were way to strict, and had too many rules and regulations. That is the case especially if you are coming from the U.S. and you are accustomed to having a lot more freedom in the dormitories.

Describe host city: Students interact with the local community without much university involvement

Activities, Nightlife, Travel: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment

Personal comments:
Anywhere in the Plaza de Santa Anna is a safe bet. Teh best restaurant in Madrid is Casa de PAco. Everyone has been to Capital, an excellent nightclub. But do not spend all your time in Madrid, the more you travel the better your experience.

Course recommendations:
If you want to learn about Spanish culture and history either take History of Spain with Shaw or Spanish Cultural Studies with Paco. You will get so much out of either class. Even though they give massive amount of work to do, especially Paco's class, its all worth it at the end. Also, if you want to learn Spanish, take a lot of spanish classes as well.

Personal comments:
I think there should be more of a community between the international students and the american students. the american students tended to stay within there own and the international students as well. I would say an exchange program within the two groups should be created.

Language of instruction: Spanish

Main source of funding:
Personal savings

Other sources of funding:
Personal savings

Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options

Personal spending habits:
The euro exchange rate!!! Cell phones are outrageous, even if you are calling someone on the same block! Housing in the city was expensive about $1000/month/student. Travel- really a lot more, I don't travel to other coutries on the weekends when I am in the US :) Nightlife- there are way more hours in the night that they party in Madrid which = more hours to spend $$ and the drinks are pretty expensive. The nightlife scene can really drain your bank account. I went out a lot when I first got there, would get home at 9/10am from the night before with empty pockets, sleep until 6pm that night, and do it all over. This was a great time, but after awhile i realized how much $$ it was costing. So I changed it up, instead of going out at night I went to bed early and hopped on a random city bus early (get unlimited metro pass) in the morning and went to explore the city alone. I ran into the coolest places and bought the greatest stuff. The money I spent on drinks now went to buy clothes and other souveniers.

Food, Travel, Nightlife, Overall, Telephone, Housing: was more expensive than at home.

I wish I had known...
You don't need to bring a computer...it takes up too much space.

In my opinion:
Most people loved it.