Type of housing: Apartment/House

Arranged by: Independently - My choice

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? The experience I had has been very positive, starting from the fact that you visti lots of places and people to try to find the best place for you. Being in a shared appartment allows you to have enough personal space and tranquility, and help in the case of need, from the people with whom you live.

Personal comments:
I did at frist have an University appartment for Erasmus students, but I chose not to take it when I saw that: the rooms were extrmely small and in bad conditions;no natural light in the appartment;old furniture and its loctaion, quite far from the campus.

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

Activities, Nightlife, Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment

Personal comments:
Malasaña was my favorite spot for nightlife. It has a bunch of really cool music bars that have cheap drinks. My favorite bars were La Via Lactea and Morgensterns. Plus, there are primarely only other Spanish there so its more cultural. I also liked this Irish pub in my area Arguelles called Finbars. It was my local pub. There are a lot of concerts in Madrid in which a lot of American and Spanish bands play. One event not to miss in september is the Spanish Communist Party fundraiser. Its a big festival weekend festival, with a lot of food from every province of Spain, music from Spain, and it´s just one kick-ass party thats dirt cheap to get into, plus everything including the festival food is cheap. I guess it kinsa has to be since it is a communist fundraiser.

Course recommendations:
The educational system and queality of the courses in the Universidad Complutense si quite dissapointing, for what I have seen. The best therefore would be to take classes one is really interested in and try to escape the "Troncales" or "Obligatorias" which tend to be the less interesting ones.

Personal comments:
The teachers and students tend to be focused on the exams, and much of the work is memorising. I would suggest to put in some more reasoning and practical works, in order to interest and give a better fomation to the students.

Language of instruction: Spanish

Main source of funding:
Family

Other sources of funding:
Government assistance
An ERASMUS grant

Work opportunities:
I didn't want/need to work

Personal spending habits:
Food:just not being able to cook limitates the shopping list. Tel:not having a private phone restricted the calls to really needed ones. Accomodation:living at home with my parrents, I do not have to pay anything. Nightlife:at home, I used only to study; but thanks to the Sapnish spirit of life, I started relaxing during night while being on Eramus. Travel:studying abroad is a unique chance to visit it in all needed details!

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

Food, Telephone: was less expensive than at home.

I wish I had known...
I had no idea that i would have been so difficoult finding a room. My university should have suggested me to leave before, in order to have enough time to look for an accomodation.

In my opinion:
Most people loved it.