Housing in Madrid

I could write an entire book on this subject, honestly. I knew it was going to be difficult, especially considering that I had never looked for a place to live in my life. I imagined that being in a new city, in a different country might be a problem. Little did I know.

Maybe it was my fault too, but I never thought that I had to see more than 25 places to find just one. I was looking for a room in a shared apartment preferably with people my age, central and quite reasonable (although the prices in Madrid don't seem reasonable at all). First, I started looking on one website dedicated to housing, then it became 2 websites, then 4. Not only that, but I posted ads on 3 websites as well. I have seen all kinds of places and people, including 50-year-olds who received me in their underwear and seemed to have a shrine of students' rooms surrounding their bedroom aka the living room. I had got all kinds of phone calls, including from Romanian women who were living with their daughters on the outskirts of Madrid and who liked telling me their whole life on the phone. It was an interesting experience, indeed.

Finally, after a 2-week search, I managed to find a room, which is very central and within my budget. Fourth floor with no elevator,  my room has no light and no heating, the flat has no living room or common space and bugs are sometimes crawling in the kitchen, but I guess I'm lucky, right? And the only reason I got it was because I was there first and said "I want it".

Anyway, I can now say I have a little bit of experience in house-searching. In this city, at least. So here are my tips for you:

• Start looking early and save your finds. Contact the owners as soon as possible and try to be the first who sees the room.
• Use all the sites you can. In Madrid, I recommend: idealista, loquo, segundamano and  pisocompartido in this order.
• Post ads saying very clearly what you're looking for. No matter how clearly you're going to say it, you will still get any kind of calls that have nothing to with what you're looking for, but try your luck. I posted ads on idealista, loquo and pisocompartido.
• Try to find other people who are also looking for the same thing so you could get a whole apartament together. You can find them on sites like idealista, if you have no other option.
• In Spain, your chances are highly increased if you speak the language.
• Obviously, have your eyes wide open when you're seeing the place. If there's something you don't like from the start, don't try to convince yourself, you won't like it ever. Ask as many questions as you can.
• If the people already living there are the ones who decide who is going to stay, try to be as friendly as possible. It's like a job interview. I got a few rejections from places I really liked and let me tell you, it can get very depressing.
• Don't lose hope!

Hope it helped. If you have any other advice, do share!

By the way, is anyone looking for a flatmate?

How to Survive Living in a Foreign Country

Thought Catalog, one of my favourite sites, has an interesting article about surviving in a foreign country, in its usual editorial tone. It's here, written by Bart Schaneman.

A few excerpts I like:

"Allow yourself to miss things: food, clothes, being able to communicate easily. Don’t allow yourself to miss: narrow thinking, getting bored, feeling trapped."

"Take comfort in knowing that once you got beyond your country’s borders you already began winning."

"Give up on where you’re from but don’t give up on the people. Your friends back home won’t forget about you. They will move on with their lives without you, and they might resent you, but they will still listen to your stories if your stories are good."

"Try to keep your head."

Couchsurfing

It was a few years ago when I first met with the concept of "couchsurfing", through some friends of a friend. All I got back then was that it meant people from all around the world could 'surf' others' couches from anywhere in the world, without any kind of material obligation. "Interesting" I thought, but that was kind of it. It took me a few years to learn more about this community and to be a part of it, in the end. But once I figured out what it was about, I was hooked.

Before I came to Madrid I was desperately looking for a solution to spend my first days in this completely new city where I didn't know anybody. It seemed almost impossible to be able to find a place to stay without being here. But I found the solution with the help of Couchsurfing. This online community is organized by countries and cities and different themes. So I was lucky enough to find something in a group that was called "Madrid: Renting Rooms" (link). Not only I could secure my first week there, as a member sublet me his room while he was on vacation, but I also got to make friends with his roommate. She was the first person I met in Madrid and it was neither my choice or hers. But somehow, we instantly became friends and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be in such good company only a week in this new city. It is always good to get to know people who already live in the city you're moving to, so they can give you all the tips and advice you need, as locals. And it's even better when these people turn out to be actual friends.

So my point is you should all check their site, it's a non-profit organization and it has been absolutely great for me. It can help you find places to live, places to go to, things to do, but most importantly, you can meet amazing people from all around the world.

Surviving

This blog is starting as a personal project for myself, as a newly moved student abroad. But it is also a platform for other students living in other countries, who can share their experiences. And hopefully, a pleasant read for any other one interested in the subject.

I studied Communication and Public Relations in Romania and because I wanted more and was looking for diversity, I chose to apply for a Masters in Madrid at the Complutense Universty, in Multimedia Journalism. I have many friends studying abroad and I heard stories about how it is to move to another country. But until you get to experience it yourself, you can't really know what it feels like. For me, it was life-changing and still is. And it's not for nothing that people say how difficult the beginning is.

Facing all these changes was not easy. So this project is about how we can survive once we move away from home and what we can do to make our existence as students better. Its evolution will most likely be organic so it will include everything, from looking for a place to live, what to eat, how the new means of communication are helping us, tips & tricks and so on.

And I expect any kind of shared experiences from others like me. Because I know we are quite many.

Introducing

A new blog, a new project.