Spanish SIM-card
Walking down Gran Vía you will find many phone shops where you can buy a sim card to use during your time abroad. There is, however, a better option: go to the office of “Citylife Madrid” which is also on Gran Vía. There they have a special offer where you get a card for free with 5€ on it. The option of 1 GB of internet a month is more than enough and costs you exactly that, so the first month of your phone bill is actually covered. At the office they explain to you how everything works. You can also book free minutes to all mobile phones and landlines in many European countries. For Spain, however, internet is enough as everyone uses WhatsApp (an app you should definitely get if you don’t have it) as every call costs at least 10ct whether the receiver of the call answers or not. Therefore people prefer to text, you will also see that in your apartment hunt and there is an option of calls through the app, so when you have Wi-Fi you can call whoever you want on the app for free.
Apartment hunt
If you are going on an exchange to Spain and are looking for an apartment or a room in a shared flat, there are many options to find one. Usually students rent flats from September until June as July and August are vacation months when people go home. That also means that these two months can most likely be booked separately for a cheaper price. I was told to start the apartment hunt once I get there, in most cases you can move in right away as the rooms are vacant throughout the summer and landlords are looking for new tenants for the academic year.
1) Booking a room before your arrival
One option is to book one ahead through websites such as Spotahome, HelpMadrid or Uniplaces. They usually tend to be a little more expensive, your flatmates will most likely be foreigners like yourself and the flats will have a high standard. You can choose on the website how long you would like to stay, so the rental period does not have to be for the whole academic year. However, you also have to pay them a commission, so this option is the most expensive one.
2) Search for rooms online
Another option is to sign up on websites such as idealista. There you can contact landlords directly and make an appointment to see the vacant rooms. This should not be done too far in advance. Usually you can come by the same day you get in touch with the landlord, so this is an option once you arrive in town and start your search from a hostel. It is also of advantage to get the app WhatsApp on your smart phone. When you click the announcement it will say „WhatsApp: phone number“, so just write there that you are interested to see the room. However, be careful, as many websites mentioned in 1. also post their flats on these websites and you end up paying a commission. If the photos look quite professional, you know it is not a private person posting the advertisement.
3) Facebook
You can also go on Facebook and basically join every group that has the words “flat”, “room”, “flatmate”, “Erasmus” and “Madrid” in it. That is what I did and how I found my room. I was a member of over 20 groups, but in the end it was worth it as you can read in my blogs. Just message everyone who posts something, but also here you have to be careful about professional ads by the websites from point no. 1) who also use social media to advertise their flats.
4) On campus
Another way to find a flat or a room is the old school bulletins on campus. Go to the campus of your university and you will find lamp posts and blackboards filled with papers offering vacant rooms. Just rip off the phone number and get in touch with the landlords.
Public transport
The best option is to get a monthly paid ticket. If you are under the age of 26 it is extremely cheap since October 2015: 20€ for all metro, trains, buses in all zones. Usually you have to make an appointment in order to get your metro card. If you want to do that best take care of it before your arrival to Spain, especially in September when all the new students arrive in Madrid so it can take a few weeks to get an appointment.
Another option is to go to the tobacco shop at calle Fuencarral 80. Inside is a little stand where you can get a metro card without an appointment and you don’t even have to bring a photo. All you need is an address in the city, so you should first have an apartment before taking care of your public transport card. However, I only suggest this option if you arrive in late August/early September. Later on lines there tend to be very long, so it’s safer to have an appointment instead of waiting in line two hours and then being told to come back the next day. Or you wait until mid-October, then there are less people again. There are probably other places around town like the mentioned tobacco shop which I don’t know about.
weltenbummlerinjoanna 