Long shot - anyone's DD/DS doing their 3rd uni year in Madrid?

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Looking for advice on finding accommodation/mates to share with - anyone got any ideas? thanks in advance!

My DD didn’t do Madrid, but she did do the year abroad.

First is she studying at a university or working? If it’s the former, has she been in touch with the university accommodations office? If she’s working, can the employer recommend anywhere?

Sometimes you have to pitch up before you need to start and look at rooms to rent. I’m surprised she doesn’t know anyone else that’s going. Do the university not send several students to Madrid? Who could she contact from her course?

Lastly there is a useful website called 3rd Year Abroad where students write about their experiences of working and studying abroad. There will be some Spanish tips on there. DD went to two counties and knew no-one but the university provided accommodation at the first and she answered ads for a room in the second city before she pitched up. We paid for a hotel for a few nights so she could look at the rooms and make a decision. You might need to do this.

Hope it all goes well.

thanks for that - she's working but for a small company and she doesn't want to bother them. It's taken a lot of effort to get the necessary documentation out of them. She doesnt seem to know anyone else going - and woud rather meet new people anyway I think.

I'll let her know about the 3rd year abroad site - and yes - if a hotel is required we'll do that of course.

www.thirdyearabroad.com

I think I might just contact the firm, although I understand the reticence. There may be contacts via The Student Room.

I agree with meeting new people. DD didn’t know anyone in either of her two cities but you do make friends. If she’s doing Spanish, are other undergrads going to a university? I might also try and find out if landlords are advertising via the university accommodations offices. Just follow up any ads. Sometimes landlords take several year abroad students so you just book a room in a shared house or flat.

There are loads of sites to find accommodation in Madrid. Just start googling!

Look for FB groups.

The main unis. in Madrid are: Complutense, Autónoma (UAM), IE, and Comillas.

As another poster has said, your daughter should look for U.K. students going to study for their year abroad at one of those unis.

Idealista and fotocasa are the main websites used for househunting in Madrid (not just for students). I've not used the latter but on idealista it's possible to search for a room in a flatshare.

Just Googled 'student accommodation Madrid' and loads of sites came up.

Yes she has spent a lot of time on the various sites. I think the problem she's finding is that they mostly are just for the rooms and not the flat mates if you see what I mean. So you have no idea who you would be sharing with

She found one site to find flatmates and thought she'd managed to get a group together to look for a flat together but one has an unrealistically small budget and another has gone quiet since the others shared their political views so they are down to 2. They want to find a flat with 2 rooms free with other interns or students. Which shouldn't be that hard I know but it seems most of the sites don't tell you who is in the other rooms

I'm wondering if they just need to get a bit further into the process. I'm sure if you express interest in a flat you can find out more. It's just all more complicated when you don't know the city and it's all in Spanish. Although of course that's the point.

I'm sure she'll get there. Was just wondering if she'd missed an obvious site. And I don't think she's tried FB so will suggest that.

Thanks.

My DD is doing her 3rd year in Spain, I'm actually finding it more stressful than her starting 1st year away from home.

So far she has made enquiries about a few flat shares in the area but has only heard back from one, shes just chosen ones that are by the place she will be working. Unfortunately on her fb groups there is noone else even close.

My DD was excited about the 3rd year in Spain but I think now the reality has set in and she is finding it daunting arranging everything.

I know - it's quite a big deal isn't it. Sounds like she's not in Madrid - shame - they could have collaborated!

Paddysmarket Where is your DD going? She could look for FB groups affiliated to the local unis. and even contact the unis. to see if they have any accommodation advice or contacts.

DD is going to Andalucia, her placement is in Heulva. She has had good info sent to her but she is still worrying about things and I get the feeling me going on about things like accommodation/flights that I don't know much about isn't helping.

I just feel that she should at least start getting a flight over booked. She starts her placement on 1st October, if it had been 2 weeks later I could have went over for a week.

PaddysMarket Yes good idea for her to book a flight as Huelva is popular with holidaymakers in September and October as the weather is lovely then (and not as hot as during the school summer holidays).

If I were you I would still book to come over when you're free a couple of weeks after the placement starts. I'm sure there will be things you can help with...and bring over from the U.K. that DD has forgotten/is missing!

It may be a little early for her to look for accommodation and many Spanish people/businesses are on holiday until late August so she should start looking then.

One option would be to go out a week before her placement and stay in Airbnb or a hostel while she looks for a place.

Mine has just moved to Madrid to start his 3rd year abroad, yes.

He used Idealista and eventually found a very nice place in the centre. We had to up our budget from the original price band we had in mind to avoid the sharks, there are so many companies out there that show you around dumps (family flats divided into 11 bedrooms and three bathrooms, bedrooms so small you only get half a window, rude people to deal with etc).

It was practically impossible to find a place with a group of friends. But the flat we found has worked out really really well for him.

PM me if you want more info

I'm an expat in Madrid, there's a Facebook page called 'Madrid: Girl Gone International' which I would recommend her joining, they do intermittent posts of people looking for accommodation/ available accommodation etc, but it's also a really helpful group of women (with a lot of people out here as 1 year teaching auxiliaries straight after uni, for instance), it's a good source of information if you want to find out almost anything.

If you want to ask anything more detailed about areas etc feel free to send me a pm

The main website that people use in Spain to look for a place to live is idealista.com - they also have an app. Advise your DD that she needs to call rather than message (I was shy and messaged 53 people about flats - got 3 responses! Spanish people much prefer to talk over the phone). You can search for flat-shares or for entire flats, and you can change language to view postings in English, too. Good luck.

Thanks everyone for your help. We are in Madrid this weekend getting get settled in - long list of stuff to buy at El Cortes Ingles tomorrow.

Your thoughts were all useful and she's signed up to a room in a 6 bed flat for 3 months. We'll find out more about it tomorrow.