Who did you live with while studying in Spain and how did you find your housing?

When I studied abroad in Bilbao, Spain I lived in an apartment with two other study abroad students. I went through USAC so they arranged housing for us and introduced us to our landlords and then all payment and communication from there forward was done directly with the landlord. I thoroughly enjoyed my adorable apartment and had great roommates as well! There are pros and cons to apartment living versus homestay. It's really about which experience you are going for. Had I been more fluent in Spanish before going I may have been more comfortable with the idea of living with a host family, but I was very beginner and decided apartment living was the best option for me, but everyone's different. Either way you will learn a lot and grow a lot! Here is the link to the program I went through: https://www.gooverseas.com/study-abroad/spain/usac-study-ab…

I was in Barcelona, Spain for Fall Semester. I lived with 1 Italian (age 25) and 1 Spaniard (age 29) in a 3 bedroom apartment - they were both locals who were living/working in Barcelona and not-studying abroad. I opted out of my program's housing assistance and found the housing on my own. I was very lucky and had a cousin who had some local fiends in the area and they helped me find the apartment before I arrived.

My main goal was to learn Spanish - so I wanted to live with young people who spoke Spanish at home. My roommates were amazing, they both spoke fluent Spanish, and I learned more from them than any class, or teacher. I also got to hang out with a lot of locals - it was a great way to break out of the "study abroad crowd".

For me, living with locals was cheaper, more fun and I learned a ton of Spanish because of it. However, I think the only reason I was able to do this was because my cousin hooked me up with her friends.