ESADE Business School

Barcelona is an amazing city with lots to offer-make an effort to meet the local students (which might be more difficult than meeting international students) and you will be rewarded with lasting friendships and experiences.

The exchange students can choose to stay at a "campus" but it's extremely expensive and is far away from the city centre, so most of us chose to find private accomodation, either with a family or with other students.

If arriving in winter, I would suggest researching more into possible accomodation arrangements. I found it extremely difficult when I first got here as rooms in flats were relatively scarce. It probably would have helped if I had started my search a little earlier. Re: Travel - take advantage of every travel opportunity. Spain is a fantastic country with so much to be seen and learnt. In general: If anyone has the chance to come here - definately do it! I do not know of anyone who has had an unpleasant experience as an exchange student here.

If you are truly concerned about saving money, keep track of what you spend your money on every day. If you take 10-20 minutes out of your day figuring out what you spent money on, it will help you budget yourself. I kept track of all my expenses in excel and I was able to see my average daily and weekly spending was and it helped me to know exactly how much I could spend.

There is a lot of culture in Barcelona and this was one of the things i enjoyed most. Come here if you like art, architechture, fashion....

The best is to try to arrange something before you go down. But: do not use one of the agancies, they rip you for money. Try to share a flat with friends or other students from school, spaniards or exchange. Do not live at the Residencia, it's way too far from the city, as is living by ESADE. Try to get a flat in Eixample or areas close by.