Accommodation

I can say that finding a really good accommodation could be crucial for your Erasmus. Trust me, I know what do I say:) I was very-very unlucky as I was feeling cheated from the very beginning.

Looking for a flat

I did not know how to start looking for a flat in a different country, but I was prepared for this. I have read a lot of reviews, I have found the web-sites of all the agencies in Vic. But firstly I decided to have a look at the list of flats provided by the VIC University. As it was written on the UVic website, they do not help students with finding an apartment, but you can find some variants that they have posted and contact with the owners. 

First thing that I have learned about Vic is that all the flats for students are provided through the agencies. I was chatting with a really nice woman, her email was written on the web-site of my University. We had a nice conversation, she was really impressed by my knowledge of Spanish and I was impressed that it was so easy to find a flat. But it was too early to celebrate. It turned out that renting a room from her is too expensive and my scholarship will barely cover it; there were no other people looking for this flat and I had to find the flatmates by myself. I decided to look for other variants.

I have found some other propositions that I liked, but what was interesting is that all this advertisements had the same email I was texting before. Although, this woman pretended that she was the owner of the flat. I texted to some other people again and again, all of them were proposing me at least three variants of flats and of course these people were the "owners" of this flat:) How big is the possibility, that 5 people I was texting to, have 3 flats each in their private ownership?:) So everything started with lies:(

I realized that I have too little time and I need to find something quickly. And finally I have found a really nice flat, with an appropriate price, 10 minutes walking from the University. The advertisement was made by the girl who was living in this flat before and now she was trying to find someone on her place. She have send me the photos of the room and the flat, the contract was also attached. She convinced me that I do not need to pay anything for the contract as it is an old one, and the work of the agency has been already paid in September. So everything was a complete lie again:

1. The flat did not look the same as at the photos at all.
2. The girl told that the flatmates are really nice (but it turned out after that she moved from the flat exactly because of these "good" flatmates).
3. My room was lacking some furniture that was mentioned on the picture. There was no bookshelf, for example.

(photo taken by Rebeca B., who send me the picture while advertising the room and the flat)

4. She did not send me the picture of the window in the room, I asked her to do it, she send me a new picture with a closed window, BUT it was their. At that moment I did not know that spanish flats are famous for not having a real window in some rooms. So when I opened the window for the first time I was shocked, as their was nothing, just brick walls. No fresh air and sun in the room for 5 months. Can you imagine this? 

(photo taken by Rebeca B., who send me the picture while advertising the room and the flat)

Advice

1. Try to find a flat directly from the owner.
2. Do do not send the deposit before you have a look at the flat in real life.
3. Do not be afraid to ask as many questions about the flat as you need.
4. Read the contract carefully ( I do not trust the agencies since they lied to me that I cannot leave the flat until the end of May, but actually I could do it in the end of March. I am not a lawyer, neither do you, so be careful)!
5. Do not pay the last month of your rent, as it is a normal thing in Spain not to give back the deposit (mine was 260 euro). I got my deposit back only 4 month later (I was lucky to have it back at all), but many of my friends did not get back any money.

P.S. The name of the agency

Good luck!

---

Photo gallery