Erasmus Experience in San Sebastian, Spain by James

Why did you choose to go to San Sebastian, Spain?

For the culture and beautiful landscapes of the Basque country.

Source

Source

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

The scolarship is 6 months. I should recieve about 300 € per month. Although I have not recieved the money yet (halfway through the 6 months) and I've heard that usually it is recieved after the scolarship is over.

What is the student lifestyle like in San Sebastian?

Active and outdoorsy, in studies as with social life. The city provides many great places to work; libraries, cafés, art galleries.. Going out is almost exclusively in bars, never staying for more than a few drinks in a one single bar before moving to the next. And staying up late is usual.

Would you recommend the city and the University of San Sebastian to other students?

Yes.

Source

What is the food like?

For good quality student nosh, expect to pay about 8/9€. There are lots of places selling good food although I'd say about one third of the restaurants are a bit cheap and tacky. I therefore reccomend going out with locals the first few times in order to know which are which.

Source

Did it cost you to find your accommodation in San Sebastian?

No, I found my apartament with a free Erasmus account.

How much does it cost to live in San Sebastian?

I pay about 300€/month for a flat-share with 4 people (flat's about 50m2). But I reccon that I was a bit on the lucky side with this appartement.

Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available at the University?

If you are from France (like me) or Italy, you'll pick up Spanish really easly. Otherwise, Spanish is still a simple language, not as many "link" words used in phrases as English and all words are pronounced EXACTLY as they are written.

The difficulty is in understanding a conversation between Spanish people as they speak really fast.

Also the people REALLY appreciate foreigners trying to speak basque lanGuage.

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to San Sebastian from your city?

From Grenoble (France) to San Sebastian, I managed to find a direct BlaBlaCar which was a van and which allowed me to take ALL my stuff in one go, but that was dead lucky.

The other option would have been to take the bus, there were some direct ones too but would not have allowed me to take as much stuff.

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in San Sebastian?

If you were wondering about safety, it is not an issue here. Firstly, the streets are full until about 4 in the morning. Even, after that you never feel alone walking home.

Otherwise, San sebastian has loads of bars that don't shy away from rocking their own style. People are real friendly and there are lots of other foreigners that'll make you feel at home. Also, alcohol is quite cheap. For going out until daylight, San Sebastian has two main clubs, so not that many.

Source

And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in San Sebastian?

For a great burger, the mala glissona. Another good burger chain in Spain is TGB (The Good Burger), two burgers for the price of one on tuesdays. Also if you can, get into someone's "sociedad" it's basically a cooking club that lets members use the facilities for free.

Unfortunately I can't really reccomend a good Basque food restaurant in San Sebastian (altough there are many) as every time I've looked they were out of my budget. So just burger reccomendations from me..

Any pintxo bar is good for Spanish food all have their specialities.

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

The old town. And climb the old town's montain, monte Urgull. Walk along the two beaches. The local museum, the San Telmo is great and so is the aquarium. Climb to the top of Monte Igueldo to see the old funfair up there (take some money though, access to the whole mountain top is 2€).

Otherwise, all along the basque coast there are some really picturesque places (Pasaia, Getaria, Zumaia, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe and of course Bilbao).

Source

Is there any other advice that you could give to students going to San Sebastian in the future?

Ditch the car and get a bike or a skateboard for getting around town (but don't cycle on pavements, there's a fine for that)

Source