Auxiliares de Conversacion Guide – Madrid 2019 (Part I)

I’m about halfway into my “summer break” here in the U.S., but the start of the school year in Spain is fast approaching. It’s crazy to think: one year ago at this time, I was a week away from the big move to Madrid. With nowhere to live and no idea what I was really getting myself into, I couldn’t be happier with how my first year turned out.

But it got me thinking about the newest round of auxiliares who are starting to arrive in Spain right about now. Especially in the big cities, it’s crucial to get a head start on the apartment hunt before the droves of university students start moving in. So I thought I could put together a little “survival guide” for new auxiliares.

*Side note: there are several different programs that employ language assistants – the Ministry, BEDA, Meddeas, CIEE, UCETAM. There are also tons of different cities and pueblos in Spain. In this post, I’m only writing about what I know really well, which is the Ministry program in Madrid. But even if you’re in another situation, I hope you find some of this information helpful!

Finding an apartment

Ok, so this is obviously the most pressing concern for when you arrive. Before you get to Madrid, you’ll want to book a hotel or hostel for about a week while you start the piso search. Since I had a lot of hotel points from my old job, I booked a hotel for 5 nights on points. I was lucky and only ended up needing it for 2 nights before I found my place! But talking to other friends, my situation was very much an anomaly. Some people need 2 weeks or more to find their apartment – so keep that in mind.

So how do you find an apartment, anyway? There are a few different apps that can help you with that. The one I like best is Idealista – that’s where I found mine. You can choose your area by drawing a map, and set all your preferences. Number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, price, all that good stuff.

In fact, even if you’ve still got some time before you arrive in Madrid, you can still start to express your interest in the places you like. Most listings will have contact info for the landlord or roommates renting the place – make sure to download WhatsApp to text them, and definitely use any Spanish you can. You can start to set up appointments to see the place. I was in contact with my eventual roommates two weeks before I even arrived in Spain! They had me fill out a roommate questionnaire, and when I did arrive in Madrid, I basically went straight from the airport to their place to check it out.

I recommend setting up several appointments – places go fast. My roommates told me they’d shown the place to several other people who were interested, and I was lucky they decided to choose me. Because I’d seen this place online, fell in love with it, and had no back up plans. 🙂

A couple other notes: Another app I’ve heard that people like for apartment searching is Badi. It’s more for meeting roommates. Also, be careful about using online rental companies like Spotahome. That can work for some people – it was fine for my friend Sarah – but you won’t get to see the place in advance, you’ll probably end up paying more in the end. Use it as a last resort.

Make sure to follow your intuition when choosing a piso. If you get weird vibes, or someone asks you to send them money in advance, or you aren’t allowed to see the place, don’t move forward with it. I know it can feel like the Hunger Games out there, but don’t say yes to the first place you find if you’re not sure about it.

In general, a person renting a room in a shared apartment can expect to pay about €400-€500 in rent per month in Madrid city, with the price increasing the closer you get to the center. You may need to pay first and last month’s rent up front, so make sure you bring enough cash with you to any apartment-viewing appointments. If you really like a place, then you can make your offer right there.

(Make sure to bring a debit card with you, if you have one, so you can take out euros from an ATM. Or exchange money in advance.)

Setting up a Spanish bank account

This isn’t the next most important thing, but to save this post from being 2000 words, I’m going to split it into two parts. So while we’re on the topic of money, let’s talk about the Spanish bank account.

You’re going to need a Spanish bank account for your school to pay your monthly salary into. And if you’re like me, you want to keep your Spain spending separate from your U.S. bank account whenever you can.

At the suggestion of one of my friends, I opened an account through CityLifeMadrid with Banco Sabadell. The whole process was really easy. I filled out a form online, and then someone emailed me to help me schedule an in-person appointment to do all the paperwork. The banker who helped me spoke English, which was helpful since I was brand-new to Madrid and shy about speaking Spanish at first.

Everyone has had their own experience with different banks, so you may hear conflicting information if you ask your friends what they think. But I’ve had no problems with Sabadell so far, so I’d recommend it to others.

 

Keep reading in Part II, which covers all the appointments you need to set up to establish your legal status in Madrid.

To any other experienced auxiliares who have read this post, what would you add to the information above? To new auxes, what else do you want to know? Let me know in the comments!

-Cathy

Originally Published on August 28, 2019.