One of the best choices besides going and studying abroad in Madrid, was choosing to stay with a local family. Not only do you get to eat local and authentic food but also get to truly improve your Spanish.
I got very lucky with my study abroad family. On the picture you can sitting next to me is Angela, my study abroad mom, and Luis, who is my study abroad father. Over the semester it has been nothing but a pleasure staying in our decently sized apartment about 30 min on metro away from the center of Madrid. If you’re deciding whether you want to stay in an apartment or to live with a family, I highly recommend staying with the family. Why would you choose to do your own laundry, buy your own food and not know anyone, rather than having local consultants, a private chef and someone washing your laundry and bedsheets.The fact that neither Angela or Luis speak a lick of English forces me to practice my Spanish everyday. Although we can’t discuss more intricate and specific topics, for the most part we communicate well and have zero problems getting our ideas through. I have had a couple times where I did have to pull out google translate to discuss Spanish history, but besides that it was smooth sailing.
Although sometimes the food can be disappointing, you must remember that it is free! And for the most part out of 10 meals, 7 will be good! One thing that neither me or my roommate knew was that for Spanish people, breakfast means bread with butter, or with some sort of spread. Even though the ISA program that I chose claims that you get breakfast, just keep in mind that it consists of pretty much nothing besides the bread.
Having a local contact that you can talk to on the daily basis is amazing. Here in Madrid recently there was a complete blackout due to the power grid having a massive cyberattack. A lot of the people living in the apartments didn’t have anyone to talk to and as a result, they were a lot more panicked. Since no one had any service or electricity, the only way you could hear of some news is if your local family had a battery powered radio. Being able to speak with Angela and Luis was a big relieve as they knew that nothing bad was going to happen.
At the end of the day, apartment or picking to live with a family, studying abroad is a great choice. Hopefully, I’ve convinced you that doing staying with a local family is far better!