Bloggin’ la vida loca

If you get (or already are) accepted at IESE, you will be most likely faced with the problem of finding an apartment in Barcelona. If you are not Spanish, worse, if you are not Catalan, this poses somewhat of a problem. There are a couple of issues you should be aware of:

• Do you want the luxury of living by yourself, but pay the higher price; or do you want to share costs with flatmates, which can be challenging if you pick the wrong flatmates? And how do you find flatmates in the first place?
• Do you want to live close to IESE, near the beach, close to Barcelona nighlife, in a lively or quiet area, expensive or affordable area?
• Do you want a furnished or unfurnished apartment? Unfurnished apartments are probably easier to get and more affordable, but you have the hassle of buying and putting up furniture.
• Are planning to go on exchange? If so, what happens to your apartment/room: sublet it or move out and find a new place when you return to Barcelona?
• And finally when will you get to Barcelona to find your apartment, how much time will you spend on the search, where will you live during the search?

Whether you want to live by yourself or live with flatmates is entirely up to you. I was lucky with my flatmates and lived with two IESE students, an American and a Spaniard. It is generally advisable to live with IESE students as they have the same schedule. I also recommed to anyone to live with a Spanish student, simply because you get to practice your Spanish skills and in case of any utility emergency, there is always someone in the house who can communicate properly with the “outside world”. Finding flatmates is relatively easy: as soon as you get accepted to IESE, you receive an access code to a discussion board where you can meet other incoming students and 2nd-year students.

If you decide to go for an unfurnished apartment you might be able to discover some hidden gems, but the trouble of furnishing an apartment yourself is not always worth it. Most students bought their furniture from the local IKEA in Hospitalet (the second one is located in Badalona). It is cheap and they offer a nice selection. The only drawback is you have to assemble every tiny piece. I personally do not believe that the time and effort is worth the potential savings in rent for unfurnished apartments, but others views this differently.

I am convinced that the most important issue, besides finding cool flatmates, is the area you want to live in. I created a small Google map outlining the relevant areas:

View Larger Map
Any Catalan reading this forgive my inexact district coordinates. The colored areas represent the districts I find to a certain extent ideal for IESE MBA students. If you click on the colored areas, you will see a description. My favourite area is the Western part of Eixample (blue area), because it is affordable, offers many nice apartments, shops, bars and clubs. I am currently trying to find something in Barceloneta (orange area), because I want to spend my last months closer to the beach. Barceloneta is pretty expensive and extremely far from IESE, but the outlook of waking up with the sound of the sea makes it all worthwile.

Finally, you should be aware that everybody in Barcelona is on vacation during July/August. So you should try to find a place in June since the IESE program already begins at the end of August at which point things can turn stressful. You can try to use the IESE discussion board to rent a room from 2nd-year students while you are looking for your own place. Another option is to stay at one of Barcelona’s many hotels. When I looked for my place, I lived at the very affordable Hotel Continental which offers free WiFi and free snacks and drinks 24/7.

I hope that I could give you a first overview and if you have any specific questions, leave me a comment or send me a message.

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Barcelona, IESE, MBA