Hola,

Nice to meet you all!

My wife and I are planning a trip to Salamanca, for Feb 4th, until August. We're very excited about our trip, we spent a week there in 2002 and my wife spent a summer there in 98.

Her plan is to try to teach English, and I plan to work limited hours as a computer consultant (for a US based firm). I am going to take one or more of these 2 hour a day for 4 weeks Spanish courses while I am not working, and my wife is 75% fluent so we are hoping to be able to communicate well enough to make some local spanish friends, but we also think we would like to meet some expats. So based on this I am wondering if anyone here knows of a group of expats in Salamanca? Also, we are reluctant to rent an apt. over the internet, but we don't want to not be able to find a place when we get there (we are planning to stay in pension for 2 weeks or so and look for apt.) do you think it would be hard to find a flat for 6 months in February? (we could reserve a decent looking place over the internet now)

Thanks! and any tidbits about Salamanca are welcome also!

Feliz Navidad
Sean

hey dospatos, welcome to the board and happy holidays

it's just ducky that you have joine the group sorry, bad one but i could not resist.

for those of you who do not get it, "dospatos" is "twoducks" in spanish.

well Sean, sounds like a great opportunity you have coming up. warning, after spring and summer in salamanca, you may never go back home to beacon

teaching english in salamanca: i do not know much about it but i would think it will be tough since salamanca is perhaps the spanish city with more native english speakers in spring and summer than any other location. this is due to the huge popularity of the city amongst study abroad programs and the very famed universidad de salamanca. i guess my assumption is based on the fact that it is swarming with american students who's only real way to earn any cash while here is to teach english.

however... the huge amt. of spanish students at the univ. of salamanca may counter that, in which case there would be plenty of classes for all.

computer consultancy: one snafoo you may have is internet access. while there are a lot of internet cafes around, i am guessing you will need internet at home? if you can, find an apt. that already has it since it can be a bit of a nightmare getting it set up. imagine not getting it until 2 months after you arrive

do some SEARCHES for "adsl" here on the board and you will see what i mean.

finding an apt.: well, i am guessing your budget is higher (correct me if i am wrong) than the average study abroad student so finding a place should not be too difficult. due to lack of papers (legal working/residency), the landlords may want you to put down a hwfty security deposit (3 months would not be abnormal or you may have to offer to pay the 6 months in advance to convince them you will pay the rent. please realize i am setting you up for worst case scenarios and you may not run into these problems at all.

personally, unless you go through a reputable real estate agency, i would not suggest you take something sight-unseen. problem is, a real estate agency will charge you a 1 month commission.

as for availability, i do not think you will have a problem finding available apts. if you stay in a pension and spend a good amt. of time really looking. your level of spanish will help a lot.

here are some webs to scope out to get an idea of what is out there and how much it costs...

- http://www.segundamano.es (salamanca results page HERE )
- http://www.idealista.com
- http://salamanca.loquo.com

groups of expats in salamanca: there are TONS of foreigners there (not nearly as cool as the multimadridians of course ) but mix and mingle with the locals as well. try not to limit yourself to ex-pat groups. you can find groups and events at places where ex-pats hang out (the irish pubs, university, etc...).

tidbits about salamanca: do some SEARCHES for "salamanca", after all, this is an all spain message board and you will find some good results on salamanca.

multimadrid SALAMANCA RESULTS PAGES

saludos,
jer...

Hey jer,

Thank you for such a quick and complete reply.

Also, thanks for the heads up on the internet access, this will be key! The last time we were in Salamanca there were a lot of internet cafes, where we were able to check email etc.. I wonder if they would let me plug a laptop in instead of using a house PC? it it normal to ask for this? I am imagining (in a pinch) this would work fine for the 3-4 hours when I need to work.

Otherwise I am excited about taking language classes, soaking in the culture, and learning about Spanish history. I can't wait to get to Madrid and head to La Casa del Abuelo - para camarones con vino!!


Thanks for your help, and Feliz Cumplianos
-Sean

hey dospatos.

quote:

I wonder if they would let me plug a laptop in instead of using a house PC? it it normal to ask for this?

not really. in madrid, there are only a few places that allow this and in salamanca i do not think there are any.

you are better off looking for an internet cafe with wifi but that may be a tall order.

you could look into an autonomous internet solution if you will need it daily.

see http://www.onspanishtime.com/web/mobileconnect.htm for more. the normal price is based on weekly rentals but for a 6 month rental, you can get the system for much less.

take care and thanks for the birthday congrats although it is jan. 31st.

saludos,
jer...

I studied in Salamanca in 2003 and there were internet cafes EVERYWHERE.

I went back in August 2006 and again March 2007 and saw a lot LESS of them... I'd say maybe of the 50 or so, probably 8 or 9 are still up and running.

Friends have explained to me that it is because of the growing affordability of home internet now and that even the school's provide them for their overseas students, who don't have access to it in their host homes.

Just FYI.

SpanishMonaLisa, your friends are right, that is exactly the reason. internet at home has become affordable to most spaniards.

i have noticed that a lot of the cafes that are still around have set up wifi so you can use your own laptop now, something they were not offering years ago.

saludos,
jer...