How to find the best accommodation for your Erasmus

This article can be a help for future Erasmus exchange students.

Whenever I go somewhere new, I get super excited about it, and I start to get some knowledge of the place beforehand. This time it was a bit different, I didn't really learn a lot about Portugal, especially Porto before moving there. I probably thought I will have enough time to explore it.


One of the first things that will get into your mind when you receive the acceptance is the accommodation. Hmmm.. You need to find a cheaper accommodation in order to do some fun stuff with your scholarship money.  

How to do so?

• Check every Facebook group with accommodation offers in the area
• Read the reviews of the houses from former residents
• Calculate your monthly input so you can see how much you are willing to pay for your  accommodation
• If you have any friends in the city, ask them to help you find places or check them out
• Check out the offers from ESN (https://esn.org/accommodation)
• You can also contact the ESN section of your future city

I found my house on https://studathome.com/, which is one of the best solutions if you go to Porto. They have a lot of houses for a very good price, so definitely check them out.

Another tip if you wanna pay less is to find a person who shares the room with you. I, fortunately, found Judit, and even if our room was the most expensive in the house, we paid the least amount of money (the room was 320€).

You should look for a house which is between the city center and the school, or close to the public transport. We were lucky with this as well because the house was totally in the middle, and I could go to school by metro, and also to the center in 20 minutes.

The story begins

I was, and I am still just a regular university student, but I have something in my genes that tells me to always move forward and grab the opportunity. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone with this, but every story is different, and this is my story.

After graduating from high school, I needed time to think about my future, to get to know myself better, and to decide to go to university or what to do. I took a year off and went to Finland to be a babysitter for 7 months. It was a very eye-opening period in my life. Before moving there, I was afraid to speak a different language, afraid to move out of my comfort zone and afraid of a different life.

After I've returned to my country, I went to South Korea with my sister for a month just to travel and enjoy the time, and it was also a huge experience for me, especially because Korea was always my dream, and I'm so grateful for it.

In the upcoming years, I started the university in Budapest, but I had this urge in me, what I couldn't satisfy with my normal life. What I did was that I joined the Erasmus Student Network (shortly ESN), and I became a mentor for the international students, so even if I was at home, I had an international environment around me. Later on, I moved one step forward, and I applied to be the PR Coordinator in ESN. I became a full-time volunteer, and it surely made my university semesters better. I organized a trip to Venice and a trip to Croatia during the semester, and it was all free for me, just needed to take some pocket money, but that's all. Those were amazing times next to a hard semester in school.

And then it was time. I heard a lot from others how Erasmus changed their life, and it's an unforgettable experience, so I grabbed the opportunity and went with the flow. It was a rough application procedure but I got the email that I can go to Porto for Erasmus. 

That's where my story begins now!