After having a pretty hectic start, it was now time to find a place to live. I was unsuccessful in my research from home so I thought it would be easier to get something when I got to Ibiza, as I could check out the flats for myself before committing. Armed with adverts in the local newspaper and various online sites, I dedicated the next few days to chasing up possible rooms. The Spanish rely a lot on whatsapp so I suddenly had loads of new contacts as I enquired about places. I also called a lot of people and it wasn’t long before I was swamped with different names and addresses; it was hard to keep track!
What I didn’t realise was how hard it would be to find a place. At this time of year, Ibiza is still in its summer season so rooms are scarce as people take any available space while working on the island. This meant that most of the places I looked at were still occupied and would only become available in mid-October. After visiting countless rooms, I was disappointed by what was on offer.
Honestly, the majority of the rooms I saw were not great. It made me realise what kind of conditions people live in when they work in tourist places like here. Because most jobs such as bar work don’t pay well and rents are sky high in the summer, people are forced to share tiny places. I saw one cramped four bedroom flat that was sleeping eight! It may look luxurious on the outside by behind the scenes Ibiza is much less glamorous than you think.
Although house hunting was a stressful and mainly unsuccessful experience, I met a huge variety of people while searching. Ibiza attracts all sorts; I spoke to one gay, Brazilian landlord who asked me if I wanted to join him and his friends at Pacha that night. I saw a room owned by a middle aged French lady who freely smoked weed in her house. One couple were Argentinian, one guy Italian; a truly international mix. My favourite encounter was with a sweet old lady who lived alone and invited me to sit down with a cold coke while we got to know each other.
Looking at so many places also meant I did a lot of walking! Every day I looked up different street names and explored different areas of town. I can now say that I know Ibiza pretty well, another plus of house hunting.
I soon realised that I was not going to be easy to find what I was looking for. Ideally, I wanted to share with young, Spanish people that I could talk to around the house and get to know well. However, because the island is so dependent on summer work, most young people go when the seasons over. I could see that by the winter there would be considerably less people my age. (This is also because the island does not have a university so lacks a student population) Therefore, the majority of places were older couples renting out rooms to younger workers, rather than a preferred student environment. This made it increasingly tempting to go with the easy option of sharing with other English Language Assistants, which would inevitably mean speaking less Spanish.
A week in to the search and I’ve seen enough. I’m hoping to confirm something in the next few days but I will still not have a home for the next week. So much for settling in before starting work! They say on this island you just have to ‘go with it,’ but it’s going to take me a while to adjust to this new tempo. Patience is definitely something I will master during my time here!
La Buena Vida 