Ten things that change minds
Not fifty. Cost, housing, safety, transit, English, climate, nightlife, flights, work rules and student tips.
For students who already know they're going
You picked the year abroad.
Now pick the city — and the room.
Rankings compare universities. corners. compares the places you'd actually live in: what a month really costs, how hard it is to find a room, and what students who went last year said. Then it helps you land.
Every number has a source
Tap any value for where it came from, when, and what it misses. Our own ratings say so on the label.
Then it doesn't leave you there
Housing, your programme's dates, groups that actually meet, and weekends inside your budget.
01 — FIND YOUR CORNER
Six questions, or skip them and compare.
The survey filters and ranks. Already have a shortlist? Go straight to the chart and put three cities side by side.
The survey
1
Language & academic environment
English-only, English courses abroad, or full immersion.
2
Monthly living budget
Four bands, from under $800 to $2,200+.
3
City environment
Metropolis, historic hub, coastal, or college town.
4
Social atmosphere
Fast-paced, laid-back, or close-knit.
5
Climate
Warm and sunny, four seasons, or flexible.
6
Two non-negotiables
Safety, nightlife, affordability, food, international students, or the outdoors.
The comparison chart
Monthly budgetSourced
Rent, food, transport and spending money.
Housing availabilityOur rating
How hard it is to find a room or a flat.
Safety ratingSourced
General safety and walking home at night.
Transit & walkabilityOur rating
Living there without a car.
English accessibilitySourced
EF index score for the city itself.
Climate & weatherSourced
July and January averages, rain across the year.
Social & nightlifeOur rating
Bars, events, and how many internationals are around.
Travel connectivitySourced
Direct flights home, and weekend trains.
Part-time workCheck it
What your visa allows. Verify with the consulate.
Local student tipsDemo data
Gyms, barbers, groceries, added by students.
02 — HOUSING
The part everyone says is hardest.
Every portal in one search, plus rooms listed directly by the students leaving yours. See who you'd live with before you message anyone.
◎
Every portal, one search
Idealista, Spotahome and Uniplaces side by side, filtered to your city and campus. Compare instantly instead of juggling six tabs.
✓
Corners Verified listings
Rooms we've checked: real address, real distance to campus, real photos. The badge means a human confirmed it.
◍
Map view, by campus
Switch from list to map and see price pins against your university, the metro, and the neighbourhoods students recommend.
☺
Who you'd live with
Direct listings show the flatmates — names, countries, what they study — before you send a message.
↻
Leaving? Sublet your room
The students arriving next semester need exactly what you're giving up. Hand it over in the app, not in a chaotic group chat.
Madrid, Spain · campus area
Search rooms, areas, unis…Map
AllRoomsFlatsVerified
Partner portalsCompare instantly
Idealista★ 4.5Explore →
Spotahome★ 4.8Explore →
Uniplaces★ 4.6Explore →
Direct student listings
€550 /month
VerifiedMS With Marco and Sarah
Contact / book room
€480 /month
SingleAE With Alex and Elena
Contact / book room
Leaving Madrid? Sublet your room
DepartureHousingEventsUni
Design mock-up. Those portals are the services students already use; no partnership exists yet, and verification is a process we'd have to staff.
03 — WHEN YOU ARRIVE
The first six weeks, handled.
Live in Bilbao now, with real places and real prices.
Nearby
Anonymous posts from verified students a few streets away. Ask which bus goes to the beach, find people for pintxo pote, vote up what helps.
Recs
Food, gyms, events and things to do — ranked by students who live there, tagged by price and day.
Groups
Surf, hiking, language exchange, football, film club. Found by what you do, not where you're from.
Weekends
Tell it your budget and how many nights. Eight destinations from Bilbao re-sort into what fits, split into travel, bed and food.
Your programme & uni
Key dates, the first-week checklist — transport card, empadronamiento, TIE appointment — who to ask, and what everyone's asking this week.
04 — OUR DATA
We label what we know from what we guessed.
Every row carries a chip. Tap it and you get the source, the date, and what the number doesn't tell you.
Real figures
Rents from idealista Q2–Q3 2026. Meals and safety from Numbeo. Climate from AEMET and IPMA 1991–2020 normals. English from the EF index 2025. Erasmus intake from European Commission microdata. Transport prices from the operators themselves.
Judgement calls
Housing availability, transit quality, nightlife and outdoors are our ratings — informed, but not measured. Part-time work rules are indicative and need checking with a consulate.
Placeholders
Student tip counts, example posts, listings and mock-up prices. Labelled everywhere they appear, and replaced before anything ships.
0Erasmus students came to Spain in 2024, more than any other country
0US students studied in Spain in 2023/24, second only to Italy
0Erasmus students a year in Bilbao, our pilot city
0of exchange students took part in no local activity at all
For universities and programmes
Your orientation lasts five days. corners. lasts the semester.
A programme page your office keeps current, a cohort code so arrivals are set up in week one, and a fortnightly pulse of what your students are asking about. Never a name, a post author, or a location.
05 — JOIN
Going abroad next semester?
Tell us where and when. Cities open in the order people are waiting for them.
06 — FAQ
Questions people ask first.
Is the housing section real?
Not yet. The portals shown are services students already use, but we have no partnership with them, and "Corners Verified" describes a process we would have to staff. It's a design mock-up until a city goes live.
Where do the numbers come from?
idealista for rents, Numbeo for meals and safety, AEMET and IPMA for climate, the EF index for English, European Commission microdata for Erasmus intake, and the transport operators for student passes. Anything that's our own judgement is labelled as our rating.
What does it cost?
Free for students. Universities and programmes pay for their programme page and the fortnightly pulse.
Why only Bilbao?
Because we're students in Bilbao, and a city app is worth nothing if the recommendations are wrong. Better right in one city than vague in ten.
Is Nearby anonymous?
To other students, yes. Moderators can always see who posted, which is what makes the rules hold. Posts that name or target a person are removed.