API students in Granada may choose to live with a host family, Residencia, or in a shared apartment with other students. Internet access is available in all three options. Participants who will be under age 18 for any portion of their session abroad are required to live in supervised housing with a host family and must adhere to a curfew set by API while still a minor.
Students who choose to live with families typically share a double room with a fellow API student and are provided with three meals per day, laundry, and cleaning service. Families provide an amazing opportunity to experience Spanish culture firsthand. Host families serve as a unique introduction into Spanish culture and may be made up of a married couple with children, a divorced or widowed woman, some of them with children still at home, or a family with some members living at home and others living outside the home. Students can opt for a single room for an additional fee.
Students who choose the shared apartment option generally live with other students. Shared apartments may be made up of API students, local and/or international students. Students benefit from having meals, laundry, and cleaning provided by the Spanish owner. Three meals per day are also provided with this option. On Sundays and during holidays, meals may not be served. Shared apartments may be run by dorms or families. In some cases, a family member may share the apartment. Some families spend a great deal of time with the students, while others may not join the students for meals or other activities.
Residencias offer students the opportunity to live with local Spanish, international students, and other API program participants. Residencias are not like American “dorms”, but rather, they are arranged more like traditional boarding houses. Students may share a room and a common bathroom. Everyone has access to the common living and TV areas, and internet access. Three meals/day are included in a common dining hall (at specified dining times), laundry service or facilities are available and regular cleaning provided. Mealtimes are set according to each residencia, and the meal schedule will be posted upon arrival. On Sundays and during holidays meals may not be served but students may use a small kitchen equipped with a refrigerator, microwave oven, etc. Most of the Residencias are co-ed.
