Keeping in Touch with Family Back Home

In general, it is natural for students to tend to keep in touch with their family and friends back home. CIDE recommends that you do so in order to prevent your family from getting worried for not having any news from you for a long time.

However, we do not recommend that you talk with friends and family all the time. You should bear in mind you are here in order to have an experience of immersion in the Spanish language and culture, and that is complicated if you talk, chat or e-mail your family and friends all the time.

• The University of Deusto campus offers you the chance to get free wireless Internet connection. Besides, you can also find multiple WiFi areas both in Bilbao and in Getxo, often for free as well. 

• Some WiFi areas in Bilbao:

• Plaza Nueva (Casco Viejo)

• Jardines de Albia (Abando)

• Plaza de Indautxu 

• Plaza Botica Vieja (Deusto)

• Plaza Levante (San Inazio)

• Universidad de Deusto

• Centro Comercial Zubiarte

• Biblioteca Bidebarrieta (Casco Viejo)

• There are also bars and cafeterias offering WiFi.

• Phone cards that can be used to call from any telephone (phone booths, regular phones, cell phones...) can be purchased in some newspaper and magazine stores and in government stores (estancos).

• Many CIDE students purchase either a cell phone or a SIM card to use with their own cell phones when they arrive in Bilbao. Many others just keep their home cell phones and stay in touch with their family and friends at home via applications such as Whatsapp or Skype using wifi connection.

• We recommend that you check with your service provider back home and see whether they have some sort of plan that can cover you while in Europe.

• There are several cell phone companies in Spain. The most popular ones are MoviStar, Euskaltel, Vodafone, Orange, and Yoigo. They all offer competitive rates in the rechargeable card system. You can find many stores of these companies in Bilbao where you can get information about offers and prices.