Residencia San Marius

The water dispenser in the dining room was the most useful thing about the stay. But I won't be back. We probably had the shabbiest room, with a tiny window onto a narrow courtyard instead of a proper one. Shut it and you swelter; open it and you're choking on a sewer-like smell. The shower curtain needs replacing to get rid of the mold stains, which were even on the rod.

Noise from the surrounding streets is constant because it's a party area, and the Wi-Fi never works. Management ignores complaints and never deals with them. The bathrooms are dirty, the rooms have old, dilapidated furniture, and the cleaning staff are rude and ill-mannered.

The garden is the least of the problems here. The communal areas are filthy and deplorable. The kitchen is a nightmare, with no oven and a microwave that's been broken for six months. The stovetop is constantly covered in oil spilled by careless students. Rooms are supposed to be cleaned weekly, but in practice you have to wait until they're really dirty before complaining, then watch the work get done laboriously. Many students come here to party for a year, come home drunk every night, and regularly wake even the more serious residents. Contracts signed on arrival are often broken mid-term because of psychological breakdowns or health problems, and it's often hard to leave without losing money. The bravest try to stay until the commitment period ends, then leave weakened. The pictures are misleading, and there's no oven, by the way. The website's visual marketing seems to be the only thing done well. The communal living fees are so filthy and deplorable that it's best not to pay them. Management is bordering on illegality, with unsanitary conditions and staff paid under the table and/or exploited. Avoid this student residence at all costs. If you can't go anywhere else, you should live on the street, it's much better.

I generally give it a 9.9 out of 10. The food is divine, homemade, healthy, and varied. It's a comfortable, clean place, with families from a range of cultural backgrounds.