[Scarecr0w]

Well i have to say, i had a great time in Europe. I went to amsterdam, berlin, bratislava, vienna, budapest and prague. I have never seen women so beautiful as the ones in prague and budapest, amazing! the thing that is a problem is the lack of english skills in those 2 cities. Few people speak english...
Now i ask, do you know where can i look for apartments to rent in those cities for 3 months for example?, i would love to live there for some time, but the restriction of 90 days bothers me..
I have been looking prices over the internet for prague and budapest, but seem a little bit higher than i thought...
Please share your ideas
thanks!

[Smitty]

Two ways to get gouged on renting an apartment overseas:
1) Be a foreigner
2) Find the place online, especially using a popular commercial website/source

My recommendation is to wait until you arrive in country to find an apartment. Hostels work fine for a few days until you can find a short-term rental and move in. It will be difficult to overcome the language barrier when working with the locals to find an apartment, but be persistent and willing to walk away.

[Icarus]

The best solution is to have local friends who know the real estate market and can accompany you when you inspect an apartment. They speak the local language, they know what a fair rent would be. This greatly reduces the chances of being ripped off.

If you don't have local friends, make some. Use CouchSurfing to stay in the city for two weeks, jumping from host to host (easier if you're a chick, I know). Go to CS meetings and parties. Even if you don't get pussy that way, maybe you can make some acquaintances who can help you.

[UgSlayer]

here's an idea: use the search function

[Scarecr0w]

(06-09-2012 09:40 AM)Icarus Wrote:  

The best solution is to have local friends who know the real estate market and can accompany you when you inspect an apartment. They speak the local language, they know what a fair rent would be. This greatly reduces the chances of being ripped off.

If you don't have local friends, make some. Use CouchSurfing to stay in the city for two weeks, jumping from host to host (easier if you're a chick, I know). Go to CS meetings and parties. Even if you don't get pussy that way, maybe you can make some acquaintances who can help you.

Yes good advice!
Now, if you go to eastern europe to live for a while, do you just use english or you make the effort(quite a big one!) to learn the local language??

[Icarus]

(06-09-2012 09:59 AM)Scarecr0w Wrote:  

Now, if you go to eastern europe to live for a while, do you just use english or you make the effort(quite a big one!) to learn the local language??

Budapest and Prague are not Eastern Europe. They are in Central Europe. Minsk, Kharkiv and Odessa are Eastern Europe.

Hungarian is a ridiculously difficult language. Czech is not much easier. Realistically, how much can you learn in 3 months? However, you can get some intensive language lessons, just to keep you busy during the day (partying all the time gets stale after a while). The benefits of learning a local language are manifold:

It provides you a "cover". If you go to Ukraine, many will assume you're a sex tourist. But if you're taking language lessons, many locals will be somewhat flattered and intrigued. Most tourists don't even bother to learn a few basic sentences in the local language.

[Scarecr0w]

(06-09-2012 10:05 AM)Icarus Wrote:  

(06-09-2012 09:59 AM)Scarecr0w Wrote:  

Now, if you go to eastern europe to live for a while, do you just use english or you make the effort(quite a big one!) to learn the local language??

Budapest and Prague are not Eastern Europe. They are in Central Europe. Minsk, Kharkiv and Odessa are Eastern Europe.

Hungarian is a ridiculously difficult language. Czech is not much easier. Realistically, how much can you learn in 3 months? However, you can get some intensive language lessons, just to keep you busy during the day (partying all the time gets stale after a while). The benefits of learning a local language are manifold:

It provides you a "cover". If you go to Ukraine, many will assume you're a sex tourist. But if you're taking language lessons, many locals will be somewhat flattered and intrigued. Most tourists don't even bother to learn a few basic sentences in the local language.

Yes you are correct, they are in central europe. it's the cold war mentality that people still
put hungary and czech republic as "eastern european" countries.
Still, has anyone in this forum managed to live in those countries for a couple of months?
how was the languague barrier experience in daily life?