As part of my course the year out would have been spent in the Spanish Basque capital, San Sebastian. I never made it to the year abroad but I did get to spend a month there in January 1988 on a kind of preview visit. The city is fabulous, extremely chic and well worth a visit if you get chance.
Needless to say, we weren't really interested in the cultural side of the city. We stayed in a cheap downtown pension and spent most of our time in bars. The work at college was minimal, lectures starting at 4 in the afternoon until 8pm tops. We partied hard for the whole month! In fact the only Spanish I used was 'cuba libre' (the drink not the political statement) and 'un bocadillo de tortilla por favor'. Oh and another specialty of the region 'Pacharan', a sort of Spanish sloe gin. http://spanishfood.about.com/od/drinks/a/pacharan.htm
The number one single at the time