Advice for moving to Ireland?

Question

I am planning to attend a university in Limerick, Ireland next year and I was wondering if there is anything I might need to know before moving there ( I am from the US)? Or maybe just some interesting info that might not be known to someone from so far away...

Answer 1

Sign up on www.boards.ie and go onto the UL(University of Limerick) forum and you will get all the info you need from UL students.

Here a direct link to the UL forum on that site

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisp...

Anyway everyone knows NUI Maynooth (The University I go to) is the best University  in Ireland. :D

Answer 2

UL is a great campus with good accommodation and facilities.

Ireland is expensive.

Limerick city has a bad reputation for gang violence, but it's probably not as bad as some of the US equivalents.

Ireland is very multicultural now. Dublin is like a mini version of London in that regard.

You will be well placed to visit some great countryside, particularly in Clare, Kerry, West Cork and Connemara. Make the most of it.

Not every Irish person drinks Guinness and some people don't even drink.

Learn a few words of Irish and use them now and then at appropriate occasions. You will be amazed how much street cred that will give you.

If you're based in Ireland, you are well-placed to visit most of Europe through the cut-rate flights of Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

Bring a raincoat or equivalent.

Enjoy!

Answer 3

Take lot,s of money Ireland is expensive.

Answer 4

Limerick is known as stab city, but it's not that bad at all. It has an unfair reputation. There are areas that you should avoid after dark, just like in any other city in the world.

Fro an idea of accommodation and how much it is, look at the daft link below.

As you're probably aware, Ireland is very expensive to live in. Especially for a student. If you were to get a job over here, bear in mind that the minimum wage is around 8.65 euro per hour. That's about 12.50 or so in US dollars, I think.

The Irish are very welcoming - if you don't harp on about how you thought they'd all have red hair and freckles and wear green, then you should fit in just fine. Treat them like you would want to be treated and you will have a fantastic time.

Answer 5

Limerick isnt the best area however i went abroad to ireland for a semester and loved it there.  Travel go everywhere all of it is beautiful.  As for cloths bring a little of everything the best is a coat that is waterproof and has a linning that you can take out in the spring when it is still rainy but not cold.  Learn about the culture before you leave, there are some books that really are useful there is an Adapter guide that tells you all about the money, how to travel, how to find place to live, job etc. Also travel guides are good for when you first get there tells you all the major stuff around but make sure to go off the map to explore there is so much in Ireland and its all beautiful. Have Fun I miss it there so much.

Answer 6

Advice is don't bother, I live in the country I know.

Limerick is not too bad You just got to learn that night time is stabtime and some parts even the garda (police) wont go. other than that its a good place to buy stuff and some good (expensive clubs.)

Clare has lots of places to go and see like the caves in the Burren which were a lot better before they tore the middle out and concreted everything.

Bunratty is OK, expensive if you get tourist trapped as is Cragganowen island. The days they get the actors in is the best time to see it. Cliffs of Moher tallest cliffs in Ireland with a big tourist trap craved into the top of it.

Expensive is the word here, 1st or second most expensive place to live in all of Europe, it varies. Food is horribly overpriced as is virtually no competition between the controlling supermarket companies. Its going to get more expensive next year. That is being blamed on the US trying to make fuel out of food. Electricity is expensive and alone with eircom the phone people is near monopoly of control. If your looking at seeing people at the bog cutting turf, forget it most people buy hopper cut turf and its being outlawed to cut you own for those that own their own bogland. Perfectly fine for bordnamona and its industrial machine to stripcut the bogs though. You want a car expect to pay stupid money for one and fuel about €5.5 a gallon here. Taxis will rob you and "public" transport exist only in the bigger cities. its sparce to nonexistant in most places.

If you go drinking obey the rules like no drinking outside, no pissing against the wall and always dump you drink if you go to the toilet unless you bring it with you to make sure no one spike its, a drunk american would be quite funny, so learn to pace your self. Guinnesss in not the main Irish drink most of its sold in africa. order what your used to bar will probaly have it.

Mainly try to have fun and avoid the culchies.

Answer 7

Pack a lot of clothing, as in 'everything you think you might need.' Clothing is not cheap in Ireland (not much is, really). Bring attire that tolerates cold, damp weather well, because you'll be seeing alot of it.

And brace yourself, Bridget. You're going to the most beautiful land on the planet.

Answer 8

***I love Ireland!****

Dublin is great and so are the small towns in the country. Use the trains and buses for transportation around the city and to see the rest of country.

If you fly to or from Ireland and the US, remember not to stand in the long International lines if you are flying to another city in Ireland, it saves you lots of time. Delta has had really good fares in the fall, I once paid $438 for a round trip ticket from Atlanta to Dublin.

I was always told never to go to Limerick, by my Irish girlfriend, she called it stab city.

Answer 9

Take a raincoat.