In the grand tradition of slackers who are tired of working and want to spend more time in the pubs, I've decided to go back to school and I'm applying to Irish universities 1) as a socially acceptable way to quit my job and spend an extended time in Ireland in search of the craic; and 2) to earn a master's degree (literature) -- priorities in that order.
Anyone have any advice on how much should I budget for basic living expenses (in Euros) each month to live in Ireland? I'd want to live in an apartment, not on campus or in digs . . . .
I'm currently looking at University College Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick . . . . Any inside advice on these universities? Any other universities I should consider applying to?
Is Limerick, aka "Stab City," really as bad as some say? Ireland's crime statistics pale in comparison to ours here in the U.S., and I have no fears here, so I'm not really worried about the crime, but I AM interested in whether a place is depressing or lively . . . . I've never been to Limerick (have spent fair amount of time in the other cities on my list), but it is seems somewhat centrally located, with Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway, and Mayo all relatively accessible for a weekend wanderer . . . .
I've been to Shannon, near Limerick, a lot for work and I think it's a great place.
As you said it's well located, has good facilities and easy enough to get to, with a major international airport (Shannon) nearby.
You are close to Kerry and the good parts of Tipperary, you're practically in Clare and I don't think you'd have to look far to find some good musicians in Limerick itself. I've always had good nights in town, never been to a session as my colleagues prefer the music at Dolans (a miked session on Tuesday nights with some great players but I'm not sure if just anyone can join in) or the general hubbub at Clohessys
I've never thought it be anywhere near as violent as your average UK provincial town (for example), like Aberdeen where I live.
But you only have to go across the river into Clare and you'll hear the most blood-curdling stories about Limerick.
The only really depressing thing is the dreary drive across the Midlands to Dublin, but then I've always been fated to do it in gloomy weather.
apparently, ireland is the most expensive countries in the EU but that should not put you off. im a student here in dublin and yes it is fairly expensive. rent here is anything from €300-€400 a month - it depends where you live. Be prepared to pay average €5 for a pint although the black stuff is cheaper. Food clothes etc. is always cheaper in bigger supermarkets and well known department stores. No matter what you're going to find music everywhere and this little island isn't too hard to get around. Trinity College Dublin is the best known colege in the country and also the most prestigious but UCD has also got a good name. Galway is a great city with loads of music and craic and the college is great there too. Either way you'll have a fantastic time. best of luck!
I've spent a substantial amount of time in Limerick and I love the city. UL has a trad music school, so there is tons of music in the city. But you have to know the scene to find it. It's not like Galway and other more touristy places where they loudly advertise music (which may be sessions or paid gigs). Dolan's is the only session I could find before I knew the scene, but after I got to know people, I found more sessions that just rocked.
Limerick is not as bad as its reputation makes it out to be. Most of the violence in the city comes from feuding Traveller families. So long as you're not a member of those families, you're probably fine. I think before Ireland's economic boom, it had way more problems, but I think they have cleaned a lot of it up in the last few years. It seems kind of drab and more industrial than most Irish cities, but I've been in parts of American cities a hundred times skeezier than Limerick. I never saw any violence or experienced any, and the city itself is pretty clean and in the parts of it I was in anyway, there were no vacant lots, dilapidated structures, and stuff like that. But you should be aware that people in Ireland will warn you about it. One B&B keeper in Kerry said to me and the girls I was travelling with, "You girls shouldn't walk around alone there at night. You shouldn't walk around in groups of two or three, either. You just shouldn't go anywhere there." I also was dating a guy from Limerick who was so paranoid that he wouldn't let me cross the UL campus by myself at night. But it never seemed to me that the city was more dangerous than any other city. I always wanted to show the guy I had been dating the sketchy parts of Springfield, Massachusetts. He'd never complain about Limerick again.
You might want to contact Brendan Taaffe, who is currently in a Masters program in Irish Trad at the University in Limerick. He has an on-line journal in which he recently wrote of being bashed over the head with a bottle while walking home from the pub. Check out brendantaaffe.com
Nancy Blake's in Limerick has a nice Saturday afternoon session, and just round the corner there's a Pakistani restaurant, The Yellow Lemon, delicious and reasonably priced.
Johnny Moynihan (ex Sweeny's Men, Planxty, De Danann) has a residency in a cheese shop at the Milk Market on Saturday lunchtimes.
Limerick is somewhat off the main tourist trail, so you are likely to meet a different breed of people there.
The union of students in Ireland advises that €6500 or
8,360.60 USD is the cost of keeping a student going for the college term. That will not include fees and will not give a very high standard of living. The figure of €300 to €400 s month is probably on the low side for accomadation, and will almost certainly involve sharing rooms/facilities.
Thanks all! The various perspectives on Limerick are fascinating to me. I guess I just might have to plan a scouting trip, and see it for myself. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. (Johnny Moynihan is a big incentive -- I'm crazy about Donal Lunny, but Cold Blow is one of my favorite Planxty albums.)
Being a little off the tourist track does have its attractions. I lived for a year in Bracknell, England, which is on the surface an ugly, soulless "new town" with its own crime problem (at least it was like that 15 years ago -- haven't been back since). I wasn't living in a picture postcard village, but it was interesting to be able to experience a workaday town not a tourist destination, and to be treated more or less like one of the crowd, once my accent mellowed a little. But then I was always 45 minutes away from the heart of London, too, so I didn't go stir crazy when I was tired of living incognito in a soulless new town!
I also probably wouldn't be bothered by what bothers others about Limerick. I grew up in and currently live in Norfolk, Virginia -- which sounds like Limerick's long lost soul mate, minus the feuding families: Industrial port city that is developing into something much more charming, but which has a dodgy reputation it can't quite shake.
Brendan Taaffe's blog is interesting -- thanks Matt. The bottle attack sounds very bizzare. He doesn't talk much about Limerick per se, and seems to be enjoying the whole experience, but there's a comment in his most recent post that would make the Limerick Chamber of Commerce cringe: "Living in Limerick, I forget that Ireland is a beautiful place . . . " Zing.
Backer, thanks for the union of students info. It pretty well jibes with the low end of my estimate -- I was thinking approximately 1,000 euro a month.
Dolly, I love your post, which implies (rightly) that the price of a pint should be considered part of basic living expenses. The price of pint in Dublin, particularly when you have to convert the weak dollar to the strong euro, really caught me off guard earlier this year!
I like Limerick, its a really nice place. Having said that - It wouldnt be my first choice for tunes. Anyhow - you could get hit over the head with a bottle anywhere. I'm visiting NY this year and the way the media portrays the US makes me just a slight bit nervous so I guess if you can handle the US you can handle almost anywhere.
Slacker applying to Irish universities
Slacker applying to Irish universities
In the grand tradition of slackers who are tired of working and want to spend more time in the pubs, I've decided to go back to school and I'm applying to Irish universities 1) as a socially acceptable way to quit my job and spend an extended time in Ireland in search of the craic; and 2) to earn a master's degree (literature) -- priorities in that order.
Anyone have any advice on how much should I budget for basic living expenses (in Euros) each month to live in Ireland? I'd want to live in an apartment, not on campus or in digs . . . .
I'm currently looking at University College Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick . . . . Any inside advice on these universities? Any other universities I should consider applying to?
Is Limerick, aka "Stab City," really as bad as some say? Ireland's crime statistics pale in comparison to ours here in the U.S., and I have no fears here, so I'm not really worried about the crime, but I AM interested in whether a place is depressing or lively . . . . I've never been to Limerick (have spent fair amount of time in the other cities on my list), but it is seems somewhat centrally located, with Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway, and Mayo all relatively accessible for a weekend wanderer . . . .
# Posted on May 3rd 2005 by Jams O'Donnell
Re: Slacker applying to Irish universities
I've been to Shannon, near Limerick, a lot for work and I think it's a great place.
As you said it's well located, has good facilities and easy enough to get to, with a major international airport (Shannon) nearby.
You are close to Kerry and the good parts of Tipperary, you're practically in Clare and I don't think you'd have to look far to find some good musicians in Limerick itself. I've always had good nights in town, never been to a session as my colleagues prefer the music at Dolans (a miked session on Tuesday nights with some great players but I'm not sure if just anyone can join in) or the general hubbub at Clohessys
I've never thought it be anywhere near as violent as your average UK provincial town (for example), like Aberdeen where I live.
But you only have to go across the river into Clare and you'll hear the most blood-curdling stories about Limerick.
The only really depressing thing is the dreary drive across the Midlands to Dublin, but then I've always been fated to do it in gloomy weather.
# Posted on May 3rd 2005 by Bren
Re: Slacker applying to Irish universities
apparently, ireland is the most expensive countries in the EU but that should not put you off. im a student here in dublin and yes it is fairly expensive. rent here is anything from €300-€400 a month - it depends where you live. Be prepared to pay average €5 for a pint although the black stuff is cheaper. Food clothes etc. is always cheaper in bigger supermarkets and well known department stores. No matter what you're going to find music everywhere and this little island isn't too hard to get around. Trinity College Dublin is the best known colege in the country and also the most prestigious but UCD has also got a good name. Galway is a great city with loads of music and craic and the college is great there too. Either way you'll have a fantastic time. best of luck!
# Posted on May 3rd 2005 by dollyparton#1
Re: Slacker applying to Irish universities
I've spent a substantial amount of time in Limerick and I love the city. UL has a trad music school, so there is tons of music in the city. But you have to know the scene to find it. It's not like Galway and other more touristy places where they loudly advertise music (which may be sessions or paid gigs). Dolan's is the only session I could find before I knew the scene, but after I got to know people, I found more sessions that just rocked.
Limerick is not as bad as its reputation makes it out to be. Most of the violence in the city comes from feuding Traveller families. So long as you're not a member of those families, you're probably fine. I think before Ireland's economic boom, it had way more problems, but I think they have cleaned a lot of it up in the last few years. It seems kind of drab and more industrial than most Irish cities, but I've been in parts of American cities a hundred times skeezier than Limerick. I never saw any violence or experienced any, and the city itself is pretty clean and in the parts of it I was in anyway, there were no vacant lots, dilapidated structures, and stuff like that. But you should be aware that people in Ireland will warn you about it. One B&B keeper in Kerry said to me and the girls I was travelling with, "You girls shouldn't walk around alone there at night. You shouldn't walk around in groups of two or three, either. You just shouldn't go anywhere there." I also was dating a guy from Limerick who was so paranoid that he wouldn't let me cross the UL campus by myself at night. But it never seemed to me that the city was more dangerous than any other city. I always wanted to show the guy I had been dating the sketchy parts of Springfield, Massachusetts. He'd never complain about Limerick again.
# Posted on May 3rd 2005 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Slacker applying to Irish universities
You might want to contact Brendan Taaffe, who is currently in a Masters program in Irish Trad at the University in Limerick. He has an on-line journal in which he recently wrote of being bashed over the head with a bottle while walking home from the pub. Check out brendantaaffe.com
# Posted on May 3rd 2005 by Matt Harris
Re: Slacker applying to Irish universities
Nancy Blake's in Limerick has a nice Saturday afternoon session, and just round the corner there's a Pakistani restaurant, The Yellow Lemon, delicious and reasonably priced.
Johnny Moynihan (ex Sweeny's Men, Planxty, De Danann) has a residency in a cheese shop at the Milk Market on Saturday lunchtimes.
Limerick is somewhat off the main tourist trail, so you are likely to meet a different breed of people there.
# Posted on May 3rd 2005 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Slacker applying to Irish universities
The union of students in Ireland advises that €6500 or
8,360.60 USD is the cost of keeping a student going for the college term. That will not include fees and will not give a very high standard of living. The figure of €300 to €400 s month is probably on the low side for accomadation, and will almost certainly involve sharing rooms/facilities.
# Posted on May 3rd 2005 by Backer
Re: Slacker applying to Irish universities
Thanks all! The various perspectives on Limerick are fascinating to me. I guess I just might have to plan a scouting trip, and see it for myself. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. (Johnny Moynihan is a big incentive -- I'm crazy about Donal Lunny, but Cold Blow is one of my favorite Planxty albums.)
Being a little off the tourist track does have its attractions. I lived for a year in Bracknell, England, which is on the surface an ugly, soulless "new town" with its own crime problem (at least it was like that 15 years ago -- haven't been back since). I wasn't living in a picture postcard village, but it was interesting to be able to experience a workaday town not a tourist destination, and to be treated more or less like one of the crowd, once my accent mellowed a little. But then I was always 45 minutes away from the heart of London, too, so I didn't go stir crazy when I was tired of living incognito in a soulless new town!
I also probably wouldn't be bothered by what bothers others about Limerick. I grew up in and currently live in Norfolk, Virginia -- which sounds like Limerick's long lost soul mate, minus the feuding families: Industrial port city that is developing into something much more charming, but which has a dodgy reputation it can't quite shake.
Brendan Taaffe's blog is interesting -- thanks Matt. The bottle attack sounds very bizzare. He doesn't talk much about Limerick per se, and seems to be enjoying the whole experience, but there's a comment in his most recent post that would make the Limerick Chamber of Commerce cringe: "Living in Limerick, I forget that Ireland is a beautiful place . . . " Zing.
Backer, thanks for the union of students info. It pretty well jibes with the low end of my estimate -- I was thinking approximately 1,000 euro a month.
Dolly, I love your post, which implies (rightly) that the price of a pint should be considered part of basic living expenses. The price of pint in Dublin, particularly when you have to convert the weak dollar to the strong euro, really caught me off guard earlier this year!
Cheers all!
# Posted on May 4th 2005 by Jams O'Donnell
Re: Slacker applying to Irish universities
I like Limerick, its a really nice place. Having said that - It wouldnt be my first choice for tunes. Anyhow - you could get hit over the head with a bottle anywhere. I'm visiting NY this year and the way the media portrays the US makes me just a slight bit nervous so I guess if you can handle the US you can handle almost anywhere.
# Posted on May 4th 2005 by bb