Moving to Dublin
 

I'll be spending next year studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Does anyone have any advice before I go?

OK, that's ridiculously vague, so here are some specific things I'm wondering about:

(1) Cost of living (trying to figure out how much I should take in student loans)

(2) How hard will it be to find an apartment? I think I'll probably try to share. I've been browsing daft.ie, but I get the impression people want you to come see the apartments and I'd really much rather have something lined up before I leave.

(3) What should I do about a cell phone? Buy an unlocked before I leave or just wait and get one there?

(4)

Oops, pressed post before I wrote (4)...

(4) How common is it to have internet in apartments? Do I need anything special to make my U.S. laptop European internet compatible?

And then if anyone has any other advice (places to visit while I'm there, etc.) I'm interested in whatever anyone can offer.

Could you stay in a hostel/b and b while you search for accomodation? I would be concerned if you just book a place on the net - only last week a scam was revealed about a landlord taking deposits on an apartment that wasn't even for rent and several people lost big money. Apartments are expensive so maybe you will meet up with students who also wish to share when you get here? I know someone just moved into a 2 bed apartment paying 450 euro a month. A lot of modern apartments have internet but again not all. Cost of living - mmmm thats a hard one to answer. Dublin is expensive but there are cheap places to buy groceries - Lidl, Dunnes, etc. so provided you eat simply you can get by. Alcohol, petrol and taxis are very dear. Clothes not bad. If you want to list specific things you want to know the prices just ask. Cell phones maybe someone else can answer cos I honestly don't know for sure about that.

OK, I could stay at a B&B, I just don't like the idea of showing up in another country without knowing where I am going to live. Also, it seems like a waste of money to stay at a B&B indefinitely while I'm trying to find a place. The story about the landlord was a little alarming though, so maybe I'll reconsider. Any B&B suggestions?

I thought of another question: Is it safe for a 20-something girl to wander around at night? I'm going alone and, while I'm sure I will meet people eventually, I don't want to have to spend my first few nights locked in my room because I'm worried about going out by myself.

You could narrow your search for accommodation down to Clontarf, Marino, Fairview, North Strand, Ringsend, City Centre, Sandymount, as these are all about 30 minutes walk from Trinity. People I've met who are visiting seem to prefer to be a bit outside the city centre but not too far. Ranelagh and Rathmines are self contained and trendy and close to TCD also. As far as Daft is concerned, at the moment the market favours the tenent in so far as there are more people hoping to rent a room in their house than there are people looking. It's a bit soul destroying but if you go for the sharing option, you have to visit these place to make sure it suits you and try to impress on the other tenents that you would be a nice person to live with. You could try to arrange meetings from the US for the week you arrive and spend that time familiarising yourself with the areas you prefer. Here's another option, although it's not updated: http://www.mie.ie/Student_Accommodat..._Residence.htm

p.s. in terms of safety in the city - I don't think you have any reason for concern. It is entirely normal and safe to wander around and have a coffee, pint or bite to eat on your own, in the city centre.

Having been in a similar situation, only I was in Sydney, I'd suggest arriving a week early and plan on staying in a hostel or B&B while you spend time apartment hunting. Agreeing to a lease site unseen is risky in any city.

You will then have access to campus postings, people you meet (I found my place by talking to a barista in the coffee shop I was in searching the classified ads) and you'll get to scope out the roommates.

Many times the places that advertise heavily on the internet are geared toward business travelers/relocators, so their prices are good gauges because they tend to be at the top range...budget for those and consider yourself lucky if you find a place for less.

You could get an unlocked phone before you leave, but I'd suggest buying one in Dublin. Then you're guaranteed customer service and support for both the phone and the service right in your neighborhood... remember, the clerk at the cell shop might provide a lead on housing (use every opportunity).

Your laptop should work fine in Ireland. You will need an adaptor to plug it in the wall (a converter is not usually necessary for laptops). There are plenty of internet options you can purchase if necessary...Eirecom had a slow, but free dial-up option (you'll need a land line which charges you for every minute you use the phone though). You should be able to find some WI-FI locations and Trinity likely has some options for you as well.

Use the same safety precautions you would use in any city and you will be fine.

Consider posting on the Lonely Planet Thorntree board. There are a lot of college students there...many of them are Irish and British students just returning from a year abroad, and they very willing to help out a fellow traveler.

Have you contacted Trinity to see if they have an accommodations office ? Most universities do, so they should be able to help you.
I recommend you buy the phone before you go looking for accommodation as people will need a contact number for you. You can pick up a phone easily for under 100euro(try Grafton St - main shopping street)and buy credit for it as you go. The 3 main operators in Ireland are O2, Vodafone and Meteor.
www.daft.ie is the main accommodation website in Ireland so the prices here are the norm. On top of that you will have to pay bills for electricity, heating, tv, phone.
Normally when you visit places, you leave your name and number with the people who already live in the house and they will call you if they like you and want you to move in. You will need a months rent as a deposit.
It's probably best to move in with other students, that way you'll meet more people and have more in common. Most professionals do not want to share with students and specify this in the ad. The main areas you can look at which are within commutable distance are rathmines,portabello, ranelagh, harolds cross, terenure, drumcondra,phibsborough,marino, fairview, clontarf,smithfield,sandymount,north and south circular road.
Very few students live in appartments as they are very expensive. Sharing a house is the norm, you'll have your own bedroom and then share kitchen, bathroom and living room. Most houses have anywhere between 3-6 people in them.Often people don't know each other when they move in, it sounds strange but that's the way it works. View several places once you get here, that way you'll see what's on offer.
Dublin is very safe and very easy to navigate around. September is busy as most students are looking for accommodation after returning to Dublin after the summer.

Thanks for all your responses! It's all very helpful. You've all convinced me – I'll wait until I get there to sign any leases. But I do like the idea of at least setting up meetings for my first week before I go… And I'll be sure to get a cell phone first thing when I arrive so people can get in touch with me.

Another part of the reason I'm in a hurry to find housing is that some European friends of mine are going on a trip at the beginning of September that I'd love to join them for before I start classes. But for that to work, I'd have to have housing lined up before then. If it came time to leave for the trip and I hadn't found housing yet, it'd be a problem, if for no other reason than I'd have no where to leave my stuff. In order to find housing before the first week of September, I'd have to go over to look in August, and I get the impression there aren't many students around to find shares with in August. Also, Trinity has housing for students to use while they're looking for accommodations, but again, that's only in September. If I dropped the whole side trip plan, it would probably make my life a lot easier, but I still really want to go. That's not really a question, but if anyone would like to respond with "What on earth are you thinking!?!?!?!" or "I think that's feasible," that might be good.

"Use the same safety precautions you would use in any city and you will be fine." The trouble with that is, one of the safety precautions I use in many cities is that I don't walk around alone at night. For example, I'm from the Washington, DC area and while some parts of the city are perfectly safe, there are a lot of places I wouldn't go at night by myself. So I guess I should change my question to "What areas are best to avoid when I'm alone?"

Re: Converters/Adapters. I know I have a converter and I probably have some adapters kickin' around somewhere, but I wonder what happens when you plug something that doesn't need to be converted (i.e. my laptop, which is dual voltage) into a converter. I can't imagine how that would hurt anything, but I've heard its not good. Anyone know anything about that? I'm just curious.

Using a converter with your laptop will not be a problem.

Being from DC, you'll be in tune with issues of safety in Dublin. Just get to know the area before you venture out at night and ask the locals about safety concerns. I don't know the areas outside of city centre enough to give any detail on specific areas.

As for the trip with friends...well, I'd probably put finding a decent place to live for a year ahead of a short term trip with friends. Keep in mind that flights to mainland Europe are cheap from Dublin, so the chance for other trips is there.

On the other hand, I'm usually one to say "don't miss an opportunity." If you hit the ground running when you arrive... getting your phone (which can be activated immediately) and have appointments lined up, you could have a place in a couple of days. Not sure how much stuff you are taking with you, but there are places to stow your luggage at the bus depot and at Trinity (however, they might only be for the day).

Not sure I offered any info you didn't already know, but I thought I'd offer my two cents.

My daughter is currently in Trinity.
She would say that you should stay in Dublin 2 (all even number zip codes are south of the liffey; she was told thatsome places north of the liffey are a 'bit dodgy' at night.) Rent is expensive for what you get. Rooms in apartments/flats are small and it is not uncommon for kids to share a room and still pay 500 eoro EACH. Yes, look at Daft. And as others have said, do not rent sight unseen. You can stay in a hostel in the city center for a week while you're looking Globetrottersdublin.com. Use www.maporama.com to find where the streets are relative to Trinty. You'll be doing alot of walking. Bring sensible shoes (this child didn't listen to her mother). As for cell phones...she tells me that texting is the way to go, and, unlike here, you are not charged for receiving calls.
Apts/houses etc come furnished. You just have to supply your own sheets and towels.
Good luck and enjoy yourself!

One more thing.. about the internet.
My daughter brought her lap top. She has a good wireless card. It so happens that she is staying in a modern apt. building where several of the teants have subscribed to internet service, so she has been able to pick up a godd signal and 'borrow' the service. She found that most accommodation did not ahve cable/internet service. The school of course does. Also, she bought a Skype phone on ebay (www.Skype.com) and uses that phone service to contact us here in the U.S. as she did not have a regular land line in her apt. It turns out to be much cheaper than a phone card.

Thanks for the advice gshandle. Funny you should mention Skype - part of the reason I want internet in my apartment is that I planned to use their free internet phone to talk to people back home and I would look strange (and probably annoy people around me) if I started talking to my computer in a lab.

Have you tried the internet phone with your daughter? As long as you have a mic in your computer (mine is built in and I didnt even know about it), you can just talk through the computer and it's free.

I don't know about their phone service though. How does that work? You need to buy a special phone?

"you can just talk through the computer and it's free." I don't know about that. My son, the computer wizard, would have told her to use that if that were so. She makes the calls via her internet. her special phone is cordless. Visit Skype.com to see the details of how it works.

"I don't know about their phone service though. How does that work? You need to buy a special phone?" Yes.

The service works great. Yes, there has been the odd glitch, but what overseas phone call doesn't have glitches? She picked a local number (local meaning in our US city area code) and so it's like calling next door. I can call her number and there's an 'answering machine'that takes messages if she's not there. She calls me back on my home phone. The line is usually quite clear.
Visit the website for a proper explanation.

No, I swear, its free. I use it to talk to a friend in Italy. You just have to download their software and set up an account, which only takes a minute. It doesn't even ask you for a credit card or anything.

I don't dispute the 'free' part. There's something called 'Skype in' and 'Skype out'. My girl pays like 30 euro a year or something. Maybe it has to do with the country of origin or the fact that we both can call.I don't know. All I do know is that she can call me and I can call her and that she uses a special handset (she can make the call 20 ft away from the computer).Not all handsets are equal, you'll need to do some research.
and the cost of all this yakking is minimal. And it's a great way to go. I don't work for SKYPE either.

I spent a year at Trinity five years ago (M.Phil in Creative Writing).

Dublin has gotten very expensive, but if you're willing to live with a bunch of other people, then you can live fairly cheaply. I was an "older" student at 31, so, though my first place was with four lovely young men, I soon wanted more of my own space.

I lived in three different areas of the city: Clontarf (northeast of the city), Phibsborough (Dublin 7, at the very top of O'Connell Street), and Ranelagh (Dublin 6, just south of the canal). Of the three I would recommend Ranelagh or nearby Rathmines; they are still near enough to the city and have a lot of students living there.

I used daft for one of the places, but I got my first place off a board in the Trinity accommodations office (where you might also meet some possible roommates). It's a bit of a zoo at the beginning of September, but all the people who post welcome students. I was lucky because my best friend came with me for two weeks, so I was able to get a second opinion on my choice.

Dublin has indeed gotten a bit more dangerous in recent years. You can definitely walk around during the day, but keep your walking alone at night to a minimum. There are a number of buses and now the Luas (light rail) which can take you to the outer parts of the city.

I can't really advise you on some of the Internet questions because I think they've come far just in the past five years. Still, I would agree that you should buy a cell phone when you get there; there are a number of stores on or around Grafton Street. When I was there, the cell phones only charged you when you made a call, so it was free for me to receive calls from my family and friends in the States (not free for them, though!). Most accommodations don't have phones or have pay phones. In one of my apartments, I got a landline and it was very expensive: you had to pay making or receiving the call. When I was there, unlike in the States, texting was cheaper than actually calling.

Other advice I would give you is to use your student status to the max. You can get a lot of discounts as a student. One of the best is the ISIC card, which allows you to travel cheaply. I believe their office is on Aston Quay (southwest of the Liffey). Another discount is for transportation. When I lived in Clontarf, I got a monthly discount card for unlimited bus rides.

Try to refrain from buying clothes or eating out too much, as both are very expensive. During classtime, I ate in the cafes around campus, and that wasn't too expensive. Also, don't take too much with you; I made the mistake of taking many of my books and clothes that I was convinced I would need. In the end, it cost me an exorbitant amount to send them home.

I agree with mowrites, Dublin has become very expensive, and its not quite as safe as it once was to walk alone at night, some area's are safer than others. Ireland has changed a great deal in the past few years. My daughter is currently studying in Trinity, and she suggests you contact them regarding accommondation as you can live on campus but its extremely hard to get this accommodation. I also agree that Ranelagh is a nice and safe place to look for a flat/apartment, its very convenient for city centre, but still far enough outside to be quiet. Do avail of the student card as you will save quite a bit of cash with it, you get discount off the cinema, some clothes shops and you can also buy cheaper bus tickets with a student card. Some of the more up market apartments may have a landline, but that is rare. There is a restaurant in Trinity called "The Buttery", which has subsidised meals so thats worth trying, also the bars are subsidised! THere is a book store across the street called "Reads" , its the best value for books, stationary and so on. October will be madness, so try to get there before that, as other students will be coming on stream looking for accommodation also, and its survival of the fittest at that time of year! You will have a wonderful year in Trinity,my daughter is having the time of her life!! its a great college, make loads of friends, have fun and keep safe.

Just a note: when I say the "cafes around campus", I meant the cafeterias within the walls of the campus. Because my course was back in the science block (Oscar Wilde's birthplace is there), I ate in one of the cafeterias/snack shops there, which had sandwiches, snacks, and some hot food. There's also a wonderful crepe place on Nassau Street (maroon awning) that's great for a treat.

The skype thing..for what I know, the "pay" part is when you want to talk from a computer to a normal phone line or from a normal phone line to a computer. Between computers it is free.