Living in Ireland

[DrTennis]

Hello, I've been following some of the threads regarding med school in Ireland, which have been really informative. I was in med school in Mexico, got ill, and was forced to come home to California. Anyways, I was in med school for one month and a half so I want to find another med school I can attend if accepted. My questions are:
Can anyone tell me of the living conditions in Ireland? Specifically, are there alot of conveniences you can find that are here in the US? Do most students get a car while there? I've only travelled and spent some time in a few third world countries, but I have never been to anywhere Europe or Ireland, which i heard is comparable to the US. It would be great is anyone can shed some light on this. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[med2UCC]

Hello, I've been following some of the threads regarding med school in Ireland, which have been really informative. I was in med school in Mexico, got ill, and was forced to come home to California. Anyways, I was in med school for one month and a half so I want to find another med school I can attend if accepted. My questions are:
Can anyone tell me of the living conditions in Ireland? Specifically, are there alot of conveniences you can find that are here in the US? Do most students get a car while there? I've only travelled and spent some time in a few third world countries, but I have never been to anywhere Europe or Ireland, which i heard is comparable to the US. It would be great is anyone can shed some light on this. Thanks.

Ireland is similar to most Western countries, although they have a very relaxed attitude towards time. I don't know what you mean by conveniences, but Ireland has plumbing Seriously, Ireland is a great place to live, and has everything you would need to be comfortable except Kraft Dinner, which some of my colleagues seem to think is essential but which I can personally do without (oh, and peanut butter - apparently the local peanut butter is not very good). Most students at UCC don't bother with a car - insurance costs here are very high, especially for males, and for the most part a car would be more trouble than it was worth. Cork is pretty small, so it is easy to get around, and it does have public transit for those times when it is raining hard or you are feeling lazy. Coming from California, you might find the climate a bit of a drawback ,as it rains a fair bit in the winter, and it never gets really warm here. On the other hand, it never gets really cold either. It takes a few weeks to get used to them driving on the other side of the road (I kept worrying that they would collide since they were on the "wrong" side of the road ) and then you can forget that you are in another country for long stretches of time, until you see someone selling shamrocks by the side of the road, or someone offers to pray for you. Good luck with you decision.

 

[leorl]

Well...Ireland isn't like a third world country or anything. Pretty much you can find everything you can in the US, but resources may not be as readily available here. Like the schools would have up-to-date computers/printers but good luck trying to find one free in peak hours, you'll have to wait in line. So be ready not to have everything you're used to exactly when you want it. Also, things are more expensive here. So if you can get over that, you'll find it's pretty comparable. They're getting better too. A couple years ago, dsl was just in the works. Now, you can find it pretty cheap and more places are going wireless. Mobile phone technology is good. etc

Also, you'll have to really get used to things not being as spacious. The apartments/houses are smaller, and the Irish are (were) small people - you may have to duck under a few doorways, especially in the country towns. But that's another thing you get used to - Europe is more crammed.

I would Not recommend getting a car. Especially if you're in the big cities. First of all, car prices aren't too bad but insurance is, unless you bring insurance with you from the US. Then, finding a garage to park it in or even parking in your apartment complex's garage is v. expensive (like 150 per month). Then, getting around in a car isn't great...traffic backs up big time. Get a bike instead...a lot of times it can be faster than having a car. In my class, I think I know of 2 foreign students with cars. Another one brought his Ducati motorbike.

 

[Mike MacKinnon]

hehe

If i get in i plan to sell my care and bring my bike too. (honda cbr 600rr)

Seems more economical and easy to get around

 

[eastofnorth]

hehe

If i get in i plan to sell my care and bring my bike too. (honda cbr 600rr)

Seems more economical and easy to get around

I've been chuckling over this thread. Being able to get around easily without a car is one of the biggest PROs on my list for Irish schools!

Seriously, I love taking the bus. The enforced schedule is a huge stress relief and comfort... it really helps draw the line between work and home, prevents me from working from 7 am to 10 pm, and gives me at least 10-20 minutes of listening/thinking/observing/relaxing. I'm ready to send in my acceptence letter just thinking about it! And I haven't even applied yet...

 

[leorl]

Bus?! I can't wait til I can not take the bus! That's why i bike. But when you're stuck on a bus in traffic and it takes you like an hour and 10 minutes to get home while some pervy drunk is hitting on you at 4 pm, that is not my idea of a stress relief. Good luck having a 10-20 min bus ride during rush hour. You have to play with your time carefully to avoid the pleasantries of public transport. You also have the Luas. Smelling the armpits of people in crammed Luases isn't fun either.

 

[Mike MacKinnon]

One Word: Motorbike

Another word -> armpits = Ew.

 

[DrTennis]

Thanks for all the info. It has definitely made me more comfortable knowing that living conidtions in Ireland are like most Western countries. I will apply soon.

 

[leorl]

If I could afford a motorbike, I'd get one!. But I can't ;(. I will definitely get one when I grow up .

 

[Badkarma25]

one thing i can advise people on who are thinking of coming to dublin from north america; try to begin to adjust your attitude to being inconvenienced on an almost daily basis trying to do things ath ome that you could do in the snap of your fingers. for example...if you lose/forget your bankcard pin, forget getting a new one by resetting it with the cute little machine you have at home. you have to wait 3 business days for htem to mail you a new one....then of course the idiot at the bank forgets to put in the request so it takes over a week....

or you apply for a student mastercard from a particular bank, and they tell you to bring in a bank statement as proof of address, only they don't take their own statement (which THEY mail to you) as proof of your address....a little backwards? YES.

maybe i just have bad luck or you think i'm exaggerating. but seriously, you need to try to prepare yourself for moments like this on a daily basis where you find yourself dealing with stupid people applying stupid rules that make no sense. if you think you can deal wiht it and not snap, ireland might be a good place for you.

 

[eastofnorth]

one thing i can advise people on who are thinking of coming to dublin from north america; try to begin to adjust your attitude to being inconvenienced on an almost daily basis trying to do things ath ome that you could do in the snap of your fingers. for example...if you lose/forget your bankcard pin, forget getting a new one by resetting it with the cute little machine you have at home. you have to wait 3 business days for htem to mail you a new one....then of course the idiot at the bank forgets to put in the request so it takes over a week....

or you apply for a student mastercard from a particular bank, and they tell you to bring in a bank statement as proof of address, only they don't take their own statement (which THEY mail to you) as proof of your address....a little backwards? YES.

maybe i just have bad luck or you think i'm exaggerating. but seriously, you need to try to prepare yourself for moments like this on a daily basis where you find yourself dealing with stupid people applying stupid rules that make no sense. if you think you can deal wiht it and not snap, ireland might be a good place for you.

I feel like this experience is an international phenomena (hello 'Office' series) not just Irish. But I agree with your post -- even from family to family within the same culture, you see discreet but important differences in perspectives. Things you take for granted in one place may not be considered important to the next person in another place. Like armpits (I can't smell) or pervy rushhour flirting (Pays to be an Amazon with a NYC attitude).

But speaking of student mastercards... can we use our current credit cards during our entire stay abroad? Actually, I expect I won't be spending much $$ at all but just in case... have you had much trouble juggling money/cards?

 

[leorl]

You can use your current US credit card - Visa, Mastercard. But keep in mind some credit cards have a hiddle currency exchange fee so you get charged more for the transaction.

 

[leorl]

um... hiddle = hidden

 

[TheDervish]

What's the student body like in Ireland? Are you integrated with other Irish students in classes, or are you strictly with USA and Canada students? What's the general demeanor of students? Are there a fair number of students who are motivated and want to study, or is 90-100% of the student body from North America strictly slacking off, living day to day in a contant state of inebriation, and generally treating their stay like a vacation?

 

[med2UCC]

What's the student body like in Ireland? Are you integrated with other Irish students in classes, or are you strictly with USA and Canada students? What's the general demeanor of students? Are there a fair number of students who are motivated and want to study, or is 90-100% of the student body from North America strictly slacking off, living day to day in a contant state of inebriation, and generally treating their stay like a vacation?

You are completely integrated with the Irish and other students, basically like an International student at a Canadian university, just part of the class, but with a weird accent. For example, in my class at UCC there are 16 or so North American students (who generally speaking work harder than the Irish students, since the government isn't paying our tuition), about 10 students from the Middle East, 1 from Norway, 1 from England and about 30 from Malaysia. The other 60 or so are from Ireland. About half the class really works, and the rest work an much as they have to to get by - but that being said, this year it is a lot harder to slack and get by (guess which portion of the class I represent ) I would say that none of the North American students are in a constant state of inebriation and treating their stay like a vacation - anyone who tried that here would get bounced out of the class pretty quickly, even though the 1st two years were not exactly difficult. This year it would definitely be a bad idea; between pathology and pharmacology, slacking will guarantee you a repeat year - very expensive.

 

[Unch]

Being a newbie (a year behind Med2UCC) at UCC, I wholly concur with that analysis. I don't know who/where on the 100% party scene but I don't know any NAmericans, in Ireland, Oz or elsewhere, who afford intense partying financially or mentally (beer is expensive!). They ease us in to the hard work here but then there are no illusions that we'll have plenty on our plates and need to keep up. Some of the Irish students are quite lax in the beginning since it's their first semester at College but they'll get engaged pretty quickly at first exams. For the rest of us, we're very appreciative of our spots here in the class and very cognizant of the financial expense.

So Med2UCC, I can't remember who's who with on-line names. PM me and remind me.

 

[TheDervish]

I was pleased to read all the posts here, and did not intend to infer that the comments of my last post had anything to do with Ireland or programs there, rather, they were based on things that I've heard from other students going to different programs and other countries, and such.