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I'm a U.S. citizen currently enrolled in a master's program. I'd like to take a yearlong leave of absence and live in Dublin. My educational status means I can get a Working Holiday Visa which makes things a bit smoother. I have spent time in Dublin and love Ireland so I'm not going into this blindly. My ex is an Irish citizen so hopefully I can meet some people through her. 1. The Dublin craigslist looks to be mostly fake ads for weed. Where should I be looking for housing? To keep costs low a shared living situation would probably be best. 2. I have a remote job that pays $1000-1400 a month, but I will probably need to take another part time job. I have experience in IT and would love a gig fixing Macs or PCs. Should I just send a cover letter and resume to the shops in town or is there a job site I ought to be looking at? Is the market super lovely and will I end up just working at a coffee shop or shoveling manure or something? 3. Anything else an expat ought to know? 4. When will the bars start having drinks other than Guinness, Strongbow, and Jameson?
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Nov 12, 2016 20:22
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I'm not Irish, but I can tell you from a commonwealth country: Beware the chuggers in the city.
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Nov 13, 2016 06:14
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Hi, First off welcome over. I am Irish and rented in Dublin for 15 years so I can give some advice. 1. The best place to look is daft.ie There are a few other places but that is the one I always used. Prices are a bit crazy at the moment in certain areas. Thankfully with buses, trains and the Luas (tram) you are alright for transport. The further out of city centre the better. If you find a specific area you are looking at, go ahead and ask about it. 2. Like any city you can pick up temp office work easy enough. I would imagine that you won't have too much trouble, especially in technology. Don't hold me to that, but I would say you are alright. You can use agencies or a website like irishjobs.ie 3.It's like any other city. I hang out a lot with the marines at the embassy and know a good few Americans. There are places you can get American foods, but having visited the states myself we are not too different in general tastes and cultural stuff. We have Starbucks, Macdonalds, KFC, Burger King, Dominos, Pizza Hut and even TGI Fridays. But you have not lived until you get a garlic mayo and cheese fries with a fried chicken snackbox from Supermacs. Or bacon and cabbage with a pint of Guinness. Bit of advice: Watch Father Ted. It's a comedy show, but it is a great piss take on a lot of Irish culture and can teach you a lot of the nuances. 4. There are a TON of different drinks. You can get Bud and Coors and all that yank piss water in every bar or supermarket. I have never been in a pub where you couldn't get a Heineken or a Budweiser. Stuff like Sierra Nevada or Anchor Steam you can get in some pubs or off licences (Liqour stores) We have a pretty massive variety in most bigger bars and there are a few specialist places that only sell craft beer. I would say 90% of bars have a craft beer selection nowadays. (Galway Hooker is a good place to start) Dublin has a pretty big Eastern European population so we tend to have a lot of Czech and Polish beers. It can bit a little expensive to drink out. But you will be nicely surprised at our varieties. There are a ton of great pubs in Dublin for live music, improv comedy, open mic nights etc. This is my local off license http://www.redmonds.ie/ You will NOT be thirsty. If you like drinking spirits we have all the good Irish whiskys (There are a few places that will sell you a glass of 200 year old whiskey for a couple of hundred euros.) rum, vodka, Jack Daniels whatever you want. Most bars or restaurants have you covered. Any other questions, ask away! Edit: Internet packages can vary between pretty poo poo and excellent. Stay away from Eircom and Vodafone as they tend to be on the poo poo side. There is also a lot to see and do around Dublin for touristy stuff. Guinness storehouse and Jameson distillery are good. Haunted house tours, museums, Game Of Thrones tour of Northern Ireland and even the James Joyce tour. I brought some foreign girlfriends around on them and they are good fun. You won't be bored. If you plan to visit the rest of Ireland I would suggest Killkenny, Cork, Kerry, all around Northern Ireland and Wicklow. All of them within a few hours train journey of the city. In Winter, The sun can rise at 9am and set at 4pm. Just so you don't think the world is ending. Also, Irish people, despite popular culture can be a fairly quiet and almost shy bunch of people. No one is really going to call you "sir" and we might come across a bit odd at times so don't sweat it. We also loving hate Donald Trump. Lonos Oboe fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Nov 13, 2016 |
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Nov 13, 2016 18:01
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Thanks, that is all super helpful. Is there a guide somewhere to what the different areas of Dublin are like to live in? In the US I've been very fortunate to rent places in leafier, quieter areas that are still within rapid transit of the city center in Boston, NY, and DC. However I have also paid quite a bit for that privilege, so I don't know how feasible that is now. I would say that my max rent would be about 800 euros for a room in a shared house. I really don't mind living with a bunch of people if they are chill – is there a good place to look for potential housemates?
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Nov 13, 2016 20:54
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800 a month could get you a decent enough place to stay. Prices are insane recently for renting, but with that money you won't have to stay in a shithole, I promise you that. https://www.daft.ie is the go to website. Depending on where you are doing your course is really the deciding factor for where you are going to stay. There is no point staying on the south side of the city if you are doing the course on the north side. Dublin is split into post codes (eg: 123 fake street, Irishtown, Dublin 4) so when you are searching on https://www.daft.ie there is an option to filter out the post/zip code you want. That's a good place to start. Search for the number as close to the college or university you are going to and work from there. I know this map might not make sense to look at, but it's a good guide to the post codes. Ask away if you want to know if a place is good or bad. There are very few parts of Dublin that are universally shady. You can often have 2 grand a month apartments opposite council housing. Generally the southside is better. I live in Dublin 6 although Dublin 4 is a bit more desirable and upmarket as is D14 & 18. That said, there are some really nice spots Northside. Specifically D3 D15 and D3 (In places)  As I mentioned, Dublin has a pretty decent public transport system. If you can find something near a train or tram line you are in business. There are buses running everywhere and the college routes are pretty regular. If you end up near the city and cycle, you can rent bikes for something crazy like 20 euros a year. Lonos Oboe fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Nov 13, 2016 |
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Nov 13, 2016 21:33
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Great, that's very helpful as well. My ex went to Trinity and lives in Dublin 2, which I recall liking. I'm going to be on leave from my degree program in the US for the year. So I don't need to worry about proximity to an institution so much as it being a niceish area / its proximity to where I might be able to find some part time employment as a computer janitor to supplement my remote income. It's funny, I basically took the last year off from career advancement, etc. to just "be", make enough to get by working remotely, and was planning to find a real-rear end job again this May after graduating from the one-year master's I started in September. I'm only 24 though, and have a decent resume, so another year to live in another country and take some time to lollygag around Europe hopefully won't hurt me too much in the long run. Youth! Travel! Distance from the Cheeto Nazi!
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Nov 13, 2016 22:12
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The remote income is a big help. You could get lucky and find a spot fairly cheap with some nice people. I mostly have lived with foreign nationals and mostly my house sharing experiences have been great. I imagine you will do fine and have a great time. You will certainly find work. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and the like have big offices here and I know a few people who did temp work with them. Yeah, the great thing about Ireland is that it's a good springboard to sample Europe. Last year me and my girlfriend got lucky and scored return plane tickets to Paris for 50 Euros with Ryanair. If you have a decent supplementary income you could get some good weekend breaks in around Italy, Spain Germany or wherever. Congrats again and I am sure you will have a blast. Being young, single and with a decent income is a good place to be.
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Nov 13, 2016 22:55
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