Things International students should know before coming to tcd/and living in Ireland?

London2005

What sort of things do i need to know, to help me survive both about tcd and dublin?

What mobile phone networks do you recommend? How far is the airport to tcd? etc

Imuch appreciate the advice

Map:



But that's not very helpful. Go to http://www.dto.ie and look for the journey planner (lie and pretend you're going to walk/cycle to the airport).

Outside the airport, there's a number of buses & taxi ranks. Taxis can be expensive, so you might want to get the aircoach (€7 I think, quite comfy, and drops you off at Trinity) or the 16A (brings you past Trinity). Cost from Airport on 16A should be around €1.80, but might be more (note, you will need exact change or a bus ticket, and notes aren't really accepted for change).

Crash

1.80 for the 16a, aye.

dj_linehan

there are 4 mobile networks at the moment if u are staying in dublin(not that u should) meteor has the best pay as u go (prepay)deals at the moment but the are all much the same!

Endymion

why wouldn't he stay in dublin, he's going to tcd.

TCD is in the heart of dublin, that means the centre of Irelands public transport system.

O connel street is a pretty ****ty street and dublin night life can be messy.

ApeXaviour

Yeah I'd also recommend meteor as a good prepay mobile phone network. Those there's not much difference between it, vodaphone and O2. You'll find a lot of students are on meteor though and intra-network calls/texts are cheaper.

Airport is what? 10-12km outside the city centre? 16A is your best/cheapest bet. But like the others said make sure you have exact change.

Dublin is divided almost perfectly in half by the river liffey. In the city centre you'll tend to notice a bit of a shift of social um... socio-economic-affluence-ness (damn I need a thesaurus) on either side of the river. I guess it would be like eastend and westend london? Of course there are exceptions too: Christchurch area on the southside for example due to a methadone clinic there and Liffey street on the northside which is like a spill-over of templebar.
http://maps.google.co.uk/ has dublin down to a T if not the rest of the country. You can very easily see the imposing status Trinity has on the city centre with that too.

Public transport is good... IF you're not a tourist. It's mostly buses too for the moment. You have to know where you're going and what that place looks like to get off on the right stop. The bus drivers can actually be quite helpful though unlike continental drivers as they can see how it might be difficult. Buses rarely run on time and nobody seems to mind that much. So apart from our neutrality we're nothing like the swiss.

Dublin is a very expensive city, I'd even say moreso than London, especially for alcohol. Luckily you'll be hanging around with broke students. So just do what they do for nights out and drinking and you'll be fine with money. Oh yeah and learn to enjoy bavaria out of the can. You'll need that particular "skill" for the pav (the better and far cheaper of the two college bars).

Time Magazine

Now the only College pub, it seems.

Right, there is a sizeable little English community in Trinity. They're very welcome and despite what many English people seem to think about the Paddies, are respected and liked. But there is a little bit of a "Team England" thing going on within the College whereby the English lads all gang together and are so altogether English. You'll come to understand this more with time, but basically I'm saying is to mix with us Irish plebs as well and it'll be all good .

Dublin's a nice city, a nice buzz. My best tip is to simply not look scumbags in the eye ever, even for 0.00001 of a second and you should be fine.

Sawa

Ibid wrote:

Now the only College pub, it seems.

My best tip is to simply not look scumbags in the eye ever, even for 0.00001 of a second and you should be fine.

Oh god yes this is very important, no one likes to be stared at but sh!tebags don't even like to be looked at. if you need to look at them look at their shoes which they probably stole....
and you'll know which ones they are btw you just will especially as you walk up dame street towards thomas street.

Endymion

oh dear god, enough with the avoiding scumbags advice. Avoiding eye contact is a sign of weakness, looking at your or their shoes is a flashing neon sign saying beat me and take my money.

Advice; always know where you are and be aware of your surroundings, like any major city.

europerson

Ibid wrote:

Right, there is a sizeable little English community in Trinity. They're very welcome and despite what many English people seem to think about the Paddies, are respected and liked. But there is a little bit of a "Team England" thing going on within the College whereby the English lads all gang together and are so altogether English. You'll come to understand this more with time, but basically I'm saying is to mix with us Irish plebs as well and it'll be all good .

I find the English lads the loveliest people. I mean, if we Irish were at college in England, we'd all gang together too.

My best tip is to simply not look scumbags in the eye ever, even for 0.00001 of a second and you should be fine.

He-he!

and you'll know which ones they are btw you just will especially as you walk up dame street towards thomas street.

Why, is that a dodgy area? I used to think it was but it seems fine lately...... my new flat isn't too far away :eek: I didn't get a flat in Dublin 1 cos of all the scumbags. You can't escape them....wish I had found a flat in Ranelagh...ahh.

As for the English people, the ones in my classes all tend to blame the Irish for being unfriendly and cold towards them, when in reality, they make no effort at all to be friendly and clung together in their cliques from Day One. I tried talking to some of them and none would give me the time of day, I got the feeling I wasn't worth talking to if I didn't go to Harrow or Eton. Funny thing is I was born and lived in England myself but they all see me as Irish. When I mentioned I was English one day in French oral they started acting friendlier! Of course, these are just the ones in my classes, and they all seem to be very very rich 'it' girls and boys. I have met loads of other English people who aren't posh and they fit in grand. Just don't act stuck up or make the mistake of mentioning that your parents own half of Fermanagh like one unfortunate soul did, and you'll be grand!

The Bollox

I don't know about the English, but the Americans have a different meaning for fanny, so I'd watch that, it could get confusing

Pet

Yes, Team England is alive and well within Trinity, and it's rather sad to be honest. If you pass the interview (where they ask about what your parents do, how much money they make, where you went to school, a general appraisal of apparel, etc) you're in, if not, tough ****, you can join the Paddies.

It's pitchfork time methinks!

John

I smell a rising!

London2005

Oh right. So is there a big public school atmosphere to trinity?

John

Public school?

Yes there is a public school atmosphere, definitely among the English people. A lot of people who think they're too good for Trinity, which is laughable because if they were so great they'd have got in elsewhere. A few people have said they wanted Oxford or Cambridge but didn't get in. My sister got into Cambridge and she's Irish and went to a state school so they can stick their snotty attitudes.

John

Oh right, public school in Britain = private posh school? I thought London2005 was calling us commoners!

I have to say I've never noticed a snotty attitude among any of the English people I've met in TCD.

I shared a flat with some English people and got to know a fair few of their mates - some are dead on, some were twats; just like most Irish people I know!

Yes in England public school = private school!

I had a girl come right out and tell me she was only at Trinity cos she didn't get in anywhere else, and that at least there were plenty of other English people like her (implying posh and rich like her), which I found very rude and ignorant. I expected to have loads of English friends since I grew up there but I haven't anything in common with those types and they just wreck my head. They're not all like that, as you can see ,other people have had different experiences, and I know dead on English people as well. I find a lot of the Irish students rich and snotty as well, especially the ones who went to the private schools and live in D4. Just don't get on with them and that's been my main problem at Trinity.

But back to the topic, if you don't want to end up in an English 'clique', make an effort with the Irish people and don't wait for them to approach you. If you're friendly nobody will care that you're English, like I was saying, I feel that "Irish people are so closed and unfriendly" is an excuse used by people too lazy to make an effort who would rather stick with their 'own kind'.

Crash

and bring peace offerings of potatoes. The natives like that...

ApeXaviour

&#231 wrote: »

and bring peace offerings of potatoes. The natives like that...

It's times like this I wish boards still had rep.

That's hilarious!

London2005

Whaoh, I sense such a divide between the English/Irish at Trinity. I went to a public (private) school so I want to get away from that. I dont really know many Irish people at all, but whenever I tell people I am going to trinity the first thing they say is how friendly the Irish are.

One of the reasons I picked it over bristol/durham etc was that I thought it would be much more laid back than those unis which would just be a continuation of school, but you guys are making it seem the opposite!

Crash

There really isnt that much of a divide really - there are just a few saps who think they're better than everyone else etc.

i've only come across them once or twice in my two years there - and its a hell of a relaxed place to be honest

and we are very friendly!!

&#231

&#231 wrote: »

There really isnt that much of a divide really - there are just a few saps who think they're better than everyone else etc.

i've only come across them once or twice in my two years there - and its a hell of a relaxed place to be honest

It's worthwhile to note that the saps exist irrelevant of what nationality they are

ApeXaviour

London2005 wrote:

Whaoh, I sense such a divide between the English/Irish at Trinity. I went to a public (private) school so I want to get away from that. I dont really know many Irish people at all, but whenever I tell people I am going to trinity the first thing they say is how friendly the Irish are.

One of the reasons I picked it over bristol/durham etc was that I thought it would be much more laid back than those unis which would just be a continuation of school, but you guys are making it seem the opposite!

lol.. well one thing I like about trinity is how laid back it is and how it's nothing like school. tbh I personally know two english people at college and they've assimilated themselves from the beginning with irish friends. I've only heard of "team england" from boards. I think as a result of our national history we'd tend to tabloid a story like this even though they'd only constitute the tiniest of tiny minorities within the college.

John

I have never even heard of this Team England phenomenon. TCD is really laid back and pretty much everyone is bang on. Apart from crash, he's a coconut.

Endymion

London2005 wrote:

Whaoh, I sense such a divide between the English/Irish at Trinity. I went to a public (private) school so I want to get away from that. I dont really know many Irish people at all, but whenever I tell people I am going to trinity the first thing they say is how friendly the Irish are.

One of the reasons I picked it over bristol/durham etc was that I thought it would be much more laid back than those unis which would just be a continuation of school, but you guys are making it seem the opposite!

Trinity is what you make of it. No body will give a damn if your english or posh, or whatever, unless you make an issue out of it. I went to a public school (as in an Irish state funded CBS) many of my friends went to private schools, and one is english. Never been an issue.

Trinity is laid back. I intended to say that any segregation is the choice of the people involved who choose not to mix with Irish people, because most Irish students at TCD are friendly enough and will happily talk to you. Just be wary of making a beeline for the first English people you see - I understand how it will be hard not to, an English guy in my class said the Irish people appeared to already all know each other (I've heard a few people say that), which put him off approaching people, but otherwise you might kind of get stuck in an English group, which is what happened to that guy.

And BTW whatever it may look like, we DON'T all know each other, a few people have friends from school, but I went to college completely on my own, as did most people on my course! So most people will be in the same boat

Crash

Note: we generally do not know each other, we're just a talkative bunch and within two days can be well on the "seems like mates" level. don't let it put you off.

cuckoo

I think Team England is a bit of a an arts block phenomenon, i've come across a few peeps from there with the 'well, i didn't get Cambridge/Oxford/Edinburgh, so i've come here' attitude.

Fee paying/non fee paying schools - is a bit of a non issue.

Perhaps the biggest difference for an international student coming to Trinity is that most of us natives would have been in single sex schools for secondary, so for a lot of people there's a bit of a buzz about finally having the opposite gender around them in lectures.

Oh, and like every other Uni in the world, you'll make friends with someone in freshers week, discover you have nothing in common with them and in fact don't like them, and then spend the next four years avoiding them.

Black_Couch

Alvin Salty Snowshoe wrote:

Yes there is a public school atmosphere, definitely among the English people. A lot of people who think they're too good for Trinity, which is laughable because if they were so great they'd have got in elsewhere. A few people have said they wanted Oxford or Cambridge but didn't get in. My sister got into Cambridge and she's Irish and went to a state school so they can stick their snotty attitudes.

was it harvard or oxford that refused the guy who got 900 points a few years ago because he went to a 'post-primary' school? I think it was Oxford.

That sounds like totoal bull:

1) You can only get 600 points, even with 9A1s
2) UCAS offers are conditional on points, Oxford would have to have rejected his ap outright for that to be the case

London2005

Just out of interest whats a post primary school?

dreambrook

It's a secondary school I would think, I've been confused by Black_Couch, the oxford app system isn't based on points and I wouldn't think Harvard's is either. meh

Nietzschean

Black_Couch wrote:

was it harvard or oxford that refused the guy who got 900 points a few years ago because he went to a 'post-primary' school? I think it was Oxford.

i'm confused by that.......

Nietzschean

dreambrook wrote:

It's a secondary school I would think

that it is

I've been confused by Black_Couch

not the only one..

the oxford app system isn't based on points and I wouldn't think Harvard's is either. meh

well as for oxford you would be judged based on prior academic record(and probally involving an interview) and would have got get a provisional offer before getting your points, the same as their postgrad entry. So the 900points thing would be irrelevent, if they never got a provisional offer it wouldn't matter what points they got...