Galway city/NUIG= small?

quacks

Prob coming here next year:D, currently in ucd and just wondering how it compares. Does it (Galway/NUIG) get to feel awfully small after a few years? One thing ucd/dublin has going for it is the size and variety, just wondering if Galway feels a bit cramped at all seeing as the town seems to be virtually run by students.
Now this is coming from somebody with no experience of NUIG so feel free to shoot me down if I'm of the wrong opinion here.

sharkDawg

quacks wrote: »

Prob coming here next year:D, currently in ucd and just wondering how it compares. Does it (Galway/NUIG) get to feel awfully small after a few years? One thing ucd/dublin has going for it is the size and variety, just wondering if Galway feels a bit cramped at all seeing as the town seems to be virtually run by students.
Now this is coming from somebody with no experience of NUIG so feel free to shoot me down if I'm of the wrong opinion here.

Im in my third year of four in galway and it does indeed feel small, after second year all that needed to be explored had been, don't get me wrong galway is still a great city but i personally find that im always bumping into the same people. One advantage is that everywhere is within walking distance. The college itself is pretty well spaced out, wouldn't consider it cramped anyway

Toto Wolfcastle

Galway city is tiny, and it gets majorly annoying fairly soon! I'm from Cork, which is small compared to Dublin, but I never got bored there like I do when I go into Galway city. It's a nice city, but it's always the same! You asked if it begins to feel small after a few years? I've been here since September and it already feels small!

The campus itself is fairly spread out, and definitely not cramped, but not much going on. Again, it's still nice, but a bit boring at times.

I just have more experience of Cork/UCC so they'll always come out on top, so the same might happen to you.

You'll still enjoy Galway though. I do!

TheInvisibleFie

As the others have said Galway is tiny. The NUI campus doesn't feel small at all. It's spread out and has different places to eat and hang around. Lectures (Arts undergrad) are all over the place so you're not stuck in one spot. But everything that happens in the city seems to go on in the very centre and that gets pretty dull pretty quickly.

Galway IS tiny and boring.

Smythy1987

yeah im in final yr Galway and its startin to feel fairly small. Kinda like it tho cause you see the same faces the whole time. Def advise to come ere. The campus is class too!! Theres a lethal new sports hall bein built now and shoud be open next yr.. Pool and everything..

eamoss

Flip if you think Galway is small you should come to Maynooth.

I find it really hard living in an Village, you should count your self very lucky to be living in a City!

Amazotheamazing

You wake up one morning and know you have to leave Galway. I don't know why it happens but I've spoken to alot of us ex-UCG'ers and it seems to happen everyone. It's very, very small.

kevmy

Well by the sounds of it the OP is only coming here for a year or so. If he is he should be fine. I don't think you will get bored that fast.

As for being in NUIG for 4/5 years and realising it's time to move on I'd say yeah a lot of people feel like that but then I'd most people feel like that after their college years.

Some people like the small, friendly, homely atmosphere and others want big events, big places all the time it depends on what you want at the time in your life.

dodgyme

Deleted User wrote: »

Galway IS tiny and boring.

and your chip isnt

Fionn MacCool

I'm over from London and Galway city is about the size of my borough, probably smaller. It takes longer to walk down my local high street than it does from Prospect Hill to the Quays like...

That said, I have absolutely no complaints about Galway - what a fantastic place!

leninbenjamin

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

You wake up one morning and know you have to leave Galway. I don't know why it happens but I've spoken to alot of us ex-UCG'ers and it seems to happen everyone. It's very, very small.

that can't be true. A huge amount of people come here for college and stay on after. As an example teaching jobs are hard to come by with the number of hdips who stay on. or at least that was the case a couple of years ago.

Robbo

leninbenjamin wrote: »

that can't be true. A huge amount of people come here for college and stay on after. As an example teaching jobs are hard to come by with the number of hdips who stay on. or at least tht was the case a couple of years ago.

The don't call it "the graveyard of ambition" for nothing.

Amazotheamazing

leninbenjamin wrote: »

that can't be true. A huge amount of people come here for college and stay on after. As an example teaching jobs are hard to come by with the number of hdips who stay on. or at least that was the case a couple of years ago.

Pretty sure teaching jobs are hard to get in any city?

Anyhow, none of my class who weren't from Galway are still in Galway. Just my own experience, yours may well be different.

leninbenjamin

leninbenjamin wrote: »

that can't be true. A huge amount of people come here for college and stay on after. As an example teaching jobs are hard to come by with the number of hdips who stay on. or at least that was the case a couple of years ago.

No-one from my class of 13 is left in Galway. When you start looking for jobs / thinking about a career there really aren't that many options.

Saying that I am a looking forward to moving back in the summer.

leninbenjamin

Deleted User wrote: »

No-one from my class of 13 is left in Galway. When you start looking for jobs / thinking about a career there really aren't that many options.

is that because that because of choice or necessity though?

Bit of both. A lot go travelling to oz or wherever. Most went to Dublin for jobs as the pay and prospects were better.

Personally I had taken a very basic, low paying job and realised about 6 months later that Galway isn't the same once you have left college. I was given an opportunity to move here within the same company and jumped at it.

Now a few years later I'm established in my career, and thinking about buying a house. I don't want to do that here, so I am moving back.

A few of my friends have started thinking about moving back, but there are limited opportunities and they involve taking paycuts.

One thing is for certain - I will be living within walking distance of work.

I waste about 2H30 everyday commuting.

quacks

Thanks for the input here all, it's much appreciated even if it does kind of heighten my hesitancy to come here.:)

If I go I'll be here for 4 years. I am by no means somebody who needs big events all the time, quite the opposite really, currently Dublin City allows for a bit of escapism from college.
I can immerse myself college stuff then go to the city and get really involved in whatever but still be completely anonymous. No chance of that in Galway by the sounds of things,eh?

spiritcrusher

I'm just about finished my third year in college here and haven't really found Galway's smallness a problem. I like being able to walk everywhere, not spending money on transport everytime I want to go out. I have loads of friends here but contrary to what people have said I don't run into them everytime I walk down the street.
Still, it is a small city and very laid back so I can understand why people mightn't like the place coming from bigger, busier cities like Cork/Dublin etc.

Toto Wolfcastle

spiritcrusher wrote: »

I'm just about finished my third year in college here and haven't really found Galway's smallness a problem. I like being able to walk everywhere, not spending money on transport everytime I want to go out. I have loads of friends here but contrary to what people have said I don't run into them everytime I walk down the street.
Still, it is a small city and very laid back so I can understand why people mightn't like the place coming from bigger, busier cities like Cork/Dublin etc.

Cork is laid back too, and you can walk everywhere in the city, but I do understand what you are saying. I really like Galway but the one thing I really don't like is that when I need something that I've always gotten easily in Cork, I can't find it in Galway. (Low back converter - the woman in the Debenhams lingerie section didn't even know what it was!) This has caused me a bit of hassle a few times, but it's a minor thing and apart from that it's all good!