Exchange student from US

dgator

Hello from Florida,

I'm going to Dublin in two weeks to study at Trinity for the fall term (no more football :eek:). I'm staying with a host family for the first 2 weeks, but the place is in Malahide which is like a 30 minute train ride (any info on that town btw ) so I plan to get some type of accommodation closer.

It's my last year in college before med school x_x so no dorming for me. If there are other exchange students who want to possibly get together and look for housing let me know. I will be checking out that free accommodation help center in 3 weeks, and browse daft in my free time ^_^. Preferably females, sorry guys.

Also, anyone know the best place to do currency exchange? Best bank? I might have asked this before, but how many international students attend Trinity?

Any input much appreciated thanks

animalhuger

For banks i would suggest bank of ireland

The rest AIB Nationwide Perminent tsb Ulsterbank are all goen down the drain so theyl charge ya alot.

Heard of the town no idea what county its in:S it sounds dull tho lol

Btw irish weather has been verry f**ked up since last year,we had snow that stayed for over 2 months and then massive floods and then 2 months ago 28* heat places went on fire and there was a tornado in the south-east to the weather has recntly turnd into abnormal rain with 20+ tempatures

None of this weather happens in this country!sept the rain

And we had 2 earth-quakes we arent even near a fault

This is just a heads up on what to expect

spurious

Malahide's a very pleasant place to live in. I wouldn't be wanting to move into town for higher prices and smaller rooms.

The train ride is only 30 minutes and brings you practically into Trinity. The station is right beside the college.

The best way to get money is to use your ATM card in ATMs. That way you get the best rate. Check that your US bank does not charge you through the nose for using it. Under no circumstances bring traveller's cheques.

t0mm

Best thing to do would be to check daft.ie, rent.ie, property.ie and myhome.ie for houses. Malahide is basically a suburb of Dublin, it's an alright place, not the best, not the worst. You would be better off finding a place closer to town IMHO. As far as student accounts go most banks offer pretty much the same thing, best thing is to wait for freshers week when they will have loads of stands up so you can pick the one that suits you. The only bank that operates on campus now is Bank of Ireland I think, but you won't have to go far to find branchs of the other major banks, AIB, TSB etc. I don't know exact figures but there is a good size of internation students, maybe as many as 10%? You won't be the only yank in town anyway. Also dunno what all that is about the weather, not the first time it's snowed, or flooded, or we've had (minor) earthquakes, or tornados, and those weren't the highest temps we've had in this country.

southsiderosie

I'm from the US and spent some time as a visiting postgrad at Trinity. If you are only in Dublin for the semester, I'd highly recommend paying the extra money to live in town. Dublin is a great city, and very walkable, so there is no point in constantly worrying about missing the last train or bus, etc. The one thing I would recommend for transport purposes, however, is to live on the south side, as the people who designed Dublin public transport are idiots. Not only are Rathmines and Ranelagh both within a 25 minute walk of Trinity, Ranelagh is also on the Luas (light rail) train line. It's also a relatively easy city for cycling (you can pretty much get anywhere around the city center in 10 minutes), and a bike would give you more flexibility about where to live.

dgator

A bike you say? Snow and flooding you say? -_^

Well thanks all for the input. I think I might just get a place right in the city and pay the extra money, even if it's by myself as my family thinks they are coming to visit. I'll see how the host family accommodation goes though, I might just really enjoy it.

Thanks for the tips on the banks. My US bank actually charged me $25 as a 3% foreign currency fee because I booked my tickets on aerlingus even though I paid in USD! I suppose banks have to pay back there 0% interest bailout loans somehow, but taking it out on me..

I will look into that atm fee and what not.


thanks folks.

BlueCam

dgator wrote: »

I'm going to Dublin in two weeks to study at Trinity for the fall term (no more football :eek:).

Trinity actually has a football team, website. They should have a stand in Front Square during Freshers' Week, I'm sure you could ask them about cheerleading...

p1akuw47h5r3it

animalhuger wrote: »

For banks i would suggest bank of ireland

The rest AIB Nationwide Perminent tsb Ulsterbank are all goen down the drain so theyl charge ya alot.

Heard of the town no idea what county its in:S it sounds dull tho lol

Btw irish weather has been verry f**ked up since last year,we had snow that stayed for over 2 months and then massive floods and then 2 months ago 28* heat places went on fire and there was a tornado in the south-east to the weather has recntly turnd into abnormal rain with 20+ tempatures

None of this weather happens in this country!sept the rain

And we had 2 earth-quakes we arent even near a fault

This is just a heads up on what to expect

What are you on about!!

Mark200

Malahide is nice... the train journey wouldn't be a problem. Wherever you stay, you'd likely have to travel a bit into college anyway. As said, once you get off the train in town you're just across the road from trinity. I've made that train journey into college for the last two years. The last train home at night is 11.30, or if you're out in town on a Friday or Saturday night there's a 'nitelink' bus service that runs every half hour from midnight until 4am that brings you from town to Malahide.

Obviously living in town would be a bit handier, but I wouldn't be too worried about what you have and wouldn't bother spending too much more just to get somewhere in the city centre.

Cavehill Red

animalhuger wrote: »

For banks i would suggest bank of ireland

The rest AIB Nationwide Perminent tsb Ulsterbank are all goen down the drain so theyl charge ya alot.

Gibberish. Ulster Bank is in better shape than BoI. Furthermore, it's not going to matter for someone who's only here a year looking for a deposit/current a/c.

animalhuger wrote: »

Heard of the town no idea what county its in:S it sounds dull tho lol

Posh but dull. Nice shops. Not much craic for a student. Better off in town. Anywhere within the canals (Grand and Royal) should be fine.

animalhuger wrote: »

Btw irish weather has been verry f**ked up since last year,we had snow that stayed for over 2 months and then massive floods and then 2 months ago 28* heat places went on fire and there was a tornado in the south-east to the weather has recntly turnd into abnormal rain with 20+ tempatures

www.met.ie

It rains here, plenty more than most of the US, and spectacularly more than Florida. Don't let it get you down, OP. On the plus side, we know how to enjoy ourselves indoors. :pac:

As for renting, short leases (under six months/one year) aren't the norm, so be prepared to have to hunt around for that. TCD has a student accommodation centre and so does the Student's Union, so they ought to be your first ports of call. Enjoy your time here!

gearoidof

Ulster Bank give you €100 if you open an account with them. I do it every year.

southsiderosie

Cavehill Red wrote: »

As for renting, short leases (under six months/one year) aren't the norm, so be prepared to have to hunt around for that. TCD has a student accommodation centre and so does the Student's Union, so they ought to be your first ports of call. Enjoy your time here!

OP, I've rented twice now for 3-month periods in Ranelagh/Rathmines (for around 100 euro/wk, once for a bedsit and once for a room in a shared house), so PM me if this is within your budget and you want landlord contact info.

dgator

Thanks for the responses everyone. And I guess I only cheer for teams that are worthwhile -_-

Where is the best place to get a cell phone? Minimal minutes with texting.

Pet

All 4 networks do prepay SIMs with free texts to all networks, and the SIMs themselves are usually free and come with credit preloaded.