Movin' to Cork

cnadian

Hello there!


I’m moving to Cork Ireland for a year as a part of a student exchange program with UCC so I’m looking for a bit of information about the town/Ireland in general. I’m coming over from Canada so some of my questions may seem a bit odd, but its because I have no idea what to expect! (I’ve never been outside North America!)

Am I going to need a winter jacket/scarves/mitts/hat etc, I’ve read a bunch off google that has given me mixed results, around here we typically throw a winter jacket on when it reaches around-ish zero degrees Celsius…. I just don’t want to bring one along if I wont be needing it.

I’ve heard that the cost of food is quite a bit higher in Ireland than here in Canada, does anyone know of a website that shows either a flyer or something like that advertising prices? I’m just tryin’ to makeup a budget so it’d be helpful to know how different the prices are.

The drinking age is 18 right? I’m coming over with my cousin, and I know she’d just shoot me if she wasn’t able to grab a beer.

Any recommendations for student accommodation that’s decently close to cork, and well priced?

Any local dance studios that you would recommend for either ballet, lyrical, jazz, hiphop or break dancing?

Any information other than those asked above that you think I should know would be very greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

MissRetro

cnadian wrote: »

Hello there!


I’m moving to Cork Ireland for a year as a part of a student exchange program with UCC so I’m looking for a bit of information about the town/Ireland in general. I’m coming over from Canada so some of my questions may seem a bit odd, but its because I have no idea what to expect! (I’ve never been outside North America!)

Am I going to need a winter jacket/scarves/mitts/hat etc, I’ve read a bunch off google that has given me mixed results, around here we typically throw a winter jacket on when it reaches around-ish zero degrees Celsius…. I just don’t want to bring one along if I wont be needing it.

I’ve heard that the cost of food is quite a bit higher in Ireland than here in Canada, does anyone know of a website that shows either a flyer or something like that advertising prices? I’m just tryin’ to makeup a budget so it’d be helpful to know how different the prices are.

The drinking age is 18 right? I’m coming over with my cousin, and I know she’d just shoot me if she wasn’t able to grab a beer.

Any recommendations for student accommodation that’s decently close to cork, and well priced?

Any local dance studios that you would recommend for either ballet, lyrical, jazz, hiphop or break dancing?

Any information other than those asked above that you think I should know would be very greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hey, I had American and Chinese students living with me on they same program in college and they loved it! UCC organised loads of little events for the exchange students to get to know each other which they found really helpful.
Firstly, on the winter jacket.. if you're going to be here for a year I would say it's a must have, also a rain coat would be another necessity.
When it comes to food on a student budget, I lived on about 20-25 euro a week for food shopping. If you're talking about take-aways/fast food, you would generally spend about 10 euro or under on one meal. Try checking out http://www.tesco.ie or http://www.dunnesstores.ie for pricings, both shops are in Cork City centre.
The drinking age in Ireland is 18 Although a few pubs/clubs limit it to over 21s/23s at weekend. You'll usually spend about 4/5 euro per drink on a night out, but off-licences are a lot cheaper for drinking at home.
UCC has a lot of societies so I would think they should have a few dance societies in the college, a list of societies should be available on their website.
This is the list of UCC approved accomodation: http://www.ucccampusaccommodation.com/student/indexstudent.asp

Hope this helps

rebel10

Hey,
Best of luck with the move over. Regarding the jacket, a winter jacket is needed alright, especially if you are going to be walking to and from college. These last two years have been the coldest on record for Cork. Although we would never experience anywhere near the cold temperatures Canada does, we had -4 or so most days in December if memory serves me correctly. We don't really get snow down here, although last winter we did, which literally brought the city to a standstill!:p So all in all, yes bring a winter jacket!
Food is generally quite expensive here alright. There are a few places you could shop to make things a little cheaper for yourself, these would be shops like Lidl or Aldi:
http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_ie/hs.xsl/langSelect.htm
http://www.aldi.ie/

Irish stores such as Dunnes stores can be quite reasonable, especially the special offers they do.
http://www.dunnesstores.ie/

Yes, the drinking age is 18, bring your passport with you to ensure you get into clubs or pubs in case you look younger than 21.

Student accomodation is abundant in Cork. If you are looking to stay near UCC, perhaps try http://www.deanshall.com/crosses_green.asp or http://www.brookfieldstudentaccommodation.ie/. There are plenty others, just try googling student accom. in Cork.

Can't really help you with the dance class information but I would imagine there would be plenty as Cork is well catered for culturally speaking. I would guess there may be dance societies in UCC too though.
Hope this helps some bit.

LenaClaire

cnadian wrote: »

Hello there!


I’m moving to Cork Ireland for a year as a part of a student exchange program with UCC so I’m looking for a bit of information about the town/Ireland in general. I’m coming over from Canada so some of my questions may seem a bit odd, but its because I have no idea what to expect! (I’ve never been outside North America!)

Am I going to need a winter jacket/scarves/mitts/hat etc, I’ve read a bunch off google that has given me mixed results, around here we typically throw a winter jacket on when it reaches around-ish zero degrees Celsius…. I just don’t want to bring one along if I wont be needing it.

You will not need a full weight Candian winter coat but you will want a warm coat with gloves and hat. Cork recently seems to get 1 or 2 "bad" weeks per year usually around 0 to -2 C but the city is not prepped for it so there will be ice everywhere. I came from Chicago so would say the coat you usually wear for late fall type North American weather.

I’ve heard that the cost of food is quite a bit higher in Ireland than here in Canada, does anyone know of a website that shows either a flyer or something like that advertising prices? I’m just tryin’ to makeup a budget so it’d be helpful to know how different the prices are.

Generally groceries are about the sames as a US metro area but restaurants are insanely expensive. A standard main meal will be 13 to 18 euro. Even a burger at a sit down place is at least 11 euro (and then tack on the exchange rate you are talking 15 CAD - for a burger!)

The drinking age is 18 right? I’m coming over with my cousin, and I know she’d just shoot me if she wasn’t able to grab a beer.

Yes, drinking age is 18

Any recommendations for student accommodation that’s decently close to cork, and well priced?

Lots of dorms and house shares near university - check out daft.ie

Any local dance studios that you would recommend for either ballet, lyrical, jazz, hiphop or break dancing?

Lots of dance studios around town do ballet, lyrical and jazz but I am not sure about hiphop or breakdancing. The university might be a good place to check. They might have a dance club.

Other than that Cork is a fun town, lots of bars/clubs esp for the college age person. Very easy to get around either walking or buses.

I hope you have a great year

Buceph

All the above advice is good.

Get on to the accommodations office and see if they can put you in UCC accommodation for your visit. I think they normally do. Living in a house is fun when you have people you know to move in with, but if you don't know anyone the official accommodation is good for meeting people.

UCC will organise a lot of events for foreign students, they're usually quite good at it.

Like people have said there's a lot of clubs (sports and activities) and societies (social groups, like debating and gaming.) There is definitely a Dance society, I think they usually do modern dance, and a little of everything else. They put on a big show in a City centre theatre every year, that's very well attended. Another society that's good to join is the Photography society. All you need is a little point and shoot camera, they'll give you help with your picture taking. But the big deal is that they organise tours around Ireland every few weekends. It's a great way of seeing the best scenic sights of Ireland and some tourist attractions. Otherwise there are cheap buses going all around the country at the weekends. Get a bus somewhere after classes finish on Friday, stay in a hostel for Friday and Saturday night, bus back down on Sunday. Could do that and see most of the country for €60/70 a weekend. Although a bit more in Dublin.

murphym7

I don't have anything to add to the other guy's advice and links. What I will say is that the cold here in Ireland is different to what you experience in Canada.

Everyone I have met from Canada, Minnesota (I was there during the winter), Poland, Russia etc... all say the cold in Ireland is a different type of cold. Where you would not need jackett at 0 - 6 degrees at home you would need one up to 7/8 degrees here. Its a damp cold that gets into your bones. You have a nice dry cold up there around the artic.

Its kind of like 100 degrees in Nevada is completley different to 100 degrees in Boston.

paulosham

For dance in Cork there's no better place than The Firkin Crane

http://www.firkincrane.ie/