Just an expat's experience of Dublin after living for 5 years (rant)

machaseh

I just love Dublin living here for 5 years. Haha just kidding ugh imagine living here so you come to the Dublin Airport and it's not Schengen so you have to wait in line for ages before you can enter and then you have to wait for ages at the baggage carroussel and then you finally have your bags so you get out of the airport but then it's lashing rain so you get soaking wet as you walk over and then you realize there is no TRAIN at the airport so you have to go by bus so you walk to the bus stop and then the sign says the 41 will come in 5 minutes but you're standing there for 10 minutes before it comes and then it disappears from the sign and then you have to take the 16 instead and that one takes a detour that adds 15 minutes to your journey to the city centre so then you go to the bus driver with your coins but then they say EXACT CHANGE ONLY so then you have to pay more for the bus than necessary and then after ages you finally get to the city centre and you go to your rental apartment which is exorbitantly expensive you need flatmates and once you come in your flatmate DIDN'T DO THE DISHES and there's MOLD on the walls and there is no double glazing so it's cold and the inside of the window gets WET and then you want to take a shower but you first need to WAIT FOR THE IMMERSION to heat up and then finally you can shower but when you turn the faucet just a little bit it either gets SCALDING HOT or FREEZING COLD and you can't get it in between and then you just go to the pub to celebrate you're back home and everybody is shouting in your ear and you have to WAIT for your guinness to settle and it costs 6,70 euros so you become BROKE and then people are asking you for CIGARETTES all the time even though they are super expensive and you only have AMBER LEAF ROLL UPS so you just end up drinking your misery away and then the next morning you have to WORK with your HANGOVER so you log in and then the SYSTEM ISN:T WORKING and then you have to wait for that to be fixed and your Irish colleagues didn't do what they were supposed to do and you don't earn enough money and you have to go to the JACKS while stuck in a useless meeting and after work there is NOTHING TO DO but drink or maybe if there happen to be a few rays of sun you can go to Phoenix Park but then once you get to Phoenix Park it starts raining again so you just end up going home and your landlord only takes CASH so you have to walk to the ATM which they removed most of them so you have to walk on the dangerous streets with over a grand in cash and then you hit the ATM LIMIT so you have to go BACK the next day and then you are too lazy to cook yerself so you just try to order TAKEAWAY but hte moment you get those greasy brown bags in you realize you made a huge mistake agian because the chips are SOGGY and there's just battered sausage and fish that's palatable and all the rest is BASICALLY INEDIDBLE so you end up throwing half yer chips in the bin

But taking up a rental apartment that an Irish person could have otherwise lived in makes it all worth it. Nanananana. Try and get me deported, I'm from the EU. You will never succeed.

sam t smith

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Mike Murdock

Trolls are really not what they used to be.

BattleCorp

Punctuation, ya chunt.

HBC08

This is reminiscent of "Luckys" monologue in Waiting For Godot.......gibberish with no full stops.

Feisar

What's the difference between an expat and an immigrant? Is it like apartment vs flat?

Dublinandy3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153372#Comment_119153372

None.

I realise this is most likely a troll attempt at a post but I've been living here almost 8 years now, with it being the 5th country I've lived in. It has its downsides, just like every other place but it's not that bad a place to live. Life is what you make it after all I guess.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153372#Comment_119153372

I think an expatriate is more like a non-native guest in a foreign country.

For instance I knew of an Indian businessman living in London who had no intention of staying more than a few years.

I know people like to sulk and claim that the terms 'immigrant' and 'expat' are used racially but they aren't necessarily.

JupiterKid

Even if you want to get off this infernal overpriced rock, you will have to queue for several hours in the rain at the airport... 😢😭😔😏

#overratedoverpricedkip

Tow

Expat: Images of British citizens living the good life in another part of the Empire. Private clubs etc with pictures of HM on the wall and complaining about the heat and locals.

Immigrant: A worker who moves to another country, in hope of a better life. But is probably poorly paid and doing the jobs the locals do not want.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate#:~:text=An%20expatriate%20(often%20shortened%20to,sent%20abroad%20by%20their%20employers.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153493#Comment_119153493

'another part of the Empire'

So Brits who live in the Falklands, Gibraltar, Malta and Northern Ireland mostly?

Bobblehats

Sunpacked; funpacked our expat.

machaseh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153372#Comment_119153372

An immigrant is on a visa and has to clean, pull pints in the pub or do other menial labour. An expat comes here without any visa related problems and just works in a normal office job. I.e. expats have a bit more money than immigrants. All expats are immigrants, but not all immigrants are expats.

Some people say that expats are ' white immigrants' but that's nonsense. There's plenty of expats from Asia and the like here.

machaseh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153493#Comment_119153493

In reality, most people fall somewhere in between those two categories. Many people have, you know, normal 9 to 5 office jobs and can't afford to go to a country club or on an expensive cruise other than maybe once for their honeymoon.

Ah, sure we've all had days like that.

Feisar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153875#Comment_119153875

So it's social class rather than colour thing.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153945#Comment_119153945

An immigrant is a permanent non-native, an expat is temporary or indefinite non-native.

This tends to align with social class in practice but not by definition.

riclad

There s plenty to do in dublin, besides going to a pub, cafes, museums, parks, beaches, gigs, free events yes the rental situation is kind of dire, at least theres a good bus service and the luas.life is what you make it, make friends, get a hobby, most citys are expensive ,crowded , too much traffic, in dublin it rains maybe once a week. at least you can live in dublin without a car.

i think you could write the same post about london, munich,rome, an expat is someone who lives in a country, not born there, usually living there to work at a middle class job, or maybe they have friends ,family living there.

expats can have certain skills eg nursing, builder which enables them to get a visa and also apply to be a citizen after a few years

1000s of uk,irish expats live in australia or america.expats usually stay in the country they go to, and maybe buy a house get married,

living in most citys is not glamorous, unless you are well off and can live in a nice apartment, or a house.

to be crude ,immigrants come here to work, there are not enough irish people here to staff hotels,cafes, retail ,pubs etc or maybe at google, facebook .

they keep the economy going.

if we have a serious recession its likely they might choose to go elsewhere .

its a cliche, life is what you make it. wherever you are .

Christ almighty James Joyce has a lot to answer for.

Mrs OBumble

And to think there's Americans who'd give their right arm for the ability to live here for a while!

Seriously OP, Dublin's ya problem, not Ireland. Jump on a bus, or train if you must, for a couple of hours.

Wibbs

I know a guy who's lived in five different countries in his life. After each he writes them off as a "kip". No son, you're bringing the smell of kip with you.

Staleturnips

Say, dont you hate pants?

machaseh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119155872#Comment_119155872

True hence I didn't decide to move back to my own country or elsewhere yet. I'd be in a similar situation back home in the Netherlands.

Donald Trump

We have a quaint old custom here OP. It is called using paragraphs. You can google it

hynesie08

Lived here 5 years and doesn't have a leap card, fcuking tourist.

Wezz

Living in Dublin 7 years. I’m from another European country, my partner is South African. Yeah there are things I hate about Dublin but there are similar problems in other cities, it’s not a uniquely Irish thing. We’ve worked in a lot of cities and countries and we’ve stayed here because it’s overall a great place to live and work. Sorry you haven’t had the same experience OP :)

riclad

I don't think dublin has problems that are also not present in many city's apart home the housing crisis, and the mediocre quality and high cost of renting here. I think its possible to be sad, happy, bored in any city depending on what your job is, the quality of where you can afford to live