Where do you live - Reviews! (All Accommodation Qs go here!)

Nukem

Hey guys since its coming to the silly season and we are goin to be battered with "where is the best place to live" could ye all write a small review on where ye are living and give links and all that. Will help people out a load.

Small map of where all the places to live are (please post if i neglected any area)

Links to places (please add links)

• UL Accomadation site (all on campus villages here)
• Brookfield Hall
• Courtyard Village
• Plassey Village

Cheers Nukem

Paulj

Kilmurry
Spent 1st year here in 2002/3. Was a great place to live for first year, had some great times there. Lived with 7 others (4 lads, 4 gals) so ya get to know lots of new people. Bout 10 min walk to main college building. Had internet (however all ports were blocked except for http port). Bus stop is bout 10 mins away also. Nearest good shop (ie. with OffLicence) was Chalkes about 15 minutes walk through the dell factory.

Milford Grange (Heidleberg)
The houses here weren't great. You could (just barely) hear people next door if they were talking. But great location (probably the best). It was about 7 minutes walk to main building. You're also near Spar, fairly near to lodge, superquinn, cinema.

Oaklawns
Houses have really big front rooms and kitchens. But most of the rooms were tiny if you were upstairs anyway. Was a bit of a walk to college in the morning, i suppose about 15 mins maybe? But you are very close to the cinema, lodge and superquinn area which is cool. A bit more residents around than Milford or College Court.

College Court
I'm just here for this summer, so its very dead around. Most of the houses are empty. But im sure that'll all pick up once college starts up! Houses are ok, good kitchen, small front room, large bedroom. Very close to Schuman Buiding or library. But thats about all that its close to. The nearest shops are Spar or Maxol near the groody roundabout which is a bit of a walk. The superquin,lodge, cinema area is miles away, bout 30 min walk i suppose.

I guess if your a first year, on campus is cool. But the best place live imo is probably milford grange if you can get a nice house and the right people to live with.
I suppose its more important to be near the college itself in 1st and 2nd year cos you tend to spend more time walking to and from the college whereas in 3rd and 4th year (for us anyway) we're a lot busier and spend most of the day in there so ya only walk to/form there once per day. But that all depends on your course, hours, timetable and amount of time spent drinking.

Mr. CooL ICE

Dún an Óir, Milford Grange...
Spent first year here in digs, which isnt the best example, since it was a family house, but a nice house, very good location, 10 mins from college, 3 mins from the shop and bus stop. Not the quietest area though.

Oaklawns...
Spent my first 2nd year here, the houses are ok, but very small. Massive kitchen, big sitting room, but everything else was small. Stairs led from sitting room to landing so if someone was talking in one part of the house, it could be heard anywhere. Location was a bit crap, 15 mins from college and 10 mins from chawkes or esso. Quiet area.

Hazelwood...
Spent my second 2nd year here, the houses are nice. The rooms are fairly spacious and the house, although old, was warm. 3 bathrooms inc one en suite. Very quiet area, apart from some noisy scooter-using scumbags who lived there for the summer. But location was brilliant, right beside spar and offie, and 11 mins to college (i timed it).

Compostella, Milford Grange...
Only been living there 2 weeks, but the house is abnormally big. 7 bedrooms, only one which could be considered small. 3 bathrooms with showers (2 pumped, 1 electric). A little bit on the noisy side, but very close to college but not too close to shops

Sergeant Horse

you have Plassey in two areas.

1st Year i lived in the Salesian Hostel beside the Car PArk, 2 seconds walk from the college with Sky Digital and a free pool table. However it was run by priests so no alco, women etc. But good for 1st Years


2nd Year I lived in Plassey. Great place but a bit old and run down. i hear they are doing it up though. From what I hear as well, it is the best On Campus to live in due to having the best Management!

2nd Year Part 2: THe Repeat : duh I lived in Groody Park. It was ok, with free broadband, double beds, big comfy chairs. But the managemnt was crap and they were out to screw you over monetary wise at every corner.

This year, the making it to 3rd year on the second attempt year, I'm living in Castlebrook in College Court. its a nice house with Chorus and the Landlady is sound. no complaints so far

natter

Plassey Village: Lived there in first year and would strongly recommend it to first years as most of the friends I've made in college were people I lived with that year. I got to meet a load of people easily. It would be especially advisable to live here if you didn't know anyone else coming to UL. Its also idealy located, 10 min walk from college, 5 mins from spar and about 15/20 from the hurlers/lodge/superquinn. The houses are quiet small though for 8 people to live in and there was always lots of noise outside... damn boys always playing rugby in the street til 2 in the morn!

Elm Park: Lived here in 2nd year and despite the bad reputation that it has I found it ok. Again centrally located, 2 mins from hurlers & superquinn, about 15 mins from college. There are some terrible rotten cold damp houses in the Elm Park but ours was grand. Easy to heat, fairly big rooms and there was always house parties and plenty of craic to be had around the place. It could get quiet loud at night esp after the lodge, and the you wouldnt want to be having any private conversations cos you could pretty much hear everything going on in the rest of the house.

I'm living in Brierfield this year, the house seemed lovely when we saw it in May. Moving in next week so I cant really give all the positives or negatives about the place yet.

cornbb

These are all fairly broad generalisations and opinions of the areas I've lived in.

Milford Grange: good location, close to college/shops/offie, houses vary, lived in a crappyish one on Avilla and a nice cheap one on dun an oir. Rent is not expensive

College Court: Rent a little more expensive but good location. A lot of nice houses.

Groody village: nice big apartments but management are morons (or at least were when I lived there)

Brookfield village: only been here a month but I like it. Nice fast broadband, large ensuite room, nice apartment, rent is reasonable for what you get. Location isn't the best but there's a free shuttle bus.

homerjay2005

i have spent 5 years in briarfield, in the oaks and the cedars, its a bit of a walk, but hey, who wants to be near the college! its just across from the hurlers/lodge/shopping center/ and all sorts of mod cons such as video/chippers/bookies etc. houses are generally good. only fault if the knackers that live up the road near chawskes

the_obsolete

Castlebrook, College Court - Spent first part of my first 1st year there, nice area, loevly warm house but the nasty nasty reputation...Farrrr away from a shop, very close to campus tho, on the loud side tho...5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (1 en-suite)

El Dorado, Milford Grange - second part of first 1st year, Big decrepid house but was a nice homely atmosphere (strangely enough), wasn't too loud at all and close enough to the campus, handy for somebody goin to the gym a fair bit.

Hazelwood - spent second 1st year here and now hopefully the one 2nd year (in a better house this year tho...), look above at Mr. Chessington's post for that area

Norinoco

1 st year : Dun an Oir, Milford Grange
2nd year : Compostella, Milford Grange
3rd Year : The Willows, Elm Park
4th Year : Avilla, Milford Grange.

As you can tell I was a big fan of Milford Grange. The houses seemed to be the best, but you are always going to find sh*tholes there.

The house in Elm Park was one of the Red Brick ones you pass on the right when walking from the gap towards esso. It was a great house.
Really liked Elm Park, a lot livelier than Milford Grange (even thought there is only a ditch seperating them!)

The trick is to find the nice houses before you leave for the summer!

tred

1st year Monalleen Digs
2nd year 720 Elm park
3rd year 711 Elm Park
4th Year College court, house right at back of schumann.
1st job college court followed by new housing estate beside singlands, thats now massive.!!, followed by Annacotty.

Have to say in UL, we had great craic in Elm park. some of the houses in there were toilets, 720 was a nice cosey place, 711 was a **** hole!. we left it late to get accomadation. But there was an amazing buzz around in the summer, boozing on top of garages, football in the park, boozing in the hurlers, and and 5 minutes to the lodge!!. Getting all nostalgic now, its being a while.

bounceymousey

Im a first year living in Dromroe Village. i really regret it now cos i hardly know any other first years. Im doing general nursing but it seems no one knows anyone. And dromroe doesn't seem that connected in comparison to Plassey. I wish i actually put Plassey down now!!!

meanturtle

Thomand

Brilliant except for two things crappy sofas and long way from college

bluedolphin

Nice, spacey bedroom, with everything.

Homecooked meals everyday at no extra charge.

Broadband, chorus, esb, gas and landline all included, as well as laundry service and pretty reliable chauffeur.

Large sitting room, dining room, bathroom.

Best of all: no rent.

Where is my abode?

Home

:cool:

Peteee

bluedolphin wrote:

Nice, spacey bedroom, with everything.

Homecooked meals everyday at no extra charge.

Broadband, chorus, esb, gas and landline all included, as well as laundry service and pretty reliable chauffeur.

Large sitting room, dining room, bathroom.

Best of all: no rent.

Where is my abode?

Home

:cool:

Heating oil? €300

Rent? €55 a week

Being able to party/drink beer/have sex(Oh I cant wait for the jokes to come on that one) Have the music up as loud as YOU want it to be? Priceless

For some comforts theres living at home, For everything else theres living in rented accomodation with a few mates!

kaimera

Peteee wrote:

Being able to party/drink beer/have sex

I sure yore well able to have sex Pete, unless you've had a particulary bad accident you don't want to tell us

bluedolphin

Peteee wrote:

Being able to party/drink beer/have sex(Oh I cant wait for the jokes to come on that one) Have the music up as loud as YOU want it to be?

and that's why i have friends
best of both worlds. you're just jealous 'cause mammy cooks me dinner na na na na naaaaa

Peteee

bluedolphin wrote:

and that's why i have friends
best of both worlds. you're just jealous 'cause mammy cooks me dinner na na na na naaaaa

Pffft

/me tucks into Dunnes Stores 99c 'Shepards Pie' with about 30% meat content and 'Potatoe flakes'

Yummy!

kaimera

College Court this year >> Harvard Close.

rent resonable.
have sky digital.
have digiweb metro.

close to college.

ideal tbh.

ergonomics

I'm living in Plassey and I think it's grand. The fridge and freezer are a joke for 8 people though, way too small. The fridges in the 4 person apartments in Thomond are twice the size of our ones for eight. Also when everyone's home it gets a bit noisy but that would happen anywhere. Apart from the fridge and freezer I have no real complaints!

grizi

1st yr - Digs in college court - handy for the 1st semester but really wanted more freedom in 2nd semester

2nd yr - House in Milford Grange - filthy dirty but probably the best house as we really made it comfy and everyone was around and not worried about FYP etc

3rd yr - Groody Village - stuff was nice and new but it wasn't built very well and an extended family of mice had moved in................. they had to go when they started to stare back at us instead of running away!

4th yr - Brookfield - even nicer than Groody (apart from the couches), unlucky to get an apartment at the coldest spot in the whole place, didn't find the storage heating much good and the previous manager was unbelievably ignorant.

Now - back to a good auld house in Briarfield. It's great to be near Superquinn, bus stops, chinese and college, only pain was organising telephone and BB

BraveheartGal

howdy folks.
im an ickle first year, and stayin in classy plassey
absolutely and utterly adore plassey.
seriously perfect for first years.the people there are jus genuinely warm and friendly and its cool cos like youre thrown into the house with 7 other random ppl and you do make friends instantly.
i was so worried bout it but its jus awesome!
management are bang on.good auld grainne and graham norton.
and the caretaker is a bit strange but adorable!

security are idiots this year.but manageable.
would only recommend plassey to 1st years though.


hopin to move to groody next year, are there buses goin to college?how much are they and whatnot?
oh and shld i be really worried bout the "management" ? (dunno why i put in the inverted commas, jus think that from the way you guys are talkin about them , there shld be a kinda ominous tone)

ergonomics

What number do you live in in Plassey? I live there too and surprisingly enough, I don't know that many people!

Actually on second thought, you probably don't want to be giving out your address on this board, who knows who could be lurking around? PM me if you like!

klong

Myself and the minstrel are also in Plassey...apparently the only Irish in the house! Heheheheh


Send forth ye PMs if ye like...

maggie_cork

heya..
i know this is d ul one.. but i said id write in anyway..
see im doin the leaving and i hope to b going to mary i in september.. was wondering is any1 could give me tips on where to live and where not to live..
hop ye can help!!!

Funkstard

Hows it going, I'm from Dublin and could well be venturing down to the fun part of the country for the next 5 years. I've been looking at accomodation, and am completely lost.

Plassey sounds like it's great craic but I wouldn't be able to handle sharing a bathroom with someone. I like the sound of Dromroe so far.

Could anyone give me a direction as to where to go, keeping in mind I'll be a big lonely on my tobleroner? Cheers

rmacm

Funkstard wrote:

Plassey sounds like it's great craic but I wouldn't be able to handle sharing a bathroom with someone. I like the sound of Dromroe so far.

Could anyone give me a direction as to where to go, keeping in mind I'll be a big lonely on my tobleroner?

Plassey is supposed to be great fun granted I've never lived there. Dromroe and Thomond are the newer student villages, there's also one that's not finished yet Cappavilla or something stupid like that. If you don't like the idea of sharing a jacx I'd suggest staying away from Kilmurry and Plassey.

Brookfield (all rooms ensuite), The Courtyard and the multiple estates around the college are also options. Stay away from Elm Park if you do end up going down this route.

I think there's a list of websites at the start of this thread for the various villages around so I'd suggest taking a look at them.

Cheers
Rory.

Funkstard

Right...it seems I've got a place in Thomond. The website makes it out to be more for older students and not 1st years. Can anyone shed light?

Shyster

Yeah they do give that idea and the majority of people there are 2nd, 3rd, 4th years and post grads but there are a good few 1st years aswell so don't worry! If I had first year back again I'd live in Dromroe instead of Kilmurry anyway

Funkstard

So I shouldn't be worried? Hopefully I'll get into one of the 6 bed apartments anyway...should be great fun. The village itself looks absolutely brilliant. Distance to any building isn't an issue with any on-camus accomodation is it?

ergonomics

My boyfriend lived in a 4 bed in Thomond last year and lived with first years. All the people in the flat beneath him are first years too. I'm pretty sure they'll assign you a room with as many first years as possible.

irelandjoe

I stayed in a house in Briarfield and it was great. This is very handy to shops including superquin and most importantly pubs and cinema. The landlord was sound and has 3 houses all ajoining so if you have mates you can all stay in same house or just next door. He is also arranging to have Broadband installed in houses so will mean you can work at home.

Houses are about 8 years old and are being refreshed this year. Each have 7 bedrooms and are very spacey with large gardens.

Rozabeez

I'm hoping to go to UL next year, if I can get the points for my course that is Anyhows I was looking at accomodation and that online and was wondering if I'd be better off in a student village (Plassey) or elsewhere? It should only be for the first year and I'll be pretty poor, using a grant to pay for accomodation, is Plassey the cheapest place to live?

rmacm

Hi Rozabeez

You should find this link useful http://www.ul.ie/campuslife/fees.htm I'm living off campus and I'm paying €220/month in rent with bills on top of that. Plassey is the cheapest of the student villages but it's also the oldest but supposed to be good for 1st years. I've found it relatively cheap living off campus aside from certain bad habits like Apache Pizza, cigarettes and alcohold

Anyway hope thats of some help to you.

Cheers
Rory

*edited to correct typo

Rozabeez

I've printed off the list with prices...it's not too bad if I don't have to eat/drink for 4 years

Do you reckon there's much time for a part time job while in college? McDonalds here I come..

rmacm

Rozabeez wrote:

Do you reckon there's much time for a part time job while in college? McDonalds here I come..

Yeah there's time for it alright just remember to keep on top of your college work aswell (rich coming from someone who isn't the best at it).

Cheers
Rory

Bakharwaldog

This thread is pretty cool..i love when you do a search and you find exactly what ur lookin for! Plassey sounds good seein as im a first year..does anyone know if it fills up quick? im torn between UL and SligoIT but should i book accomodation anyway..i think i only lose 15e

cooperguy

Funkstard wrote:

So I shouldn't be worried? Hopefully I'll get into one of the 6 bed apartments anyway...should be great fun. The village itself looks absolutely brilliant. Distance to any building isn't an issue with any on-camus accomodation is it?

Thomond isnt too bad fo distance. It would still be a 10 or 15 minute walk to the centre of campus (its a big campus:)) Some of the other on-campus accomodation isnt as good though. Capa Villa is a fair distance from the centre at the moment though. Perfect for nurses but not anybody else. Though that should change when the infamous living bridge opens next year:rolleyes:

irelandjoe wrote:

Houses are about 8 years old and are being refreshed this year. Each have 7 bedrooms and are very spacey with large gardens.

I really dont see how a 7 bedroom house can be spacey!! How many bedrooms was it built with originally??

PeakOutput

dont see many people talking about kilmurry im hopefully going into first year and i think i put kilmurry down as first choice but i might have put down plassey............which should i be hoping for??

when i was down in ul i saw the outside of kilmurry and it looked like it was the best for location etc but just lokking for your opinions

Mossin

I'm not sure which is better tbh..
Kilmurray is definitely closer to the main campus than Plassey. Any of the college campus accomodation can be restricting I've heard, with spot checks etc..Security patrol the campus as well ensuring that the noise id kept down etc..Would be a pain in the arse if you ask me.

I've been living in College Court for the past 2 years, and it's great. [Apart from a little fire incident recently...]
I'm actually looking for housemates for next year at the minute also. [not advertising here];)

440Hz

Mossin wrote:

[not advertising here];)

glad to hear it!!! down with that sort of thing

cooperguy

Just talkin to a secratary in Groody. The 6 bed apartments are €85 next year and the 3 bed are €80:eek:

PeakOutput

(however all ports were blocked except for http port)

if the http ports are open will rapidshare work?

kaimera

RS works over HTTP afaik.

PeakOutput

kaimera wrote:

RS works over HTTP afaik.

well all the links start with http so i assume they will

cheers

caesar

Plassey Village: Lived here this year (1st year). Its grand for first years especially if you don't know anyone. The houses are ok but they're not that homely though because they're not really like proper houses in their layout and furnishings. Craic wise the place was good enough, didn't live in the best part of it for that though and I'd say security have tightened up in the past few years. The people there were sound and it was a good location. I would only recommend it to first years though.


Next year I'll probably be living in College Court because i'd prefer a house over an apartment. Viewed two houses in Harvard Close yesterday, they seemed grand. The area seemed kinda cosy and apparently there are no residence. Its a cul de sac which is great cause there wouldn't be too many cars buzzing up and down. Rent seems reasonable too.

rmacm

caesar wrote:

Next year I'll probably be living in College Court because i'd prefer a house over an apartment. Viewed two houses in Harvard Close yesterday, they seemed grand. The area seemed kinda cosy and apparently there are no residence. Its a cul de sac which is great cause there wouldn't be too many cars buzzing up and down. Rent seems reasonable too.

As a current resident of Harvard Close all I can say is lol.....lots of cars come down the road to turn around and we had a little fire incident with a car about 2/3 weeks ago. Great fun

In all seriousness though it is a decent area to live in and there's rarely ever been any kind of trouble down here.

Cheers
Rory

caesar

rmacm wrote:

As a current resident of Harvard Close all I can say is lol.....lots of cars come down the road to turn around and we had a little fire incident with a car about 2/3 weeks ago. Great fun

In all seriousness though it is a decent area to live in and there's rarely ever been any kind of trouble down here.

Cheers
Rory

Now that I think of it a car did turn there yesterday when we went down to the houses. I could have being in your house too cause there only about 14 houses there. Do you know if there is much of a difference between the houses on the left and the ones that are around the corner on the right?

rmacm

caesar wrote:

Now that I think of it a car did turn there yesterday when we went down to the houses. I could have being in your house too cause there only about 14 houses there. Do you know if there is much of a difference between the houses on the left and the ones that are around the corner on the right?

Nah you weren't in our house anyway. There isn't much if any of a difference between the houses on the left and the right. The first two along the road are a little smaller than the others I think but that's about it. The rest of them are all the same design. The only difference I can think of is that some of the houses have gas heating and others have oil heating (like our place). Gas seems to be far more convenient but it's up to yourself as to what you prefer.

Cheers
Rory.

Ginger

cooperguy wrote:

Just talkin to a secratary in Groody. The 6 bed apartments are €85 next year and the 3 bed are €80:eek:

Man what happened to the day when rent in college was IEP22 a week???

440Hz

Ginger wrote:

Man what happened to the day when rent in college was IEP22 a week???

Ah yer just getting old!! hehe

Ginger

Suppose I am .. remember when it was 1.80 a pint for Bulmers in the stables and drinks promotions ran riot as well a dry cleaners on campus.. the world was young then