trinity hall or DCU accomodation in IFSC

girl in distres

I am an erasmus student (french) who will be studying at trinity.But I don’t know what to do with that huge dilemna of mine : should i live at trinity hall ( i have already accepted the offer and pay the deposit), which seems great but far from the city center or at the DCU campus in IFSC which is well located but has some downsides (strict ruleslike no overnight guest ; i would be isolated from fellow tcd student).
In fact,the real pb is that the luar doesn’t work after 12h30, which is against my idea of going out .but i don’t want to spend too much money on taxis or nitelink tickets nearly every night.
So please help me with your advise.
What is the nearest station from trinity hall to the luar ?
Have you ever lived at trinity hall or at the DCU accomodation, and which one do you prefer ?
If i choose not to live at trinity hall, what will happen apart from loosing the deposit :should i be obliged to pay the rent until an another student moves in ?
I hope you will find the time to respond

Sisu

I'd suggest Hall, mostly for the downsides you mention with DCU.

Hall isn't that far out of the way. If you share a taxi with a few people, it would be pretty cheap, and if you're with a group, you could walk out easily enough (about 40 minutes from College, less from some other parts of town). Anyway, you might find you're going out with a group from there to Rathmines rather than town, which is very close. The luas is very nearby at Milltown stop. It's maybe five or seven minutes' walk.

Have you been offered a modern room or Cunningham in Hall? Have you checked out the rooms in DCU - they could well be nicer than Cunningham, if that's what you've got.

I expect if you turn down the room at Hall, they'll fill it immediately, so they'd have to be quite stingy to penalise you (not that I guarantee they wouldn't!)

girl in distres

i have been offered a place at modern appartment.

snorlax

Girlindistress there's always the nitelink which runs about every 20 mins/ half an hour starting at half twelve, so you can get that it's only 4eur which isn't really alot considering a taxi to there may be 8/10eur and it gets you home in one piece. the last luas on a friday and say night actually leaves stephens green at 12.45 or so as it has to return to the station in Sandyford.

i think the 14 bus runs near you at trinity halls(runs every 20mins or so). probably the luas stations your looking for is Cowper, id say its about a 12mins walk(and another 10mins into town), Miltown is kinda near to you too(my station). but wait till someone here here's been in Trinity halls replies

Instead of getting the luas, you could rent somewhere within 4 or 5 miles of town. That'll mean a 40 odd minute cycle each morning, which'll keep you fit AND means you can go home whenever you want. The roads are quiet at 2 in the morning...just don't cycle loaded!

snorlax

it might be difficult to cycle home after a night out!

Darty is about a 40min walk into town anyhow, you could probably cycle it in about 20mins

snorlax

snorlax wrote:

it might be difficult to cycle home after a night out!

Nah, it depends on how loaded you get. Obviously if you're tanked it'd be stupid (pot, kettle, black however). It still beats that 4 euro on a nitelink.

Nietzschean

cycling/rollerblading pissed is an experence not to be missed.....

(roller blading down grafton street either pissed or stoned at 4am has to be one of the best things going, so bloddy funny)

AFAIK there is no Nitelink past Trinity Hall. I think the nearest one is the one that goes past Tesco in Rathmines. It's only a 10 minute walk from halls but I wouldn't do it at night, not alone anyway. That was my main issue with halls, most of the people I went out with didn't live there so I always ended up coming back alone. If you were with a group it would probably be OK.
Taxis could be anything between 10-15 euros. There are buses from outside Trinity Hall all day until about 11.30 or else there's the Luas. However you would have to do some walking as its nearly 10 mins to the nearest station (which is Milltown).

To be honest I regretted staying in Trinity Hall this year. I'd have much preferred to live closer to college and not rely on public transport to get home. I'd go for the IFSC halls if I were you. A friend of mine who applied to Trinity Hall last year couldn't go at the last minute (reasons beyond her control) and she didn't bother notifying them and ended up paying a month's rent. If you decide not to take your room, call them and let them know as soon as possible, and you shouldn't have to pay (except for losing your deposit)

Pet

What is the nearest station from trinity hall to the luar ?

Milltown. It's exactly 10 mins walk.

Have you ever lived at trinity hall or at the DCU accomodation, and which one do you prefer ?

I've personally lived in neither (yet), but from talking to friends, Trinity Hall seems to be the better option, as it's near to Rathmines, which has a really high student population. IFSC isn't all that much more convenient..it's a bit closer to college, but it'd take you almost the same amount of time to get in. I timed the journey from Trinity Hall to college a few days ago:
Hall to Milltown Luas stop: 10 mins
Luas to St Stephen's Green: 10 mins
St Stephens Green to Arts block: 10 mins.

article6

Pet wrote:

Luas to St Stephen's Green: 10 mins

I want this Luas. 15-18 minutes from Milltown to Stephen's Green is probably more common.

I lived in Halls this year, again next year, and have been inside IFSC accommodation. The Trinity Halls standard rooms are nicer than IFSC rooms in my opinion, especially the big ones. Distance is not a major issue - taxis are frequent (thanks to the PDs) and cheap at about €10-€12. Which is about €3 with three/four people. And before 12:30, there's the Luas, which is also the healthy option since there's a 20 minute walk included in the journey.

I've personally lived in neither (yet), but from talking to friends, Trinity Hall seems to be the better option, as it's near to Rathmines, which has a really high student population. IFSC isn't all that much more convenient..it's a bit closer to college, but it'd take you almost the same amount of time to get in. I timed the journey from Trinity Hall to college a few days ago:

Hall to Milltown Luas stop: 10 mins
Luas to St Stephen's Green: 10 mins
St Stephens Green to Arts block: 10 mins.

Well that's 30 minutes, and often the Luas can take more than 10 minutes, it's usually around 15. Also, you may have just missed one and there could be a 10 minute wait. The NCI accommodation in the IFSC is only a 15 minute walk from Trinity with no waiting around for buses/Luas. You know exactly what time you need to leave and can be sure of getting to college or whatever on time. Also it's a lot handier for town, only 10 mins to O'Connell St. I'm not saying its a better place to live but its definitely more convenient travel/time wise.

The OP didn't mention the areas but the main reason I decided not to get a flat in the IFSC last year was that I find the area quite depressing. I find it all grey and dreary there by the river and there's lots of boarded up businesses etc on the other side. Also there's a lack of decent supermarkets. Rathmines is a lot more pleasant to walk through and live in but then its further out. Suppose you can't have everything

Pet

The OP didn't mention the areas but the main reason I decided not to get a flat in the IFSC last year was that I find the area quite depressing. I find it all grey and dreary there by the river and there's lots of boarded up businesses etc on the other side. Also there's a lack of decent supermarkets. Rathmines is a lot more pleasant to walk through and live in but then its further out.

Yeah, I should have made that point too..if I lived down at the IFSC, I'd probably kill myself. It's like UCD, only smellier, and with more rats.

snorlax

it dosn't take 10mins to get to the arts bock form grafton street, it can be easily done in 5mins. it nomally takes me 25mins in total to get to stephens grn (i get it from there every morning), 12mins walking, at most 3mins waiting, and 10/12 mins travelling time 9be ware that the luases get very full at certain times in the morning so you have to really push you way on, or at least get some rugby training in.

snorlax

snorlax wrote:

it dosn't take 10mins to get to the arts bock form grafton street, it can be easily done in 5mins. it nomally takes me 25mins in total to get to stephens grn (i get it from there every morning), 12mins walking, at most 3mins waiting, and 10/12 mins travelling time 9be ware that the luases get very full at certain times in the morning so you have to really push you way on, or at least get some rugby training in.

Depends if you're a power walker I suppose. Walking down or up grafton street with a bike would take over 5 minutes though, given the volume of people on that street at 9 in the morning.

snorlax

well if your heading towards the arts block you could just cut up one of the streets parallel to it, you know the one with the Hibernia Mall (avoiding the mobs).

i kind of walk quite fast though.

if you had a bike you could just cycle down past merrion square and visit the natural history museam and the art gallery along the way !

snorlax

snorlax wrote:

if you had a bike you could just cycle down past merrion square and visit the natural history museam and the art gallery along the way !

Bah! De-tours are for the weak.

Pet

Myth wrote:

Depends if you're a power walker I suppose. Walking down or up grafton street with a bike would take over 5 minutes though, given the volume of people on that street at 9 in the morning.

Yes, and you get to play "dodge the powersuit-with-attached-mobile-phone/ugg-boot-ipod-earphones-cosmo-girl/delivery-man-with-no-peripheral-vision/"gis a smoke"-tracker-knacker". Ah, there's nothing like a walk down Grafton St on a cold ****ty Dublin morning to get your blood boiling for you.