Study Ireland – Stories & Guides from International Students

In this personal advice blog, Sowmya Sabu, an Indian student doing her Master’s in Civil Engineering at UL, offers her advice on helping you settle in to living in Ireland.

I am Sowmya Madathil Sabu from India. This is my first visit to Ireland and being an International Student, I would like to share my experiences that may help you to settle into this city.

Accommodation

Unfortunately, there is a serious housing crisis in Ireland. It can be difficult to find accommodation here. The best way to get reliable accommodation is to opt for student accommodation either on or off campus. The cost seems higher than private accommodation, but the facilities and the proximity to the University makes it worth it. As the academic year progresses, life gets very busy and staying near the University has great advantages of its own. Every week there are variety of events that are organised by Campus Life Services which is open to all residents staying on-campus. Also, we can best make use of the University facilities like library, gym and swimming pool which are free for on-campus residents. Off-campus student accommodations also have their own perks, for example, Brookfield Hall has an on-site gym and a shuttle bus to UL available for residents

Banks

I hadn’t brought Forex card or any other international card with me from India. I only brought cash to support me until I opened a bank account here. The 2 main banks with branches near the University are Bank of Ireland (BOI) and Allied Irish Bank (AIB). I decided to start an account with BOI since it has a branch closer to the University. Bank accounts are created online in both the banks. I was not satisfied with BOI. Weeks passed and there was no progress. Since time and cash was running out, I decided to create an account with AIB. The process was much quicker and within 2 weeks, my account was created, address verification completed, and I received my debit card by post. Make sure to start a Students Plus Account if banking with AIB. There is considerable savings in terms of charges and fees.

If using cash isn’t an option for you, Revolut is a handy service which allows you to have different ‘wallets’ for 120 currencies. You can pay via contactless on their app or via a card you can order after signing up. It’s also handy should you decide to travel to the UK during your stay in Ireland and, when finished with the foreign currency, you can transfer it back into your main ‘wallet’.

Travel

As a student, you can avail of the benefits of a Student Leap Card. After you receive your UL Student ID, you can purchase your Leap Card at https://student.leapcard.ie/New-Card#dobCheck. The card costs €5. The physical card can be collected from the Student Union Office after you make the payment. It makes travelling around the city as well as the country much cheaper and easier. To travel anywhere within the Limerick City, it will cost you only 65c. You can download the Leap Top-Up App from Play Store/App Store to top-up your card.

Mobile Networks

There are many network providers here – Vodafone, 48, Three, Tesco and more. I am with Vodafone. Every month I top-up with €20 and get unlimited data in Ireland, 100 minutes any network talk time, 30 GB international data, and unlimited texts to any network. The network coverage is quite good. You will be happy to know that you don’t get charged for receiving texts or calls in Ireland as is the case in some other countries!

Groceries

Away from home and all by yourself in a foreign land, buying groceries and cooking is a regular task. There are no grocery shops on-campus other than Spar. Spar is a convenient store so, when compared to grocery stores like Aldi or Lidl, it is more expensive. Outside the campus the main spots for grocery shopping would be Aldi, Tesco, Lidl, Dunnes and SuperValu. From my experience, the nearest and cheapest is Aldi/Lidl. At Dunnes, they have an offer where for every purchase of at least €25, we get a €5 discount which makes it quite attractive for weekly shopping. They also have good collection of clothes at Dunnes. The City Centre also has some alternative grocery stores like the Asian and Arabic Food shop on Parnell Street near Colbert Station which has lots of non-European food options.

Medical

Ireland operates under a free healthcare system, with paid private care available if needed. The first month into the semester, I had an eye injury. I could barely open my eye, so I called an ambulance. Unfortunately, it took more than 90 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. I understand now that this isn’t protocol for minor emergencies like an eye injury. I do not recommend calling an ambulance unless it is a vital emergency, and you are incapable of getting yourself to the hospital. I also do not recommend going to the hospital Emergency Dept. (ED) for non-life-threatening emergencies as you will end up like me: waiting for approximately 5 hours before being seen as my eye injury wouldn’t have been deemed life-threatening and therefore my case was pushed back.

Instead, I recommend checking in to a medical centre which will see you much faster than ED. The closest to UL is Castletroy Park Medical Centre which has discount rates for students. Shannon Doc is 24-hour service available for out-of-hours emergencies that don’t warrant going to the ED. Unfortunately for me, I went to ED via ambulance which resulted in a €100 ‘Emergency Attendance Charge’. I highly recommend reading the terms of your insurance carefully before any medical emergencies arise to ensure you seek the right medical care for your issue and so that processing of payments is dealt with more swiftly than in my case, which is still ongoing. Some insurance companies require you to seek care from specific health practitioners so be sure to double check.

Online Shopping

Amazon services are not as easy as it was in India. All payments made through Amazon here are in GBP as Amazon.co.uk is the main Amazon service in Ireland. So, there is a conversion rate that applies to convert from EUR to GBP. Also, returning items is a big headache. After raising a return request, we need to personally ship back the item. No one will come to collect the parcel from your place. If you prefer to pay in EUR I recommend using Amazon.de or Amazon.fr.

In short, studying at UL is an experience of its own. Away from the crowded cities, pollution and noise, life in Limerick City is very quiet and peaceful. Everywhere you look, it is green. There are ups and downs in everything. The facilities offered by the university is appreciable. The library here is simply incredible with a huge collection of books, friendly staff, useful workshops, ample study spaces, rooms for group studies and even options for laptop lending. All in all, I will say coming here to do my Post Grad was a great choice.

-Sowmya Madathil Sabu