Germany -> Ireland! Questions about living in Galway...

ethernet

Xiney wrote: »

...show off :P

Hardly! Seven years learning the language so far. Might as well try and use it. :pac:

Xiney

no worries, was just kidding!

happyoutscan

JustMary wrote: »

Aye. And a few bits aren't.

A kid who's just got here from Germany might not be able to spot which is which easily. So I'm totally unrepentant about suggesting that s/he lives elsewhere. If that's "snobbery", then so be it.

I didn't ask for you to be 'unrepentant' nor did I mention anything about snobbery. All i said was 'most of westside is grand', which it is. I'm impressed by your superior knowledge of Galway considering (if memory serves) you're only here a short time. A valued opinion for the 'kid' I'm sure...

Pete4779

Live as close to the city centre as possible, or else just live 30 mins out in the countryside. The suburbs have useless public transport, no bicycle lanes and you will need a taxi or car to get around. Basically live a 10-15 walk to city centre and it's fine. Salthill is an example - it's a 20 min or so walk, and at the outskirts of what is reasonable.

Biking is a good way to get around, but the roads are very poorly surfaced, it rains around 80% of the days of the year there as well and driving standards are very poor (many many provisionally licensed students driving rustbuckets with no knowledge of road saftey or regulation).

city centre living, bus to suburbs for work, walking distance to all the good pubs and restaurants which are mostly city centre anyway.

jester77

Webbs wrote: »

As for the poster saying it is safer in Germany they obviously havent been to Hamburg - Galway is a very safe city in comparison to any other city I have been to. The murder of the poor Swiss girl was appalling but thankfully is a very very uncommon event

Have you lived in Hamburg? I've lived for a number of years in both cities and they are both safe. The only major problems in Hamburg lie around the Rote Flora and they only arise on may day and a few years back when the G8 were in town. Otherwise there is very little trouble, you are more likely to see a scrap outside abreakebabra or supermacs than on the Reeperbahn.

new123

ethernet wrote: »

Wie gesagt, öffentliche Verkehrsmittel bei uns ist sehr schlecht. Man muss immer einige Minuten früh sein, obwohl der Bus/Zug hat fast immer Verspätung. .....

Sieben Jahre? Nicht schlecht. Deutsch lernen ist 100x schwieriger als Englisch!

My first work day (yes, at SAP!) is May 4th. So I might be interested in a city tour of Galway. Maybe I will contact you when I arrived for further information about it. Need to find a place to live first.....


The more I read from you, the more I wanna live in the centre.... ideally next to Eyer Square and famous line no.9.

new123

hey,
moving to Galway from Germany in may for 6 months for an internship, I successfully got valuable information about my possible way to work in another thread.

Got still so much more questions...hope that some of you could help me out here to plan my journey successfully?

- How much days will I have to calculate living in a hostel before I might find a room in Galway city? (Unfortunately cannot fly to Ireland much early before my first day at work...)
Have been on www.daft.ie, is it by any chance likely to get a room from Germany?

- Possible rent for my purposes (Shared house in single room in the centre) differs between 300-400/month. How much will I have to calculate for utilities? (Electricity, Gas/Oil, Telephone, Internet, other...)

- Living cost for food etc are supposed to be higher than I might be used to in Germany? Are 150/month a realistic amount?

Thanks in advance

sarahspud

new123 wrote: »

hey,
moving to Galway from Germany in may for 6 months for an internship, I successfully got valuable information about my possible way to work in another thread.

Got still so much more questions...hope that some of you could help me out here to plan my journey successfully?

- How much days will I have to calculate living in a hostel before I might find a room in Galway city? (Unfortunately cannot fly to Ireland much early before my first day at work...)
Have been on www.daft.ie, is it by any chance likely to get a room from Germany?

- Possible rent for my purposes (Shared house in single room in the centre) differs between 300-400/month. How much will I have to calculate for utilities? (Electricity, Gas/Oil, Telephone, Internet, other...)

- Living cost for food etc are supposed to be higher than I might be used to in Germany? Are 150/month a realistic amount?

Thanks in advance

Hi,
I moved to Galway recently from Dublin. Its easy enough to find a room at the moment & rents have gone down slightly. 300-400 is what you would pay for a nice place close to the city centre, you could get a place for less if you have lower standards & /or live further out. I know you have gotten info before so you probably know about the Galway Advertiser accomodation supplement which comes out on Tuesday (I think) and you can get it from 1 or 2 pm (not sure which exactly)if you go in and pay 2 euro-theres usually a big queue of people so get there early. Their office is very centrally located on Eyre square, i think they also put them online so check their website: http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/classifieds
And you know about daft.ie. Id say 1 week would gt you somewhere, if you are unlucky it might take longer, but I would budget for 1 week.

As regards cost of living, its high compared to Germany. If you shop in Aldi & Lidl, which Im sure you know offer great quality, you can have food for the week for around 30 to 40-that is eating very well with maybe a bottle of wine & not buying the cheapest stuff. They are located on the Headford rd, which is about 10-15 minutes walk from the city centre & you can find it on google maps. They are all together in the same area beside a tesco and the omniplex cinema.
Eating out & buying drinks out is expensive. A pint costs slightly less than Dublin, but is in and around 4.50, a glass of wine ranges from 4.50 to 5.50-possibly more in a restaurant.A shot and mixer is dearer again, 7 or 8 bucks. A botttle of wine in aldi/lidl is 5.99 up to about 12 for a really nice bottle.
Some restaurants which offer good food & good value are:

BKs, a french place across from Thai gardens restaurant at Spanish arch, has a 3 course menu for 15 quid, great food, great wine list. Opens at 6pm i think. Also the Indian located right beside this is very good, main dishes are around 12-13 euro and rice is extra. very nice food.
The Cottage, Lr salthill rd, salthill, nice tapas, dishes around 8 quid each-2 would fill you up & get a basket of bread with all orders
Master Lees, this is in the centre of town, just after supermacs, before the bridge-cheap chinese food where you can eat in or takeaway-very decent grub & serve real chips. http://www.masterlees.com/
Vina Mara-gorgeous food, they do an early bird, 2 courses for 24 plus a glass of wine I think, details here:
http://www.vinamara.com/
Check out www.menupages.ie for reviews of places.

Some good pubs are: The Crane bar, Sea rd, this is actually just down from Massimos, and often has free music, but good free music. If you join you get tickets at a reduced rate & an email with weekly updates, http://www.thecranebar.com/
Theres no fee to become a member.
Massimos, good crowd here, often plays funk.
The Roisin Dubh-youll hear a lot about this place so I wont say much!

As regards utilities, they are expensive, Id say I pay about 40-50 a month for broadband & electricity. You may also have to pay for waste disposal.

Anyway, hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info. Céad míle fáilte to Ireland!

p.s. Public transport in galway is a joke so if you live far from work you will need to get a car or a bike.

Steyr

Pete4779 wrote: »

The suburbs have useless public transport.

Id disagree with you there with regards to the Rahoon and Salthill routes, IMO they are alway on time everytime i use them.

kraggy

I wouldn't plan on living in the city centre and cycling out to parkmore. It's too long and would be especially horrible on a cold wet morning in winter.

The no. 9 is great. Very reliable in my experience.

Or else you could live in Doughiska. Then you could walk to work. But living in city centre would be more fun, especially during summer when there is a lot of fun stuff going on.

new123

sarahspud wrote: »

Hi,
I moved to Galway recently from Dublin. Its easy enough to find a room at the moment & rents have gone down slightly. 300-400 is what you would pay for a nice place close to the city centre, you could get a place for less if you have lower standards & /or live further out. .......

thanks a lot for the detailed information. Think a lower standard is totally satisfying for me. Next to city center is the more important criterion.
looking forward to check out all your recommendations for eating and stuff...

Greaney

kraggy wrote: »

I wouldn't plan on living in the city centre and cycling out to parkmore. It's too long and would be especially horrible on a cold wet morning in winter.

The no. 9 is great. Very reliable in my experience.

Or else you could live in Doughiska. Then you could walk to work. But living in city centre would be more fun, especially during summer when there is a lot of fun stuff going on.

I second that, we are getting the buses every 15 minutes from Doughiska and on a sunny day only takes aroud 45 minutes to walk into the city - keeps ye fit as well

FergusF

kraggy wrote: »

I wouldn't plan on living in the city centre and cycling out to parkmore. It's too long and would be especially horrible on a cold wet morning in winter.

I lived in the Westside area and worked in Parkmore for ~5 years and cycled to / from work nearly every day, I'd say at least 9 out of 10 days.

I guess one's definition of 'long' depends on your fitness level, etc. For me cycling was the fastest way to get there - about 30 minutes at average speed (not working up a sweat . By car - anything from 15 minutes (early AM) to 60 minutes + (Parkmore > home on a busy Friday). Cycling is also much handier if you need to pop into a few shops on the way home, no hassle with parking, traffic, etc. so can save you a lot of wasted time.

It was also great for keeping fit, an hour of exercise every day means you can save time / money you'd otherwise spend on gyms or other sports.

I agree it can be pretty nasty on a wet November evening with the wind & rain in your face! But I soon got used to it, just carry your raingear at all times

Mrs OBumble

new123 wrote: »

- How much days will I have to calculate living in a hostel before I might find a room in Galway city? (Unfortunately cannot fly to Ireland much early before my first day at work...)
Have been on www.daft.ie, is it by any chance likely to get a room from Germany?

Budget for a fortnight, and you might save a lot. But budget for that just in case. Some of the hostels do (at least did) weekly rates - see www.hostelworld.com for details - Kinlay House at least used to be very good.

I'd strongly recommend not agreeing to any room in a house until you've seen it.

new123 wrote: »

- Possible rent for my purposes (Shared house in single room in the centre) differs between 300-400/month. How much will I have to calculate for utilities? (Electricity, Gas/Oil, Telephone, Internet, other...)

Electricity, budget E50/month. You don't need a telephone, just get a pre-pay mobile (unless the house already has one). Broadband wireless is about E-30/month, maybe a little more or less for a package with cable TV.

new123 wrote: »

- Living cost for food etc are supposed to be higher than I might be used to in Germany? Are 150/month a realistic amount?

Food is at least E-30 week, and that's if you're using the German supermarkets and doing things very budget. I'd plan on at least E-40 to E-50, maybe a little less if you do shared shopping with house-mates.

Beer is about E4/pint. Movies are around E12. A trip to the swimming pool is E7.5 (12 months ago, maybe more now). Gym membership is around E400 for 6 months. Night-classes about E120 for six-eight weeks. That gives you some sort of idea of your recreation costs.