Moving to Ireland from California.. sooo, help :)

ssalas89

Greetings everyone, first of all, why am I not allowed to upload a profile picture? This is my first time posting on this site, My name is Samantha and I'm moving to Ireland in the beginning of the year? Why, why Ireland? Adventure, wanting to travel, to get away from America, and its a beautiful country, I shouldn't have to explain that! I don't know anyone in Ireland, I'm still not sure of where I'm going to settle in, but I've heard Dublin can be expensive and a little unsafe, so I'm thinking Galway as of now.. I know the economy is tough, but it seems that way in many places.. I obviously need to find work, figure out living arrangements.. so if anyone has any suggestions, advice or anything of that sort please reply! I would appreciate all the help! Any questions feel free, I need all the friends I can get!

Eeden

Not sure what part of California you're from, but if it's Southern California, you may find the weather (a) challenging, or (b) refreshing!

kupus

IF you use a site called meetups and use galway as your base you will find other people from USA that live there and its a good starting base as any, hope that helps also if you can stand constant rain you should be ok.

ssalas89

lucky me im not much of a summer person, well, i prefer the colder weather.. thanks ill be sure to check out that site thank you!

FouxDaFaFa

This forum, the Galway forum, has meetups every now and again, called "Boards Beers". It could a be a good place to meet people.

If you're looking for accomodation, try daft.ie.

ssalas89

meet ups its a great site, they even have events scheduled already for when ill be there! great stuff!

Eeden

(Not trying to pry, but..) we could give better suggestions if we knew your age range, vaguely what sort of job you might be looking for (bar? office? financial institution? :eek:) and what sort of accommodation you are looking for (flat? shared house? mansion?)

ssalas89

I'll be 24, I am an interior designer, and hope to be able to do internships in my industry, but my holiday work visa will only allow for casual work, restaurant or bar is what I'll be looking for. As, far as accommodations, I plan to share a room or rent a room of my own, im hoping to stay between 200-250 euros a month.

inisboffin

I love Galway and living in it, but honestly I find Dublin a lot cheaper for things like shopping, eating out etc - more choice.
As far as big cities go, Dublin is vey safe in my opinion.
Now back to Galway. It can be hard to find a job in a niche area but if you are willing to do whatever, then there is work I you persist and have experience.
For your budget you are looking at a house share I'd say.
Great nightlife if you love pubs and socialising.

beardybrewer

ssalas89 wrote: »

Greetings everyone, first of all, why am I not allowed to upload a profile picture?

I've often wondered this myself. This is the ONLY forum I know to have that feature locked down.

Make the most of your experience by finding accommodation in the city centre or Salthill.
Daft.ie, galway advertiser, and adverts.ie are all worth a look. Additionally, you may find this site useful: http://www.movetoireland.com

Squeeonline

newkie wrote: »

I've often wondered this myself. This is the ONLY forum I know to have that feature locked down.

To deal with spam/advertising before someone contributes I presume.


OP, you'll be lucky to get somewhere livable for €200/month near civilization. You might be lucky though

insignia33

ssalas89 wrote: »

I'll be 24, I am an interior designer, and hope to be able to do internships in my industry, but my holiday work visa will only allow for casual work, restaurant or bar is what I'll be looking for. As, far as accommodations, I plan to share a room or rent a room of my own, im hoping to stay between 200-250 euros a month.

Realistically, your not going anywhere with that budget. 250 a month is 60euro a week. Unless you mean 250 for just rent?

You really need to bump your budget up to about 150 a week (for rent/electric/internet/rubbish etc) which would be a bit more reasonable.

inisboffin

insignia33 wrote: »

Realistically, your not going anywhere with that budget. 250 a month is 60euro a week. Unless you mean 250 for just rent?
.

Yeah, I assumed OP meant rent only?

beardybrewer

inisboffin wrote: »

Yeah, I assumed OP meant rent only?

That was my assumption as well, €250/mo for a shared room.

Harps

I paid €220 a month for rent sharing with three others in a nice big house so no reason you couldn't find something similar, bills (inc. heating, electricity, internet & bins) were as low as €70 p/month in summer & up to €140 in winter, we had a long cold winter this year so heating pushed up the bills quite a bit

If you're moving here in January you might have a bit of trouble getting work in restaurants/bars as its the low season for tourism, I'm sure you'd get something eventually but around Easter would probably be the best time to look for work with tourism picking up and a lot of students finishing up their jobs before the summer

strongback

Just wondering what type of visa you are visiting Ireland on, is it a student visa?

Anyway I love California and would live there in a minute.

You might have experience cold before but it's unlikely you have experienced cold and damp together unless you have visited Ireland before.

I reckon Galway would be a good place to start as it seems to attract a lot of nomadic types who are searching for themselves, as such there are a lot of people looking to make friends. Dublin is a bit more impersonal and harder to meet people initially, in saying this once you make friends in Dublin it opens up pretty quickly and you'll meet a network of people.

Galway has a slower pace of life a bit like Cali so you should have no problem floating along. It has to be said though that Dublin is a bit more relevant as the capital city. There's good pubs in Galway it's the main pastime in a place that seems to have constant rainfall, certainly 30% more rainfall than Dublin.

ssalas89

yeah i ment 250 just for rent, but thanks for letting me know the cost of utilities, i can budget those expenses properly as well!

ssalas89

I will be on a holiday work visa! Thanks for the information! Galway sounds great.. I still have a few more months to decide where Ill start my journey, i hear dublin is more expensive but more job opportunities.. I hear wonderful things about Galway and the slower pace which sounds lovely to me, but then again smaller town = less jobs.. but all this information is great!

thesandeman

ssalas89 wrote: »

I'll be 24, I am an interior designer, and hope to be able to do internships in my industry, but my holiday work visa will only allow for casual work, restaurant or bar is what I'll be looking for.

This bit doesn't make sense to me. Can you not do part-time in your own industry or are you just looking for a break from it?