Expats in Galway, did you ever regret moving there?

seachto7

Get yourself to a hurling match in championship time.

Elmo

After about a week you become an Irish curmudgeon.

wotzgoingon

Aunt Tebby wrote: »

@Red Pepper.

It's horrifying.

Compared with the health care systems in France/Belgium/Luxembourg/Germany, the Irish system is on the level of the 2nd or 3rd world.

What are you taking about. I was in the Galway clinic once it was luxury, I was in the University hospital Galway twice and found it good and I was in the Mayo Gerneral hospital after a car crash and I was well looked after. So I don't know where you got that the hospitals are not good. More than likely word of mouth and you probably do not have first hand experience of being in any hospital.

Birroc

wotzgoingon wrote: »

What are you taking about. I was in the Galway clinic once it was luxury, I was in the University hospital Galway twice and found it good and I was in the Mayo Gerneral hospital after a car crash and I was well looked after. So I don't know where you got that the hospitals are not good. More than likely word of mouth and you probably do not have first hand experience of being in any hospital.

I agree with RedPepper. UCHG is a terrible hospital. Venture into A&E any day of the week and you'll see first hand.

Quick google: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/medics-lash-appalling-ae-situation-as-hse-says-trolley-list-down-29938297.html

Yesterday, 308 patients were on trolleys in emergency departments and another 86 in wards, with University Hospital Galway the worst affected with 44 people waiting for a bed.

I and several of my family members have received poor treatment in UCHG. I do not want to provide details.

Birroc

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I think it is a shoddy system but that it treats everyone equally unfairly.

Agree with this, the HSE treat everyone equally badly. The doctors/nurses are good but the support systems are terrible and they are overworked.

Mrs OBumble

wotzgoingon wrote: »

What are you taking about. I was in the Galway clinic once it was luxury, I was in the University hospital Galway twice and found it good and I was in the Mayo Gerneral hospital after a car crash and I was well looked after. So I don't know where you got that the hospitals are not good. More than likely word of mouth and you probably do not have first hand experience of being in any hospital.

FWIW, I work with a fairly recent ex-pat who has experience with hospitals in Europe, and who went to a consultant in the Galway Clinic for a particular issue. He said that it was like being in a lovely hotel, but didn't feel confident in the care offered. So he now uses some of his annual leave to travel back to the continent to see the previous doctor there. (The ex-pat has English as his first language.) And the Galway Clinic, like many private hospitals does not have 24x7 on-site doctor coverage. If you're there and something goes wrong, they either have to ring your consultant and have him/her come in, or call an ambulance.

And the recent survey published by the INMO makes it very clear that staff levels here are grossly inadequate: http://www.inmo.ie/tempDocs/INMO%20MIDWIFERY%20STAFFING%20SURVEY%20CONFIRMS%20MAJOR%20STAFFING%20CRISIS%20REVISED%20Press%20Release%2006%2003%2014.pdf



(I'm an expat, which was who the OP was asking to hear from. I wonder how many other posters in this thread are.)

WallyGUFC

I've never had a problem waiting in A&E the few times I've been there. Ya can't expect to be seen straight away, and the nurses and doctors always do their best. If this testimony about the race thing influenced people's decision to come and live in Galway it would be very sad indeed.

Lovely place in the Summer, fairly dreary in the Winter. Lot's to do and a nice atmosphere around the place. Don't need much else!

Red Pepper

wotzgoingon wrote: »

More than likely word of mouth and you probably do not have first hand experience of being in any hospital.

Don't call me a liar. I have actually worked for the HSE in the west in what I will call an advisory capacity. The level of incompetence among non frontline workers shocked me and I am not easily shocked. Some of the HSE "managers" are grossly overpaid and completely useless with zero value add roles. I made my opinion quite clear too. Utter bureaucracy.

My experience of direct hospital care has also been quite poor overall. I walked out of A&E 2 years ago with a close relation because they were actually making her situation worse. Long story but I was told after 9 hours beside a trolley in the hall that they were "waiting for blood test results" and then I reminded them they had not taken any blood. Left hand did not know what the right hand was doing. There are many other examples. From all accounts A&E is even worse now.

Per capita we spend more on the health system than most other EU countries but shure we're Irish and we'll accept mediocrity, its what we do best...

sammyjo90

Bringing the thread back slightly on topic...... Not much of a metal scene here unfortunately OP!
What does your OH like to do? Maybe if she can do it here she'll like it better

beardybrewer

BTW, in case OP hasn't noticed, the Irish are passionate when it comes to complaining.

Source:

Nonoperational

A guy asks about living in Galway, and even states that he is healthy with private health insurance, and people start giving exceptional examples of extremely rare adverse healthcare events and anecdotal stories that could easily be a load of exaggerated made up nonsense.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Healthcare is hit and miss: there are no clinical protocols, so if you get into the system and a good consultant is on your site, you can get brilliant care.

OTHO, getting in is hard and there have been some dreadful failures that some of us believe had more to do with race than many Irish would like to admit.

That's not true. Vitals are monitored of every hospital patient, and an escalation protocol is at the foot of every bed in the NEWS score chart.

Jesus I despair with the mentality of some people.

Birroc

Nonoperational wrote: »

That's not true. Vitals are monitored of every hospital patient, and an escalation protocol is at the foot of every bed in the NEWS score chart.

Last time I was in A&E, they lost my chart when I was sent for an x-ray. They even blamed me for it being lost!
My appendix burst soon after while I was waiting for a bed. They told me I could not get get surgery until I got a ward bed. It was a rule. I told them I would happily come back to a trolley. I remember the exact moment my appendix burst lying there in a corridor. The surgeon was very eager to operate but they would not let him.
I should have been there for 2-3 days, I ended up there for 9 holding up a bed for some other unfortunate no doubt...

kefir32

Birroc wrote: »

I agree with RedPepper. UCHG is a terrible hospital. Venture into A&E any day of the week and you'll see first hand.

Quick google: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/medics-lash-appalling-ae-situation-as-hse-says-trolley-list-down-29938297.html

Yesterday, 308 patients were on trolleys in emergency departments and another 86 in wards, with University Hospital Galway the worst affected with 44 people waiting for a bed.

I and several of my family members have received poor treatment in UCHG. I do not want to provide details.

AMEN to that, had a woeful experience personally last year with emphasis on the a/e department. Never want to go back there again,relatively minor episode
but the stress and narky staff shaped my opinion until this day

Mrs OBumble

Nonoperational wrote: »

That's not true. Vitals are monitored of every hospital patient, and an escalation protocol is at the foot of every bed in the NEWS score chart.

I was referring to treatment protocols (if you have X, Y and Z then the approved treatment is A, B and C) - and my comment is a direct quote from a friend who is a registered health professional with extensive experience both here and in the NHS.

Something else she admitted is that she was quite shocked when she came back home and discovered how much less treatment she was able to give to the average patient here, compared to what the NHS required her to do. She also said that she shock wears off after a while, and you get quite blaise about what the system is like here.

Harps

newkie wrote: »

BTW, in case OP hasn't noticed, the Irish are passionate when it comes to complaining.

It does seem to happen in nearly every thread on this forum, very offputting..

bahamut88 wrote: »

Come on guys, less health opinions (hopefully nobody would need it :P ) and more about the city!

What sort of interests do you have? There's plenty of groups and university clubs you could get involved in just to get yourself on your feet, the first few months are obviously a bit tough when you don't really have anyone to spend your free time with. Galway is a small place but always interesting and has a real mix of people so keep positive, there's always the boards beers if you're desperate :pac:

ben.schlomo

Why is this HSE sh1ttalk still going on.

OP theres one metal pub in town, Sally Longs, has a reputation for being rough but in my experience its always been good anytime ive been, sometimes they have live bands too.

Nonoperational

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I was referring to treatment protocols (if you have X, Y and Z then the approved treatment is A, B and C) - and my comment is a direct quote from a friend who is a registered health professional with extensive experience both here and in the NHS.

Something else she admitted is that she was quite shocked when she came back home and discovered how much less treatment she was able to give to the average patient here, compared to what the NHS required her to do. She also said that she shock wears off after a while, and you get quite blaise about what the system is like here.

What do you mean by that?

bahamut88

Harps wrote: »

It does seem to happen in nearly every thread on this forum, very offputting..



What sort of interests do you have? There's plenty of groups and university clubs you could get involved in just to get yourself on your feet, the first few months are obviously a bit tough when you don't really have anyone to spend your free time with. Galway is a small place but always interesting and has a real mix of people so keep positive, there's always the boards beers if you're desperate :pac:

Mostly I'm into live music, cinemas, bowling and things like that. Being a metal head, I hate clubs and disco. I enjoy a nice chat in front of some beers, a dinner at friends' house. Relaxed stuff!

bahamut88

sammyjo90 wrote: »

Bringing the thread back slightly on topic...... Not much of a metal scene here unfortunately OP!
What does your OH like to do? Maybe if she can do it here she'll like it better

She's not into metal AT ALL, so sometimes gets really weird between us
You know, I'm not the typical satanist, or the thrasher, or the manowar fan, I'm just someone who dresses casual and I'm very easy going, I always just listened to the music, I've never lived it apart from a small period when I was a teenager.

She likes to cook and she's an architect, I really hope she'll find something to do, even non paying jobs! We enjoy exploring new places (and Ireland has many of them) and tasting new food.

ben.schlomo

bahamut88 wrote: »

She's not into metal AT ALL, so sometimes gets really weird between us
You know, I'm not the typical satanist, or the thrasher, or the manowar fan, I'm just someone who dresses casual and I'm very easy going, I always just listened to the music, I've never lived it apart from a small period when I was a teenager.

She likes to cook and she's an architect, I really hope she'll find something to do, even non paying jobs! We enjoy exploring new places (and Ireland has many of them) and tasting new food.

The Roisin Dubh might be more up your street so as the music is much less commercial than most of the late night venues.

niallu

Why has this thread been hi jacked with so much $hit talk about health care??? Have it out in private message if ye are that enthusiastic about it.

Anyways, as mentioned Galway is a small enough city, but there are many different nationalities visiting and working there.

It's probably the best place to be in Ireland during the summer, with the arts festival, Galway races, and other stuff. Even if you don't like horse racing / art, the atmoshphere is great with parties on the street and a much more relaxed attitude to other places.

Lots of good live music venues etc, so it's a pretty social spot too for the weekends.

I don't think you've made a bad decision in moving and sure you'll enjoy your time.

Best of luck in

bahamut88

Thanks all guys, I find all your suggestions and opinions very useful! Yeah, I also think I made the right choice! Can't wait to come there!

Wompa1

You'll love Galway! It's a great town. It's the kind of town that you could go out for a few pints alone and end up making friends by the end of the night. The music scene is great. There's some great traditional Irish music in the Crane, there's a fun vibe in the Spanish Arch Hotel on a Saturday night..or at least I like it there. There's a band called Riff Raff that play there, they have been there for years and are pretty reliable. I've never been to Italy but the air in Galway is amazing, if you walk out to Salthill when there's a bit of a chill in the air it's great. I miss the air the most!!

There use to be a Metal band that played on Mondays in Sally Longs, not sure if they are still on the go but you might find one or two playing every once in a while in Sally Longs or possibly in the Roisin Dubh

Also, will you have a car? Even if you don't, rent one for a weekend or two and drive out to Connemara. Did you know the Marconi Wireless station which received the first trans Atlantic transmission was in Clifden, Co. Galway? The Alcock and Brown landing site it also out there. There's really nothing to see but I like the sense of history when visiting there. Also the Sky Road is amazing. You'll want to head up to Westport too, it's beautiful. Co. Clare is pretty amazing too.

Don't worry OP, you made the right choice. Germany is alright but Ireland is one of the prettiest countries in the world and has great character. Good Luck.

Also, for 400-500 you could possibly get a room on Lough Atalia, the apartments there are pretty high end and right in the city center.

Paddyfield

Wompa1 wrote: »

Also, for 400-500 you could possibly get a room on Lough Atalia, the apartments there are pretty high end and right in the city center.

You'll also get a decent room within 1km of the city centre for €300 mark.

A co-worker is renting a room on Middle Street in a well maintained three bedroom townhouse for €300. She's only a 90 second walk to Shop Street....!

Dutchess

Right, to answer OP's question. The only reason I do not regret it is meeting Mr. Dutchess in NUIG. And if both of us could get jobs elsewhere, I would leave soon. In fact, I have been quite down for a while now and I think being here is partially to blame for that. This post is pretty much Ireland in general, only the bits about getting to know people is Galway specific as I wouldn't know what it's like elsewhere.

The good: This country is beautiful. The weather makes it so and it is quite thinly populated and even then most of the population is concentrated in Dublin. This makes for beautiful nature. If you like being outdoors and you're willing to be in bad weather/plan an outing at very short notice, you'll be fine. It is that sense of space that I would probably miss a lot, especially if I moved back to my home country.

However:
I originally chose Ireland to go to (I could have applied for a university in a different English speaking country) because of its interesting Pre-Christian heritage. However, I find that the interest in that here is low. Most heritage events are often family and therefore children orientated.

And herein lies a major issue of mine: the potentially fun and interesting events (not limited to heritage) are generally either fairly childish or overrun with drunks.
I realise that due the thin population generating enough interest for something unusual to be lucrative is difficult. And because we are cut off from the continent, foreign traders can't easily come here for something like a weekend festival.
So my point here is that if you have unusual interests, you might have a hard time finding them catered for.

I find that as a young childless professional couple, making friends is extremely difficult. I had friends in college through the societies, but they left. I imagine that people also meet others through their children. I have met people and have some friends but I would rate most of the friendships quite shallow and fragile. I often find (local, sorry!) people difficult to get to know and mostly, extremely apathetic and without initiative.

I also get frustrated with the often seemingly lack of planning and organisation, for example, I would love to go to this festival. But it should now be 1,5 months away but not a word on it: http://www.festivalofthefires.com/about/

I'll make a very short note on the fact that I had to go for a diagnostic X-Ray in UCHG yesterday and that went well, I barely had to wait. However, I know that depending on what those X-Rays show, I can wait 6 months to 1,5 years for an initial appointment with the consultant that deals with this. I hope to never end up in A&E and/or get cancer here and I will try to leave or get the best private insurance possible before I reach a high risk age. Then again, maybe by that time that Dutch reform will have kicked in and it'll be just like home.

I hope I'm not putting you off OP. This is a very personal and specific experience. I might very well be too uptight, or my expectations were unrealistic...and of course I draw comparisons with life in my home country too. Galway draws and keeps in plenty of people so it must be doing something right!

beardybrewer

Dutchess wrote: »

So my point here is that if you have unusual interests, you might have a hard time finding them catered for.
...
I hope I'm not putting you off OP. This is a very personal and specific experience. I might very well be too uptight, or my expectations were unrealistic...and of course I draw comparisons with life in my home country too. Galway draws and keeps in plenty of people so it must be doing something right!

I think it is important to keep in mind you're dealing with a tiny country. We're just grateful someone bothered to wire us up for broadband and netflix. Seriously, we're such a small market and so spread out there is lack of competition for many things which is why our cost of living sucks. Likewise, extreme and unusual interests probably aren't as well catered compared to a larger country with a bigger market that can support them. Also keep in mind this was a traditionally poor country, therefore despite appearances many things aren't as sophisticated (infrastructure, services, customer care, etc) as bigger countries nor is there a mindset that they should be so. If these things don't bother you and you can ease in to the pace of life here you'll be grand.

bahamut88

Wompa1 wrote: »

You'll love Galway! It's a great town. It's the kind of town that you could go out for a few pints alone and end up making friends by the end of the night. The music scene is great. There's some great traditional Irish music in the Crane, there's a fun vibe in the Spanish Arch Hotel on a Saturday night..or at least I like it there. There's a band called Riff Raff that play there, they have been there for years and are pretty reliable. I've never been to Italy but the air in Galway is amazing, if you walk out to Salthill when there's a bit of a chill in the air it's great. I miss the air the most!!

There use to be a Metal band that played on Mondays in Sally Longs, not sure if they are still on the go but you might find one or two playing every once in a while in Sally Longs or possibly in the Roisin Dubh

Also, will you have a car? Even if you don't, rent one for a weekend or two and drive out to Connemara. Did you know the Marconi Wireless station which received the first trans Atlantic transmission was in Clifden, Co. Galway? The Alcock and Brown landing site it also out there. There's really nothing to see but I like the sense of history when visiting there. Also the Sky Road is amazing. You'll want to head up to Westport too, it's beautiful. Co. Clare is pretty amazing too.

Don't worry OP, you made the right choice. Germany is alright but Ireland is one of the prettiest countries in the world and has great character. Good Luck.

Also, for 400-500 you could possibly get a room on Lough Atalia, the apartments there are pretty high end and right in the city center.

Thanks for the many suggestions, I'll definitely take some notes here.
I don't have a car, at least I won't have it at the very beginning, but I plan to rent it to have a tour of the nearby areas :cool:

zarquon

bahamut88 wrote: »

Thanks for the many suggestions, I'll definitely take some notes here.
I don't have a car, at least I won't have it at the very beginning, but I plan to rent it to have a tour of the nearby areas :cool:

There are plenty of bus tours also so a car is not a necessity for the main tourist attractions.

GekkePrutser

I'm also an expat (from Holland). What I like best about Galway is that there's a lot happening in summer. The city is nice and compact and if the weather is good it's quite comfortable. What I really like about Ireland is that things are easier. In Holland there's so much bureaucracy, so many forms to fill in for everything. And cameras following you everywhere, your movements digitally recorded and monitored. It feels claustrophobic there sometimes.

Galway does feel isolated sometimes though. I'm from a town 10 km from Amsterdam city centre so if I was bored it was always just a 20 minute trip to get to the big city. Here in Galway there is not much choice in terms of shops and Dublin is a long exhausting journey away, I rarely go there except to fly out. Speaking of which, having to travel 3 hours there and back every time you have to fly somewhere is a pain as well. I travel a lot for work, so that is heavy. Shannon and Knock don't have the destinations I need.

The area around Galway is great, such as Connemara. Lots of things to see, countryside walks to do etc. The community is very active as well and I'm a member of some local clubs. I found people there to be very friendly. But like Dutchess is saying above, I do think friendships are a bit more 'shallow' in general, maybe it's a cultural thing. I have very few 'good friends' here, who I'd visit at their homes. And all of them are colleagues. But as an expat you get used to having a lot of 'remote' friends anyway. I don't really miss it, I fly home a lot anyway.

You mentioned the quality of houses, I'm not very impressed. One of the older houses I've lived in were pretty bad quality compared to the ones in Holland. I lived in a house that had chipboard floors that were sagging, and a landing upstairs with a step down in the middle because the stairs didn't quite make it up to that level. And weird plumbing, I don't understand the need for a dirty old water tank with dead insects for the taps upstairs instead of simply having all taps directly connected to the mains (so don't drink water from any tap except the one in the kitchen!). The newer houses (after 1995 or so) are generally much better but they still have the weird plumbing.

On the good side, all houses here are rented furnished whereas in Holland you just get a 'concrete cave', having to buy your own wallpaper, flooring, furniture etc. I don't care about what kind of furniture I have so I'm very happy for some to be there already. It makes it very easy to move house.

I'm actually quite happy with the healthcare, my GP has more time for me than the one I had in Holland. When I needed a consultant it took a month or so. The last time I needed to get an MRI I got it in 2 weeks. I have VHI through work, they don't cover the full bill though but the private fees were affordable anyway.

spiritcrusher

bahamut88 wrote: »

She's not into metal AT ALL, so sometimes gets really weird between us
You know, I'm not the typical satanist, or the thrasher, or the manowar fan, I'm just someone who dresses casual and I'm very easy going, I always just listened to the music, I've never lived it apart from a small period when I was a teenager.

Probably quite like myself really. I'm hugely into my metal but never really bothered with that "image". Anyway, at first you might think there isn't much of a scene but you do get semi-regular gigs in venues around the city. They'd mostly be small gigs with local bands playing (max of 50-100 people at them usually) but there are some genuinely good Irish bands knocking about and the numbers appear to be improving. And I also just enjoy live music in general and there is almost always something half decent on somewhere. A lot of free gigs too.
And I wouldn't worry about missing any international bands either, they nearly always come to Dublin. I'm always going to Dublin for metal gigs, the bus is less tthan €20 for a return, they go very regularly and even come back from Dublin late enough that you can get a bus back after a gig. In the last few months I've been to Iced Earth, Tribulation, Grand Magus and coming up there's Clutch, Carcass and plenty others.
So basically if music is your thing you'll be ok.

As for the other stuff, like health service and those things, the reality is probably somewhere in between the extremes people mention. What you'll find is that in a small country that (in general terms) is still very well off economically the negative stories take the spotlight, and nothing really wrong with that as it forces us to keep improving. Anyway, if you're really interested in accurate facts about the health service here ya go World Health Organisation Statistics, and that info is from 2010 when we were probably at our worst. But if you've got health insurance you'll certainly be looked after as well as anyone anywhere, the Galway Clinic is a great hospital.

The weather is pretty awful at times though. We get rain. And rain within that rain. Combined with extra rain on top of that too. And plenty of wind just to make sure you know it's raining. But when we do get nice weather during summer the place is amazing.