Where do you live - Reviews! (All Accommodation Qs go here!)

love_apple

Anyone live in Courtyard Student village before? Going back as a postgrad after working a few yrs. Dont mind basic accommodation as long as its decent enough.. Cant afford the crazy on campus prices as im paying all myself.. Any reviews welcome!!

The Bogman

Anyone going on co-op for 2nd semester? Myself and a group of friends will be on TP for semester 1 and are looking for a house for semester 2.

Reiss Avfc

The Bogman wrote: »

Anyone going on co-op for 2nd semester? Myself and a group of friends will be on TP for semester 1 and are looking for a house for semester 2.

Private messaged you there

garv123

Anyone lived in university court before ?
Whats it like price wise? bills included?
What kind of rooms have they?

1huge1

love_apple wrote: »

Anyone live in Courtyard Student village before? Going back as a postgrad after working a few yrs. Dont mind basic accommodation as long as its decent enough.. Cant afford the crazy on campus prices as im paying all myself.. Any reviews welcome!!

Lived in courtyard student village when I was a 1st year back in 2008. It was definitely more geared towards the older end in terms of students (4th years and postgrads), which is why I'm thinking of living there again for my postrad in september.

I personally quite liked living there. Nice apartments.

Any particular questions let me know, I'd like to assume their broadband speeds have improved since 08/09.

navosa

I've booked Plassey Village as an incoming first year, can anyone tell me what to expect? Any things to look out for etc.

biohaiid

navosa wrote: »

I've booked Plassey Village as an incoming first year, can anyone tell me what to expect? Any things to look out for etc.

Great place to live in to be honest. Very convenient for first year. Campus is only a few minutes walk away, and there's a shop, office, bank, Chinese, pharmacy, doctor everything right beside it. And it's also pretty much catered for first years. There's a few older years at the back in 4 bed houses but the majority is first years in 8 bed apartments. I think the 8 bed apartments are great for meeting new people, but of course you're not going to get on perfectly with everyone. Plassey has a bit of a rep for being a 'party village' but it wasn't so bad this year as it has been in previous years, so I've heard. Don't get me wrong, I love to go out and drink and whatever as much as the next person, and I do so about once a week maybe, but God my neighbours are ****ing annoying. Since rag week it's been like constant drinking every night, even if they're not going out, and the noise just gets unbearable, especially if you're sick or have an early start or assignment due.
The place got pretty disgusting during rag week too.
I think it's ridiculously overpriced too.
But overall, it's a good place to live for first year.

Karjalaa

Hi Guys!

Background:
I'm attending UL as an Erasmus student in september this autumn and I'm trying to found out where to live.
I'm not sure whether to stay for the full year or only the autumn semester yet. The on campus accomodation can only be booked for the full year for erasmus students (at least they have no available rooms for just the autumn semester) and if I book the full year and decides to leave they'll take my deposit and I may even have to pay for the spring semester too (not really a risk that I'm willing to take). I've also been looking at Brookfield hall and Parkview hall and Parkview Hall has quite nice prices and they've promised me to make a deal that I could leave after one semster if I want to, but I'm worried that it will be too far from the school.
Right now I can see my home university through my kitchen window and it takes about 2 minutes to get to the lectures and I really like this. I have nothing against taking a little walk to school but I'm having a really hard time to get up in the morning and I would not like to run 2 miles every morning to get to the lectures. On the other hand the on campus accommodation in Limerick is quite expensive. But since I don't know anyone at all, it would be nice to live on campus and I'm afraid that I'll miss out on all the fun if I don't.
When I was new at my home university I lived in a student corridor with my own bathroom, it was a nice, clean and quiet corridor but it was still great to leave it and we were not that tight friends. Today I'm sharing a three room apartment with a class mate and I really like that.

I may add that I'll be on my fourth year, starting my masters degree and I really have to study a lot and don't want to live in the middle of a party, therefore I've been looking at Dromroe and Thomond if I would decide to live on campus.

Also, what's the rules regarding visitors? I've read on some site (think it was on campus) that you have to ask for permission if anyone would like to come over and stay with you, but do they really keep track of this? Hopefully my friends and family will come visit and I assume (hope) that my boyfriend will be visiting me as often as he can afford.

Except for Brookfield and Parkview I've been looking at Courtyard, Troy and Groody off campus, and as someone said there seems to be a lot of mixed feelings about them around here. Some says that they're great while some says that they're really not.
Anyway Brookfield and Troy too promised me that I could extend the contract in December if I'd like to while Groody told me to book just one semester. I'm really having a hard time deciding what to do and I'm afraid that all the nice rooms will be booked.


This became dreadfully long, sorry

In short, my ideal room would be:

• My own bathroom (neccessary)
• Double bed (not neccessary)
• My own refrigerator (if there are any rooms like that?)
• A reasonable rent, not a bunch of hidden fees like 10 euro for washing my clothes or something like that
• Walking distance from school
• Not in the middle of the party but I hate to be alone and hope to make a lot of new friends and do a bunch of partying and other fun stuff
• It would be nice with a TV, but it's okay if it is located in the common areas
• I would really prefer a working internet connection (I've read that there could be some troubles with this) since the calls back home will be very expensive if I don't do them over the internet.
• (I guess that a dish washer in the kitchen would be far too much to ask for? haha)

Also, there is one thing that I don't understand. In this view: http://www.groodyvillage.com/location.html Groody seems to be very close to the school but everyone says that it's almost the same distance from school as Brookfield, what about that?

I will be studying computer science and engineering modules, not sure where on campus it will be (maybe someone here knows?) but I guess that it matters when considering the distance from accommodation to school.

Thank you for your time!

wnolan1992

On Dromroe, no they don't really keep track of who's visiting. However, if you know in advance that your boyfriend will be staying on a certain night, it's as handy just to let them know. It'll avoid any potential problems with security (you shouldn't have any even if you don't let them know, but it's just easier if you do know he'll be around in advance)

As for the rest of your points:

Karjalaa wrote: »

In short, my ideal room would be:

[*]My own bathroom (neccessary)
[*]Double bed (not neccessary)
[*]My own refrigerator (if there are any rooms like that?)
[*]A reasonable rent, not a bunch of hidden fees like 10 euro for washing my clothes or something like that
[*]Walking distance from school
[*]Not in the middle of the party but I hate to be alone and hope to make a lot of new friends and do a bunch of partying and other fun stuff
[*]It would be nice with a TV, but it's okay if it is located in the common areas
[*]I would really prefer a working internet connection (I've read that there could be some troubles with this) since the calls back home will be very expensive if I don't do them over the internet.
[*](I guess that a dish washer in the kitchen would be far too much to ask for? haha)

Dromroe has all the ones in bold. Rent is fine too given it includes internet, TV, electricity, etc, but you do have to pay extra for Laundry. I'm not 100% sure of the cost, but you can buy a bulk package at the start of the year which makes it fairly cheap.

Hope this helps.

Karjalaa

You were really fast, thanks! Dromroe really seems great from all I've heard, the big issue is that I don't want to book the full year, and of course the rent but quality costs I guess. I'd like to hear something about the others too, but thanks a lot for your answer!

garv123

Karjalaa wrote: »

You were really fast, thanks! Dromroe really seems great from all I've heard, the big issue is that I don't want to book the full year, and of course the rent but quality costs I guess. I'd like to hear something about the others too, but thanks a lot for your answer!

You'd be looking at 2300 for a semester in dromroe, which is how much people pay in other places for a full year..

I stayed in groody student village in first year.

they have 6 bed and 3 bed apartments with large living room/kitchens.

the internet was good when I was there,
Double bed
En-suite
Washing machine/dryer in apartments
15 -20 minute walk depending how slow you walk.
tv in apartments
rent is 1700euro for a semester and you get back what you dont spend of the 300euro bill money which would prob be more than half for one semester.

Cosmicfox

I applied to Brookfield a few days ago for the just autumn semester, it seemed to go through but I heard nothing back so I emailed them them again yesterday through that contact thing on their website and still nothing. I'll phone them this weekend but I'm getting worried now since they have my details.

Karjalaa

garv123 wrote: »

You'd be looking at 2300 for a semester in dromroe, which is how much people pay in other places for a full year..

I stayed in groody student village in first year.

they have 6 bed and 3 bed apartments with large living room/kitchens.

the internet was good when I was there,
Double bed
En-suite
Washing machine/dryer in apartments
15 -20 minute walk depending how slow you walk.
tv in apartments
rent is 1700euro for a semester and you get back what you dont spend of the 300euro bill money which would prob be more than half for one semester.

Thanks! Groody really seems great. I think that Groody and Brookfield are my favorite potentials right now (if I was rich and knew I would stay for the full year I would choose Dromroe). But can you tell me where Groody is located? I've read that it's behind Brookfield (guess that person maybe meant courtyard?), the map on their site points out "student center" (I guess that's not right) and if you google it you get this: https://plus.google.com/111488389398411822717/about?gl=ie&hl=en
I guess that Google's right but it would be great to know for sure.
It would be great to know the benefits of Groody compared to Brookfield, I think that I'm more into Groody right now, but Brookfield has the free busses... This is really hard to do when you're 2500 km away, I would like to come there and check it out, haha

Karjalaa

Cosmicfox wrote: »

I applied to Brookfield a few days ago for the just autumn semester, it seemed to go through but I heard nothing back so I emailed them them again yesterday through that contact thing on their website and still nothing. I'll phone them this weekend but I'm getting worried now since they have my details.

Weird, they got back to me in less then 24 hours, I contacted them through the contact form the 13th.
Why did you choose Brookfield?

iLaura

Karjalaa wrote: »

Thanks! Groody really seems great. I think that Groody and Brookfield are my favorite potentials right now (if I was rich and knew I would stay for the full year I would choose Dromroe). But can you tell me where Groody is located? I've read that it's behind Brookfield (guess that person maybe meant courtyard?), the map on their site points out "student center" (I guess that's not right) and if you google it you get this: https://plus.google.com/111488389398411822717/about?gl=ie&hl=en
I guess that Google's right but it would be great to know for sure.
It would be great to know the benefits of Groody compared to Brookfield, I think that I'm more into Groody right now, but Brookfield has the free busses... This is really hard to do when you're 2500 km away, I would like to come there and check it out, haha

I live in Groody and think it's great! There's always security on and its quiet. As mentioned above, the six bed apartments have their own on-suites. It's only a mile to the college too and you can easily make it in 20 minutes at strolling pace.
I have some friends that live in Brookfield and they really don't like it at all and have said they wouldn't recommend it to anyway. I have no experience in the place so I can't help you there

garv123

Karjalaa wrote: »

Thanks! Groody really seems great. I think that Groody and Brookfield are my favorite potentials right now (if I was rich and knew I would stay for the full year I would choose Dromroe). But can you tell me where Groody is located? I've read that it's behind Brookfield (guess that person maybe meant courtyard?), the map on their site points out "student center" (I guess that's not right) and if you google it you get this: https://plus.google.com/111488389398411822717/about?gl=ie&hl=en
I guess that Google's right but it would be great to know for sure.
It would be great to know the benefits of Groody compared to Brookfield, I think that I'm more into Groody right now, but Brookfield has the free busses... This is really hard to do when you're 2500 km away, I would like to come there and check it out, haha

groody would be a 5 minute walk closer than brookfield on the same road.
Ive hear people complain about brookfields internet lately.

You must pay for the washing down there too as far as i know.

Cosmicfox

Karjalaa wrote: »

Weird, they got back to me in less then 24 hours, I contacted them through the contact form the 13th.
Why did you choose Brookfield?

I'm in first year and it took awhile for me to decide on actually coming back (not a great year tbh) and by the time I made up my mind the lad in the accomodation office said everywhere on-campus was full.

I'm doing co-op this year so I only need to find a place for one semester so I applied here, just so I could get somewhere since I've left it so late.

*Oh and by 'not a great year' I mean for personal reasons. Don't let that put you off, Ul is a really nice college.

matthew2008

anyone be able to tell us when plassey usually sells out? ul is my second choice so dont want to be shelling out 250 euro on somewhere thats only a back up option

Bonbon1995

matthew2008 wrote: »

anyone be able to tell us when plassey usually sells out? ul is my second choice so dont want to be shelling out 250 euro on somewhere thats only a back up option

UL campus accomm sells out pretty quick( well kilmurry, plassey, and dromroe) but your bound to get a few vacancies after the results come out. its no harm to put a deposit down though, you'll get 200 back of it in October

Hiwazup

matthew2008 wrote: »

anyone be able to tell us when plassey usually sells out? ul is my second choice so dont want to be shelling out 250 euro on somewhere thats only a back up option

To my knowledge Plassey is already sold out. I know someone who just booked their accommodation and they were told Thomond is the only place available.

Bonbon1995

Hiwazup wrote: »

To my knowledge Plassey is already sold out. I know someone who just booked their accommodation and they were told Thomond is the only place available.

From what former Thomond people said id stay well clear off the place if you're only going into 1st year..MINUS BANTS

Hiwazup

Bonbon1995 wrote: »

From what former Thomond people said id stay well clear off the place if you're only going into 1st year..MINUS BANTS

Ya it's not supposed to be that lively but sure it's still on campus, better than being miles away!

garv123

Hiwazup wrote: »

Ya it's not supposed to be that lively but sure it's still on campus, better than being miles away!

Wait till you see where it is and you wont be saying that..

Bonbon1995

garv123 wrote: »

Wait till you see where it is and you wont be saying that..

hahahaha ohhhh I seen it alrite...literally over the pond!! hahaha

Hiwazup

garv123 wrote: »

Wait till you see where it is and you wont be saying that..

Hahaha, ok fine I had a bad choice of words there! It's still not as far away as off campus though!

garv123

Hiwazup wrote: »

Hahaha, ok fine I had a bad choice of words there! It's still not as far away as off campus though!

It is though. Milford and elm park are all around the same distance and some places less.

They are also closer to shops, takeaway, supermarkets.. Nice walk to a shop after 7 o clock when the spar in the SU closes from thomond.

Hybrid_Theory

garv123 wrote: »

It is though. Milford and elm park are all around the same distance and some places less.

They are also closer to shops, takeaway, supermarkets.. Nice walk to a shop after 7 o clock when the spar in the SU closes from thomond.

Off campus rocks heehee

Cosmicfox

Hiwazup wrote: »

To my knowledge Plassey is already sold out. I know someone who just booked their accommodation and they were told Thomond is the only place available.

I was in the accomodation office about 2 weeks ago and they said everywhere on campus is booked out.

biohaiid

matthew2008 wrote: »

anyone be able to tell us when plassey usually sells out? ul is my second choice so dont want to be shelling out 250 euro on somewhere thats only a back up option

Are you an access/HEAR student?
I am, and had not planned on coming to UL.
Plassey reserve a number of places for HEAR students, and I managed to get one.
I only did this around the 26th/27th of August. When I rang to confirm my place for the orientation they asked had I sorted accommodation, gave me a number for Plassey and that was that.

matthew2008

@biohaiid, no unfortunatly im not, i was eligable for it but only found out about it when it was too late, just guna pray i get my first choice and if not hope something will work itself out ha