Accommodation and transports in Dublin

Hello! My name is Inés and right now I am doing an IT scholarship in Dublin, Ireland. I would like to explain you a little about my experience here, which for now is not much but it could help future Erasmus students.

First of all, I must say that my school, IES San Clemente, looked for the company where I am doing the scholarship. They also helped me to look for a Host Family, which is the cheapest option if you are comming for some months. The agency was Isac Commodation and the price is about 175€/week with room, breakfast and dinner. The houses are not in the center, but you can move easily by bus or Luas. In my case, I live 30 to 40 minutes far by bus from Dublin center.

If you are going to take the bus, you must know that you must pay the correct amount of money because they don't give you change and they only acept coins. If you have to pay more, they will give you a tiket which you must present in Dublin Bus Station to recieve your money exchange. For that reason I recomend you to do a bus card as soon as possible, trips are cheaper with it.

To have a bus card, you can buy the Leap card in any supermarket, or you can do your student bus card in Trinity College. The problem is that the office in Trinity College is open from Monday to Friday from 9:00h to 17:00h, which is a problem if you are working. Bus fares are different according to the card type, in my case, the regular price per trip is 2,60€, with Leap Card is 2,15€ and with student card is 1,30€

Once you are installed, you will see that Dublin is an easy city to visit because everything is in the center, with some exceptions. This makes Dublin a small, easy city to walk. I remember that my first week, we decided to do a tour to know the city better. We choose new dublin tours because it is free, you only have to give to the guide a tip at the end. It is a 3 hours walking tour where you can learn interesting things about the city and you can ask any doubt you have, but it is too long and at the end you finish really tired.

To finish this post I would like to write that if you are hesitating between come or not, I truly recomend you to come and live this experience. Besides the experience of living in a different culture from yours, you will know how is the work in a foreign country