From: mbrennan@swift.cs.tcd.ie (Micheal O'Braonain)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: student exchange with Ireland/Univ of Limerick
Date: 6 Apr 92 12:38:57 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, Trinity College Dublin

In article <1992Apr5.225727.883@cs.rose-hulman.edu>, geraghj@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (John Geraghty) writes:
> In article <1APR199214432233@pavo.concordia.ca> el_dess@pavo.concordia.ca  
> (DESSUREAULT, ERIK L) writes:
>> 
>> 	I'm a university student and I'm interested in studying in  
> Ireland.

[Stuff about quality of education/degrees at Univ of Limerick deleted.  
 All of it isounds quite accurate]  but ...

> and there is always lots of cheap accommodation  
> surrounding the college in nearby housing estates which is practically all  
> rented out to students every year. For example for me last year I was  
Gasp splutter, but is this the same University of Limerick that used be 
NIHEL where I spent 4 years??  Unless Limerick has undergone a metamorphosis
of unspeakable proportions, I think you will still find the estates of 
Milford Grange, Elm Park etc with an undersupply of grotty houses, which
are overfilled with ripped off students, and a local populace whose contempt
for students is just about contained by the opportunities to rip them off.
I cannot argue with your own personal experience, but I do not think it 
is representative of the majority of UL students.  If this ample supply is 
the case, then why are hundreds of students commuting from the further 
reaches of the city?  Why also are so many forced to live in digs, when they 
are quite capable and desirous of independant living?

> in Ireland you don't need any transport because the national system of  
> transport is very good and to students there is up to half price travel.
Kieran, I think that you have been exposed to too much American fresh air :-)
Thankfully the bus situation has improved considerably over the last 5 years.
Ah for the days when the last bus left town at 10pm, didn't serve the 
campus, and didn't take account of minor events like end-of-term!

While I can endorse the academic aspects of kieran's assertions, I would
stop singing the praises of UL there.  It must be kept in mind that UL is,
by Irish standards, a young university.  It was foisted on a pseudo middle
class suberb of Limerick without the full acceptance of the local residents.
The campus is not large enough to form an isolated autonomous sub-culture.
Neither has the castletroy area adapted to serve the needs of the 5,000
or so people that it has drawn to their area.  I mean 1 pub !!!  No decent
supermakets!  Town is 2/3 miles away and, by student standards, expensive 
to reach.  Finally, and in spite of the fact that I may be verbally assulted
for this, Limerick is a dangerous city with a high level of crimes against 
both property and the person.
> 
> Well Erik I hope that you find this informative.
I hope the non-rose-tinted-spectacled view will be instructive also.
-- 
 ,   ,  ,      ,              ,       ,          ,          ,  ,      ,
Micheal O Braonain     Roinn Riomheolaiochta, Colaiste Na Trionoide, BAC 2.
Email                  mbrennan@cs.tcd.ie
"Indecision is not an ignoble condition" - Brian Friel.
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