Student life in Ireland as per experience of a Sri Lankan student;

I thought I would write this because there is a trend to come to Ireland as a student. As a help to those who are about to come here, get an idea about the lifestyle here.

This is the first thing I’m writing. Share my experience.. This is a deep research and not written.. In this, I am trying to give an idea about the reality of a master program here, life style here, immediate requirements after landing, challenges and the cost of living here.. You can set up your own story with them.

Reality of Master Program

There is a good standard when you take a master program here. Also there is a big work load. It may change according to the university. Got mine and got a lot of work for the first semester. 12 weeks until the semester. There were 6 subjects. There were 3k or 4 assignments for everything. So it’s all like 22. So every week 1k assignments, 2 or 3 assignments will be set. Meanwhile, class tests, quiz, weekly discussions are also coming. Need to balance them all. Time management and speed of working is the key. There are people who outsourced assignments. There are enough Indians who do this for money. But if you are passionate about what you learn, it is a crime to do so. Because the things you teach like this are 100% that you can’t apply when you are working. You can say Thory doesn’t work. But the concepts you learn through assignments will never be wasted.. That’s why it’s a waste of not getting that experience. I’m sure if you learn them you’ll be able to do something better than someone else. What I understood is that here a lot of logical thinking, innovative thinking is encouraged through assignments.

Here I go peer reviews for many assignments. That means the rest of the group rate our contribution. Our grades can change accordingly. That’s why I had different groups for different subjects. So I had to work with 6 groups. Separate group meetings. Again time management and speed. There were some weekly discussions when I was riding the bus. Zoom, physical meetings, group chats all these are communication media. Study, communicate from anywhere. I think these things will be applicable not only for here but also for any country.

Living Cost

I will break the Living cost into 4 parts.

1. Accomodation – A shared room goes in a range of 500€ to 800€. A single room will cost at least 800€ as of now. 1000 , 1200 € there are people who pay only for that.

2. Travelling – I take average 60€ – 80€ to go to university to go to job, come all of that

3. Data/Calls – I am using a 20€ package. It’s unlimited data, voice calls with the country

4. Meals – It takes about 80€ a month to cook and eat well.

These are the expenses that usually go on.

If you think fully optimistic for a month, it will cost 1000€.

If you think in a Fully pessimistic way, it will go like 1400€

***Its highly impacted by the accomodation charges.

Can one argue that the monthly expenses related show money requirement in the Ireland visa process is less than this. Yes that is right. But reality is different. Due to the Ukrain refugee program, the accomodation demand has increased.

Earnings & Job finding

A student can legally do 20 hrs when he has academics. Minimum rate 10.5€ per hour. It has been suggested to make this price 12.30€ per hour that the living cost has increased by the givernment itself. They say it will be implemented from January.

Winter break and summer break (end may to mid august) 40 hours a week max.

When I go to a job, I ask for two PPSN number and GNIB number. Hard to tell me how to decide if I want it or not. Cause I got a job in 3 days without one of them. But there are people who can’t do a job because those requirements are not fullfilled even after few months. I’ll explain the reason later.

If we think we can earn if we work 10.50€ per month for 20 hours a week ,

10.50*20*4=840€

Now you must understand that there is a deficit between the monthly cost and the limit you can earn.

Yes absolutely correct.

That’s why most of the students work more than 20hrs. Along with this, I hope you get an idea about whether you can achieve them or not if you have other personal commitments. I think finding a job isn’t hard (but I’m offering a job without those numbers may be a problem for them that’s why they don’t get a job. That’s the problem we have). Since there are less people here, I like the people here who work more. I feel like it’s okay even if the limit is over 20 per week as long as you don’t mess up academics by working. If that happens, they will take the whole history to find out why it happened. So that’s a problem. So it’s something to be done carefully. Again I say, its about time management and the speed of working.

Think about what happens when you take a time breakup. Rough working like this.

24*7=168Hrs per week

University lecture hrs ( assuming in average 8am-4pm lectures everydays with breaks in between) ,

8 hrs per day * 5 days = 40 hrs

Sleeping = 6 hrs * 7 days = 42 hrs

Travelling of 7 days each with 2 hrs up and down = 7*2 = 14 hrs

*Working hrs = 40 hrs

Total = 136 hrs

Bakance = 168-136= 32 hrs

This for ur eating, cooking, studying and for any other activity that didnt mention above.

Key Challenges

I’ll take this one for a few shares.

1.Accomodation

This is the worst thing ever. If you can come looking for one while in Sri Lanka, that would be great luck. Even I couldn’t do it. At least I didn’t get a reply to my messages and emails. Finding one for the maths I said earlier is a hard job. But there are indian, pakistan, bangla people to come and get one before they come. Because their community is big. Lots of contacts. I still don’t see such big connectivity of Sri Lankans. Staying in an isolated way. When Indians take them, those who came from different states also give a great back up to those who make different groups. The regret is that Sri Lankans still don’t have such strong connection. All I did was book a hostel for a week and then find one. For some reason I came and got confirmed the next day.

And the two places to live like Sri Lanka won’t even give you the tender. Interviewing the house owner who comes. Several people can come to see it in one day. Some people who come bring references from where they were before. It’s like going on a job interview. Then the house owner’s will give it to the one who touched his heart. That’s why I said this is the most challenging case.

2.GNIB Card / PPSN Number

I said it before that it would be impossible to find a job without these two. GNIB is the resident card. Because the visa is only available to enter the country. Need resident card here to continue. But can’t take it as soon as it came. For that, call to the relevant office and make an appointment and with the day you meet, you can stay for a month or two. Can’t get them done by jumping in queues. (For that too it 300€ will be paid on the day of the appointment date with a card. Cash not accepted). Only when I go to that appointment I get a seal in my passport after authorizing it for a year.

PPSN number is most needed for tax purposes. That should also be applied online. It takes at least a month to come.

Even if you find a job without this in any way, you will get half the salary until this comes. But when the ppsn number that was deducted can be taken back.

It’s a very bad time. If you can’t get a job until these two get together, then you need to have money to cover your expenses by the end of that time.

Work Culture Adaptability

It’s okay if the people who work here say they work like devils. They work at a very speed. We also have to adjust to it even with difficulty. It’s a bit challenging. But can’t be possible. Need to learn soon. Be mentally strong. Will teach 100 times at least. But that’s not supposed to be. Work on time for the law. If they are disapointed, they will watch once, twice and warn. Enough next time machan will say he is here.. simple..

Bank Account

Most of the jobs put money into bank accounts. The thing is that you can go to the bank and get an appointment to create a bank account. It happened to me. Like in Sri Lanka, I don’t create accounts by extending money. You will get cheques until you create the account. But until the account is created, you can’t deposit them and cash them.

There is a banking option called Revolut. But some companies don’t accept it. Then Ireland bank will have to wait to build one of them.

I don’t know if there’s any cash in hand jobs or not.

If all of these are settled in order, it is guaranteed that this will be a good country. This is a country where people greet the driver thank you when they get down from the bus. A country where drivers welcome the man who gets on the bus saying hello how is your day. But there’s no complaints due to the road. It’s just an example. Give an idea about people and culture here. Our people think that they don’t have any sense when they say foreigners. But if we could stay here for Xmas, we would feel how much they appreciate family bonds and how much they love their family.

This article is too long. But taking the time to write this little by little to give someone out here the best good idea I can.