I think I know what answer you guys will give, but I’ll ask anyways.
So,
About one year from now I’ll have a degree under my belt and will be looking to laze about for a year before deciding if I should continue with school or get a haircut/job.
That year will be spent abroad, somewhere in the British Isles. If you were me, would you pick Dublin, Edinburgh or London as your host city, and why?
Important factors are: Living space, available jobs (nothing special), living costs, travel costs (within the country and to the mainland) and cheap flute teachers.
Travelling outside the host city will be a real possibility too. Both myself and my girlfriend will be going.
Dublin is terribly expensive and due to the influx of European immigrants, the traditionally low paying jobs - barwork etc. - are few and far between. There would be restrictions on anybody from outside the European Union doing any kind of work without a permit.Even Buskers are licensed to avoid any abuse of the social welfare system.
London is much the same by all accounts.
I don’t know anything about Edinburgh but I’m sure that somebody will weigh in soon enough altough it is half past midnight now in this time zone.
If it were me I’d choose Edinburgh simply becuse I’ve not been there.
Actually, whichever you choose, I’d go for a village or town within 45 minutes by train of the city itself. You could save a fortune that way. Cities are freakin’ expensive.
Here is a guide to renting in Dublin.The northside is usually cheaper than the southside.You’d be lucky to get anything decent for less than 500 Canadian dollars a month, very lucky.
Have a google on prices,renting, wages in Dublin and see what you can suss out.If you need to know where things are in relation to the centre and the availability of public transport - which is very cheap and plentiful - let me know. There are parts of Dublin that you do not want to go anywhere near..believe me.
Feel free to PM or Email me anytime for background info.
Now THAT would be beneficial! Although I’m sure it has something to do with school. Sorry…I’m hijacking a bit and I don’t mean to. Job prospects in an EU country are hard to come by for a non-EU citizen, and very few Visas are issued (at least in Ireland…that’s where I’ve been looking as of late obviously).
I don’t know if this is any better than the link that Dub gave you (and he’d know more than I would when it comes to Dublin), but http://www.daft.ie/ also has lots of rentals in the Dublin area. It’ll also give you outlying areas that might be cheaper, and yet close enough to commute.
Note they do not do flute, but they should be able to put you in touch with Claire Mann for one to one teaching. If you come to Glasgow, there are 4 CCE branches in Glasgow and the surrounding areas, so you can get teaching there.
In either Glasgow or Edinburgh you will get access to sessions (of varying quality) 7 days a week, so you will nevewr lack for music.
Izzarina - as a Commonwealth citizen, OnTheMoor would get visas and work permits faster than a US citizen.
I would choose England, simply because they have so much of everything I would like to see. With England as a base, you can still visit other countries like Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornawarr (pray bingo - housey housey) but return again for work the next morning. As a Canadian, you can get into Commonwealth countries easier than Republic of Ireland as far as jobs go. In fact, there are so many places I would like to see over there that I can’t imagine finding any time for work at all.
I echo David’s recommendation of coming to Scotland. I live in Glasgow, but I would prefer to live outside of the city if that were a possibility (I am a Wisconsin native, not an urbanite at heart!). I regretfully know little about life in Dublin, but certainly life in London would be more expensive than it is here (and it is much more expensive here than it is in the US).
Public transportation here is good, but not terribly cheap (but often I am traveling as part of a family of four, which adds up). One can fairly easily get out of the city and around the country by train and by bus and by foot.
As David points out, there is lots of music going in Glasgow and Edinburgh and elsewhere in the country.
Avanutria, as long as it is the same country. I’m looking for a starting point here. That’s one thing the UK has going for it, the restrictions are pretty loose. This is a working vacation, so I will definately be travelling, but these are the three cities I have to pick from for the host city. Actually they do have a Britain/Ireland combo over 2 years, but that is just too much time for me.
To be honest, visiting Dublin I was not completely taken with the city… but I liked the rest of the country just fine and would love to spend some more time there.
So as far as the cities themselves go, I would actually probably pick Edinburgh, but that rules out working in any Irish cities or towns, I’d be “restricted” to the UK.
djm, very true. I’ll be spending a good amount of time explaining to my girlfriend that we need to actually work if she wants to travel at all.
You can get to Belfast quite cheaply from Scotland, and while it is the North of Ireland, it is well worth visiting. I actually prefer it to Dublin myself.
The NI chiffers can probably give you an idea as to where the best music is.
Me and my girlfriend both loved Belfast when we were there. Unfortunately her father is in the Royal Canadian Airforce and would put his foot down about living in Northern Ireland me thinks.
EDIT: Oh sorry, I misread your post. That is actually a good idea and if we do pick Scotland, a real possibility.
