Discover if moving to Ireland is as fun and adventurous as it sounds.
Book an appointment to get a PPS number ASAP
This is your social security number. You need it for everything: opening a bank account, getting your pay check, renting an apartment, etc.
When I moved to Ireland, I didn’t know any of that and the wait to get an appointment was over a month.
Surely it won’t always be that long but just in case, have that booking on top of your moving to Ireland to-do list.
It’s going to make everything else smoother.
Ireland isn’t exactly known for its efficiency and organisation, you have to work with that truth from the get-go.
Renting an apartment is a nightmare
This is probably only true in big cities and I only have hands-on experience about the rental market in Cork (even though I heard Dublin is by far the worst).
Anyhow, accommodations quality in Cork is subpar, not always, but often especially in a reasonable price range.
Definitely check out my post on how to rent your dream place to prepare yourself to face a tough rental market.
Apartments and houses in general don’t handle humidity very well, which is sort of ironic in a country that gets rain half the year (or more in my experience).
Places aren’t well isolated so it can get quite chilly inside. Factoring in the fact that most places only have electric radiators and you’re in for a mind-blowing electric bill.
Radiators aren’t the only thing that run on electricity, showers too. I’ve never seen that in France, Australia, Canada, the US, or any of the many European countries I’ve stayed in.
Electric showers aren’t even reliable, water pressure is less than desirable and it can throw a tantrum once in a while by alternating freezing and boiling water.
Lastly, bright and pleasant apartments are a rarity. You have to go apartment hunting hard if you want a shot at renting a place you’d enjoy living in.
This is by far the worst part of moving to Ireland.
Irish people are nice and helpful… if you can understand them
This is specific to some regions, and Cork is one of them. They have one thick accent over here.
Surely it doesn’t help that I’m French but I can understand Americans and Canadians just fine.
Australians are famous for their heavy accent that make it hard to understand them. I can confidently say that I understand Australians better than Irishmen, at least those coming from Cork.
But Irish people are very nice and genuine. And they know how to party of course.
The last thing I wish I knew before moving to Ireland…
It’s the weather. You might think this is an obvious one.
To be fair, I moved in the beginning of autumn and the weather wasn’t too bad then. So of course I assumed everyone was overreacting.
Winter isn’t that bad either, it’s very wet, but you expect the weather to be miserable in winter so it’s easy to cope with.
Spring is where it gets tough, I reckon it’s the wettest season which is harder to deal with when you receive picture from your family and their lovely weather in France.
Summer is the worst because you don’t see any real improvement and it still rains frequently. The temperature doesn’t really rise up, at least nothing of real incidence. By then, you’d expect it to clear out and warm you up but no such luck.
Last summer was the worst I’ve ever experienced and most Irish people I talked to about it said it was one of the best years. I do not want to find out what a bad year looks like.
Overall I am grateful for my time here but I wish I knew those things before moving to Ireland.
