Mexican Student Ambassador Ixchel Sac-Nicte compares life as a student in Limerick City with that of a student in Mexico City.
Hello readers, I’m Ixchel Sac-Nicte but everyone calls me Sac. I’m from Mexico, and I’m an international student in Limerick in Ireland. This blog is being written on the six-month anniversary of arriving in Ireland. And at this point, even if I haven’t been able to visit lots of places around, there are so many things that I absolutely love about being here, but there are others that I don’t.
This is written from a point of view of Limerick City life compared to Mexico City.
The good
As many of you may know, the situation in Mexico as regards safety and security, is not the greatest. There is a lot of violence and people often do not feel safe being on the streets at a certain time of the day or even just to grab an Uber.
So, the very best thing about being able to live in Limerick City is that you can go anywhere just by walking or taking a bus. Women can also dress anyway we want without the fear of being assaulted. Just being able to walk alone after sunset and appreciate the beauty and peace of this place: that’s a great feeling.
Another really good thing about Limerick is that the cost of living can be really similar to the one in Mexico City, if you are talking about eating out or grocery shopping. And when you eat out here, dishes in Ireland are big!
You can also always find sales on specific clothes and products in different outlet stores. You will find things at prices you wouldn’t imagine getting in Mexico.
The accent is not as hard! Having English as a second language will always be an issue, as there are many words or pieces of slang that only native speakers use and you’re always learning. But the Irish accent is not as difficult to understand as you might imagine, or as you think from abroad. It’s easy to get used to, and people will always be nice to you and repeat it or explain it for you to understand.
The bad
This section is between good and bad. It might be a bit of a repetitive or stereotypical way of talking about Ireland, but the weather can get to be really crazy. One day you can look out the window when getting ready in the morning, and it’s raining and windy, so you dress accordingly. But when you get out just a few minutes later, the sun is up and you start sweating when walking; then the wind appears out of the blue and you start freezing!!
So, it is true! The weather is crazy! But not as crazy as people make you think before coming. You can survive it! It does rain a lot, but they are what people call “showers”. So it’s only a few moments of rain that you can shelter from; you wait for it to pass and then keep going on with your day without any more rain.
The ugly
Finding a house and finding a job!! The worst part when arriving in Ireland was that there are not enough spaces for all the students arriving at the same time; August and September are the most difficult time to find a place.
With the ads, people don’t realize they posted a wrong email address or phone number or it’s impossible to communicate with them. Also, many of the posts are not updated and many are already full, as the owners don’t take the ads down.
I believe it’s the same problem with jobs. I was looking for a job for about 3-4 months, and the “best” way to find any openings is through one of the online job sites. But these aren’t always very interactive and some of the places don’t even open the applications. Or else you get a response after a long time when it’s too late.
It is also tough to find something before coming to study here.
And the jobs issue is not a problem just for international people, but for locals too; there simply are not enough jobs for everyone. At least not in Limerick.
‘Amazing country’
Overall, Ireland is an amazing country and Limerick is amazing too! Local people are friendly and helpful and there are so many bright sides to being able to study here. And the not so bright could always be fixed: this is just to let readers know that there are a few misconceptions out there on how life actually is for international students in Ireland.