Join our Student Ambassador, Annisa Shuzaini, as she shares her insightful experiences as a Muslim woman in Ireland and beyond.
Hi, my name is Annisa and I am currently a Masters student in Griffith College Dublin. Today I will be sharing my experience living in Ireland as a Muslim girl. Feel free to read my blog and I hope it will come in handy for some of you. The first thing that came to my mind when I was deciding whether to come here or not is “Is this country accepting?” “Would it be ok if I wear a hijab there?” “Is it easy to find halal foods?” as a Muslim those are one of the main things that I need to consider when making a choice because I had negative experience before. And after a year of living here, it had been answered that Ireland in indeed a beautiful and diverse country. I will be focusing in Dublin as there is where I am residing now. In terms of food there is no need to worry as there are a lot and when I said a lot, I mean it a lot of halal restaurants and halal shops all over Dublin. Before coming to Ireland, I was imagining myself being a vegetarian, but I stressed myself out for nothing so that is why I am here writing this blog, to save yourself from unnecessary stress. And an extra tip that I learnt is when you go to a fast-food restaurant for example Shake Dog or Eddie’s Rocket or even any restaurants, always ask the workers if the chicken is halal or not. You would be surprised that a lot of the restaurants here have halal chicken, but for meat its quite hard to get in restaurants. Just go on google and search ‘Halal restaurants near me’ and you will get a lot of recommendations. As a student, I understand that it is not a good idea to dine out all the time because it can cost a lot and it is better for us to cook at home. And again, there is no need to worry because there is a lot of halal butchers around here. Especially where I am living which is in Dublin 8, there at least 3 halal butchers that I know of just in 3km radius.
Moving on to the topic is Ireland accepting of the Muslim community? The answer is yes! There is a lot of Muslim community all over Ireland and the locals are very accepting and respectful. For hijabi girl, you don’t have to worry if people will look at you weirdly or if you will feel outcasted for wearing a hijab because no, there is no such thing. I never regrated my decision to move and continue my study in Ireland. It is such a beautiful country. I hope you enjoyed reading my post and got some information from it. If any of you are deciding to come here, go for it! It is so worth it.
Annisa Shuzaini is studying Masters in Interactive Digital Media at Griffith College via Education in Ireland.