I completed a total of 30 ECTS at DBS, I had four courses, two with 10 credits and two with 5. The course was organized very differently for me than in Germany – there are many more examinations in the middle of the semester and not just at the end . This means that you have a lot to do right from the start. However, the examinations themselves were easy to master and formulated in an understandable manner. Otherwise , the professors respond to emails super quickly and try very hard. The style of the lecture varies from course to course; sometimes participation is expected, or you do a lot of group work in the lecture, or it is just a pure lecture. The DBS library is very well equipped; Essential books are always available as e-books and the materials are all up-to-date.
The semester at DBS is divided into weeks and the Student Union had a different motto almost every week. There were always plenty of accompanying excursions and activities on offer , for example you could visit the Dublin Zoo , the Guinness Brewery or go on a surf trip . There was also the opportunity to join the extensive range of clubs and societies , where there was pretty much everything imaginable, from fashion to swimming.
Accommodation search
As soon as you are accepted at the DBS, you will also receive a guide for finding accommodation from the same . Various portals such as daft.ie are listed there, and that’s where I started looking for accommodation. However, you quickly notice: it is not uncommon in Dublin to share a bedroom with four people, plus the rents are really high. I therefore quickly decided to live with a host family (you can also find corresponding placement portals in the DBS Housing Guide) and was satisfied with it. My room there was also very small and didn’t have a desk, but my impression is that you have to get used to it if you decide to stay in Dublin and don’t want to pay an exorbitant amount of money for the rent.
Personally, I lived in the north of Dublin and had read a lot of bad things about the north before, but I never had any problems and walked an hour towards the city center (or DBS) every day – otherwise I would have had a Student Leap Card (student discount for the bus) about 80 euros per month for the journeys. After all, taking a taxi is much cheaper than in Germany.
In summary, when looking for accommodation, the biggest challenge is certainly to find an affordable room close to the DBS (and thus also to the city center), but I think that always requires a pinch of luck and perseverance. Basically, I can also recommend the north for living – it’s true that it differs from the south, but nothing negative happened to me there in four months in Dublin.
Leisure and excursion possibilities
Ireland is a super beautiful country with incredible landscapes and many, many cultural offers , which are often even free. Although Dublin is not a metropolis, it still offers many different sightseeing spots . Starting with the relatively well-known sights such as the General Post Office and the Guinness Brewery, there is also Kilmainham Gaol or Phoenix Park. You can also visit the National Gallery and the National Museum of Ireland for free . The Teeling Distillery and the Jameson Distillery are also worthwhile, as they also take you to really beautiful districts of Dublin.
Fantastic way, with the DART, you are at the sea in 20 minutes and can look at really beautiful coastal towns – Howth, Malahide, Dun Laoghaire, Dalkey and Killiney as well as the Coast Walk from Bray to Greystones are particularly worthwhile. All places can be easily reached from the train stations in Dublin and they are great for day trips and impress with their charm.
Dublin has a strong food scene and has a lot to offer there too. In the street where the DBS buildings are located there are some cute cafés with their own character and in the direction of Portobello, so a bit away from the center, you will find great restaurants ( e.g. Moroccan) that offer delicious, reasonably affordable food. In addition, there are of course an unbelievable number of pubs that can hardly be compared because they all have peculiarities – here, too, it is totally worthwhile to move out of the tourist hotspot of Temple Bar and to discover great pubs beyond the center.
Conclusion
Dublin is a great place to study . It is not a huge metropolis in which you can still get lost after four weeks, on the contrary. But it is in no way inferior to a metropolis and is also so close to the sea – perfect for blowing your head clear. You can also do a pub crawl and have a different beer in each pub and find out where the best fish and chips in town are. The only downer is and will unfortunately remain the prices: the rents and, above all, food prices are already around 10-20% above German prices. Still: I would do it again anytime. Discovering Dublin and Ireland is a lot of fun!
