Breakthrough across the Irish border
For the first time I went abroad in 1975, to the GDR, where my father was serving. Then I went there a second time when I myself became a serviceman in the Soviet army. After leaving the army, I faced the problem of survival. At one time I was engaged in the car business - I drove cars from Germany to Ukraine. At that time I happened to visit Holland, Belgium, and France. Three years ago I began to think about doing something more serious and substantial. A significant obstacle in the way of promising work was my lack of knowledge of English. And I decided to learn the language... abroad. Why? The fact is that, often reading "Zagranitsa", I noticed publications about Ireland: firstly, it turned out that you can learn English there cheaper than, for example, in England, and secondly, you can also work, since Ireland has a demand for labor. After calling several agencies offering language courses in Ireland, I firmly decided to go there. True, in order not to waste time and money, I first studied English for a year in Ukraine: I crammed grammar from Petrova's self-teaching manual, and listened to the language through the Eshko correspondence course from Kharkov. By the way, this came in very handy later in Ireland.
I found the college myself - through the Internet. There is a special website dedicated to education in that country. Ireland has a huge number of colleges offering one-year language programs for foreigners. Tuition fees vary widely: from 110-120 to 300 euros per week. I chose the American College in Dublin. There they teach not only English, but also management, marketing, hotel management and much more. The cost of the language course is 160 euros per week for the first four weeks, and for the remaining period of study the price drops to 153 euros per week.
In general, I sent them an email, and in about two or three days I received a reply describing in detail what work had to be done for enrollment. First of all, full prepayment for the chosen number of months was required. I paid for two months of study. By the way, there used to be problems with payment: you could transfer no more than $500 per month. Now, as far as I know, through Ukreximbank you can pay for education in almost any country in the world for any amount. After payment, I received an invitation to study by DHL mail, and with it I went to the consulate. There they told me that I also needed a certificate from the bank confirming the existence of a foreign currency account and a certificate from my place of work. The account must have an amount sufficient to live in Ireland for the period you intend to stay there. For two months, that's about one and a half thousand dollars.
Regarding visas, there are nuances: a D visa can be extended in Ireland (for up to four years), while a C visa cannot be extended. I encountered this already in Ireland, when my friend Stas from Chernivtsi was not given an extension of his C visa, despite the fact that he, already being in the country, had paid for several more months of study in advance. Under the country's immigration laws, he was forced to leave for Ukraine and reapply to the Irish consulate for a student visa, which he obtained without much trouble. And having returned to Ireland a second time, he continued his studies.
I got my visa very easily. Maybe because my passport had many European visas? However, at present I would not recommend going to study on your own like that. Firstly, Irish visas have become much more complicated; cases have become more frequent when people go to work under the cover of study and then do not return. Therefore, Irish immigration services require a guarantee or petition from the sending company on behalf of the student visa applicant. This was told to me by Brian Burns, the marketing director of the ISI language college, whose agent in Ukraine I now am. Quite recently, Irish newspapers widely discussed the case when a considerable number of Ukrainian citizens came to Ireland on fake work invitations. Each of them paid $2,500 to the firm that sent them, so when it turned out that no one was waiting for them in Ireland, they turned through a hired lawyer to the Irish government for help. And it must be admitted that the authorities treated them quite loyally. They were allowed to stay in Ireland for three months; in addition, they were given an allowance of 138 euros per week and were obliged during these three months either to find work on their own or to leave the country. It is clear that such cases do not facilitate the obtaining of Irish visas for citizens of Ukraine, Russia, and Moldova. I would not recommend going on such a responsible trip yourself (especially if you are going abroad for the first time) also because you lack the necessary knowledge and experience of living abroad. But more about that later.
In general, I successfully received a three-month visa. I decided to get to Dublin in a somewhat unusual way. Most of our compatriots fly the Kyiv-Dublin flight with a connection in Prague or Budapest. As a rule, they are met by college representatives. I made my journey by train to Berlin, then stopped by a friend in Holland, and from there went by electric train to Belgium. And already at the small airport of Charle-Roi (a suburb of Brussels), I bought a plane ticket to Dublin for 40 euros.
And so on February 1, 2002, I flew to Dublin. I got off the plane and was a bit at a loss: there seemed to be no border guards or customs officers, all passengers simply walked through the "green corridor" into the airport. I went too. I had already come out into the airport hall and... decided to go back: I had to get some kind of stamp to prove that I had arrived to study. My previous travel experience had its effect: no matter what European Union country you arrive in, you must get an entry stamp. I approach an immigration officer and say: so and so, I flew in from Ukraine. He asks: "Why from Brussels?" I say: "What's the question?" Apparently, they did not expect that a Ukrainian could appear from Belgium... And then - roughly this dialogue. "Purpose of your visit?" - "Study at the American College in Dublin" - "Please show me a copy of your acceptance letter!" - "I didn't take it..." (I didn't know I needed to bring it with me.) "Where are you going to stay? Show me a document confirming your hotel reservation" - "No..." (I really had no idea that I needed to book accommodation in advance!) "Well, okay, do you have a return ticket?" - "Why?" (Indeed, why? I came to study!)
I see the situation is becoming rather unpleasant. In the end, they started calling the college. Note that it was Friday, about eight in the evening. I had deliberately arrived so that I could sort out housing over the two days off and wander around the city. They barely found someone at the college, checked the lists, and found my surname. "As punishment," they gave me a visa for only two paid months, and I set off to conquer Dublin with relief.
About my Irish life
Back at the airport, at the Information desk, I had stocked up on a list of various hotels and hostels: the language skills I had acquired before the trip helped. In the city itself, by the way, there are also offices of the central information service where you can get such addresses. As a rule, student hostels are the cheapest type of accommodation. I chose International Youth Hostel - something in the middle price range, assuming that this would be the best combination of price and quality. Irish hostels have one not too pleasant feature: on weekends and holidays, the cost of accommodation increases by about a third. So, in my hostel on weekdays you could stay for 18 euros per day, and on weekends (given that a football match was taking place these days) - for 25 euros per day. For this money, you are provided with a "bed space" in a room for six to eight people with bunk beds and a light breakfast (corn flakes with milk, tea, a bun with jam). There is a kitchen with dishes and a microwave, and your own drawer in the common refrigerator. You can also use the washing machine for free. In general, I settled in, met two guys who already lived in my room, and went off to wander around Dublin.
The weather is what I did not like in Ireland. Firstly, it is very changeable: rain, half an hour later - sun, and another hour later - rain again. Secondly, a constant, piercing wind, because February-March in Ireland is the very peak of "wind activity." Although, it seems, in winter the daytime temperature is about +5, and only at night there are slight frosts. The Irish themselves are accustomed to such changes. In February I walked around Dublin in warm boots and a jacket with fur trim, while they wore light sweaters, sometimes short-sleeved, and blazers. In the houses, by the way, it is also quite cold. There is no central heating; rooms are heated with mobile radiators or fireplaces. Even later, when I moved from the hostel to a real Irish house (I arranged it with the help of an acquaintance), I could not get used to the cool Irish bedrooms for a long time.
One day, returning to the hostel after a walk, I enter the room - and there, in the middle of the floor, sits some girl unpacking her backpack. It turned out she was a tourist from Germany and would also be living in our room, and her bed was above my bed! It turned out that in Irish hostels, all rooms have both guys and girls. No problems arise, everyone somehow lives together peacefully. So later, when a young couple from Japan moved in with us, I was no longer surprised.
I lived in the hostel for two weeks until I met people from the Greater Grace church ("Great Grace"). This is a Christian church that I had attended in Kiev long before coming to Ireland. One of its parishioners, an ordinary Irish guy named John Kenny, offered me to stay at his place.
The spacious house with an ocean view was outside the city. I paid 150 euros per month for lodging, which was cheap by local standards. Usually, renting just one room in such a comfortable house costs at least 250 euros per month. And yet, despite such heavenly conditions, after a couple of months I felt very lonely. John and I saw each other quite rarely, and the "institution of neighborly relations," so developed in our country, is completely absent in Ireland. People just do not drop by for a visit! Every visit has to be agreed upon in advance. Therefore, over time, again not without the help of my friend John, I moved to the city center. I lived with two of my friends from college in an old five-room house. I paid 100 euros per month.
Right away I settled the food question: I cooked myself. Constantly eating at fast-food restaurants (McDonald's, King Burger) or in the eateries so loved by the Irish is expensive - about 10-15 euros per sitting. But this way you can buy groceries at perfectly reasonable prices in cheap supermarkets ALDY or LIDL. Fruits are also cheap if you buy them at the market. The vegetable market in the center of Dublin on Moore Street is very popular. Most vegetables and fruits here are sold individually, for example 15-20 large kiwis, 10 oranges, a good pineapple - all for one euro each. You can even bargain! We bought meat, ground meat, and ham at a special store at a meat-packing plant; it turned out even cheaper than in Ukraine. But cottage cheese and sour cream are expensive: a small package (100 g) costs no less than 1.2-1.3 euros. By the way, the Irish themselves often don't even understand what sour cream is. They are also not keen on sausage, let alone salo. A two-liter bottle of milk will cost 1.19 euros. True, I don't know what they add to this fresh milk: it doesn't turn sour. I decided to make homemade cottage cheese; the milk sat for three weeks, spoiled, but did not sour. I didn't like the local bread either; it can only be eaten as hot toast. I had to buy rye bread at Russian or Lithuanian stores for 3 euros per kilogram loaf. Despite a fairly large assortment of vegetables, it is quite difficult to find ordinary beets for borscht. And it costs fabulously expensive compared to Ukrainian prices. For example, four small beets, slightly larger than a chicken egg, cost one euro. But for a large dense cabbage they charge only 1.5-2 euros. Potatoes, converted to our money, cost from 2 to 6 hryvnias per kilogram. Moreover, local potatoes are more expensive than imported ones. On average, I spent about 20-25 euros per week on food. But if you work, then there will be enough for living, and for studies, and even left over. But about studies and work - a special conversation...
A little about studies
The American College in Dublin is a fairly old educational institution. It is located in the city center, on Merrion Square. The enrollment procedure is very simple. I showed up at the reception, they checked me against the student database and sent me for testing. Based on the test results, I ended up in a group at the Pre-Intermediate level. By the way, levels have sub-levels: after studying a couple of days in this group, I felt that my classmates (mostly students from Italy, India, Brazil) were significantly weaker than me. At my request, I was transferred to a stronger group.
Classes are held every day (except Saturday and Sunday), from 9:00 to 13:00 with a half-hour break. The group is small, 8-10 people. Two teachers conduct the classes. With our teacher Daphnet, we delved into the intricacies of grammar in the morning and wrote tests. Testing is conducted approximately once every three weeks. No "organizational conclusions" are drawn: the test result simply shows your strengths and weaknesses, how successfully you are progressing in learning the language. With Joe - the second teacher - we had discussions on a wide variety of topics: divorces in different countries, the refugee problem, etc. There was, for example, a topic: "Swear words and their use." I even kept notes, honestly! The diverse range of topics allows you to significantly expand your vocabulary, provokes discussions, exchange of opinions, and removes the fear of communicating in a foreign language. By the way, I noticed from my own experience: the more you learn a foreign language, the more intolerant you become of your own mistakes, the cleaner and more literate you want to speak.
The second half of the day is free. I usually went to the computer lab. In the college, each faculty has its own computer lab. You can "surf" the Internet, send and view email, print what you need. Officially, you could work for free for one hour, but if no one was claiming your spot, you could sit longer.
I studied at the American College for two months, then for financial reasons transferred to City College: there the entire year of study cost me 1,265 euros.
There are also some personal observations about Irish colleges. On the eve of 2003, there was a large-scale state inspection of their activities. As a result, four colleges in Dublin were closed. What's the problem? It's no secret that a huge number of foreigners, especially from China, come to Ireland only for work, hiding behind student visas. In one college, fraud with visa extensions was uncovered. A "student" paid for a month or two of study, arrived in Ireland, got a job, and no one ever saw him at the college. When the visa expired, "well-wishers" for a certain fee printed on a color printer a document confirming payment for further study, as well as good class attendance, and the "student" extended the visa. In some colleges, many "dead souls" were found.
Now, to stop such fraud, many colleges have a person from the visa department of the immigration service, whose tasks include a thorough check of the visa extension procedure. By the way, some cheap colleges now do not accept payment for a full year of study at once. They enroll the student for six months, then analyze his attendance and academic performance, and only if the result is positive do they allow payment for further study and, consequently, visa extension.
Work in Ireland
Students are allowed part-time work (no more than 20 hours per week), and only during vacation time can you work full-time. The main requirement is to be a full-time student.
During the academic year, there were two two-week holidays - at Christmas and Easter. At this time you can go visit your family or stay to work. During the holidays there are plenty of vacancies: in bars, restaurants, shops. Employers immediately warn: we take people for one or two months. But even the lowest-paid work (6 euros per hour) makes it possible to recoup your costs for accommodation, food and tuition. Those who work full-time usually earn 350-400 euros per week.
This work is quite official, with tax deductions and registration with state bodies. As soon as I enrolled in college, I immediately went to get the so-called PPS-number. For this you need to take a certificate from college, your passport and go to the Social Service. There you fill out a form and wait for a reply. In about two weeks they will send you a special card - PPS-number - to your place of residence. From that moment you are a full-fledged payer of Irish taxes and can go look for legal work.
How to find out about vacancies? In Dublin there are many branches of the special employment service - FAS. There you can always get a printout of fresh vacancies for free. You send your resume with a contact phone number to employers' email addresses. By the way, without a mobile phone it is extremely difficult to find a job. They usually call you back and invite you for an interview. My first workplace was at the DHL office. In the evening for three hours I cleaned the office: neatly arranged papers on tables, threw out trash, wiped computer monitors. They paid 7.25 euros per hour. It was not a very interesting job, so I looked for something better in parallel.
In the same way, through an advertisement, I got into the Dunnes Stories supermarket. As it turned out later, I was very lucky. This is one of the largest supermarket chains in Ireland. They sell everything: from a bag of juice to plane tickets to any part of the world. I worked as a Sales Assistant (assistant to a salesperson) in the grocery department. My duties included displaying goods on shelves and replenishing their stock from the warehouse. Moreover, I did not mark anything anywhere: I just wrote down which goods I needed to take, went to the warehouse with a large cart, loaded the goods, brought them to the sales floor and put them on the shelves. Another worker did the counting. Such a clear regulation of your duties makes the work much easier. The assortment, of course, is huge, so at first it was simply difficult to remember all the goods in your department.
Right away when I was hired, I was promised a workload of at least 15 hours a week, but in reality it turned out to be even more than 20 hours. I worked evenings five days a week. Pay - 6.95 euros per hour before 12:00 and 10.43 euros per hour (that is, one and a half times more) after midnight. In addition, if the working day ended at one or two in the morning, the company paid for the taxi I took home.
At Christmas and Easter we received bonuses - benefits. They were issued in the form of special coupons worth 320-340 euros. With this money you can take any product in the Dunnes Stories supermarket chain. And since the choice there is huge, you can always pick out something.
...I liked it in Ireland. Many new friends appeared, not only from Ireland, but also from France, Spain, Italy. I made a fascinating trip to Great Britain with an unforgettable excursion around London (by the way, the visa was issued within two hours!). During the year I completed the Upper Intermediate course and reached Advanced. But my family was waiting for me at home, and I said goodbye to the Emerald Isle.
Now I work at the Au Pair Cherkassy agency, which deals with general education programs and where my solid experience of staying in Ireland was duly appreciated. Especially since I am an official agent of four Dublin colleges: ISI College, American College, Dorset College and City College. My functions include providing consulting services on all educational matters not only in Ireland, but also in England, Malta and other countries.