We Have Moved

We would like to announce that our office has moved, a whole 2 meters! This 2-meter move in a south-west direction has at least doubled if not tripled our office space. We have converted, what used to be the prayer room into our new office. The prayer room and quiet space will be moving across the hall, and be incorporated into a multipurpose room.

Here’s some before and after photos’

BEFORE!

The Office The Prayer Room

Almost there…

Now we have settled, everything has a new home and we are loving the extra space that we have gained. We hope that is a more welcoming space for all who call in or pass by.

Thanks to this move we have been able to welcome Our Daily Bread to the YWCA.

They are all moved into their new office. For more information on Our Daily Bread http://odb.org/

CHungwha who works for Our Daily Bread has also settled in nicely.

What the Students Have to Say...

How long have you lived in the residence?

Since September 8th so almost 5 months.

What are you doing in Dublin?

I’m studying for my MFA in creative writing.

How did you find out about us (The Residence)?

My school said that this was one of the accommodations that they worked with, so American College Dublin actually pointed me in this direction.

What has been your favourite aspect of living in the residence?

I like that we get to meet so many people all the time. Constantly new people coming in and out, which means there are a lot of friendships to be made. I have made so many friends from here. Yeah that’s definitely my favourite. I still keep in touch with a lot of them.

I like the family dinner thing that we always have going on. People might not be around during the day, but we always end up having dinner together. Always.

What do you like about living in Dublin?

I love the city. For a writer it’s a very influential city to be in, there is a lot of inspiration that comes from here. There is a lot to do. There is a lot to see. There is so much history and knowledge to be gained from here. That I think is overlooked sometimes. I feel people don’t see what the city has to offer. There is always live music, book launches to go to, and loads of readings. Always something.

What are experiences that have made your time in Ireland Special?

Honestly it’s going to be something vague like going out with all the friends I have met here. Right before Christmas we probably had the most fun, because it was all of these different people from all these different countries and some were coming back and some weren’t. So we were just constantly doing things together so we would remember the time. Even once we left for break we were keeping in contact all the time because of those memories. We would take small trips to Howth, we would just walk around the city. It was just those little times that even though not one specific one comes to mind all of these memories are times that you thought were really insignificant, but made the time special.

What the Students Have to Say...

How long have you lived in the residence?

4 months, A semester and then January

What are you doing in Dublin?

I’m studying Performing arts at American College Dublin.

How did you find out about us (The Residence)?

The Guy from my school, he’s the Financial Director I think.

What is your favourite aspect of living in the residence?

It’s really cool, because you can meet a lot of new people from all around the world. They are all going through the same situation. It’s a brand new place for everyone and everyone is here to make friends, so it’s pretty easy to have a friendly environment.

The room is good, it’s very clean.

Everyone that works here is really friendly. They all help you with whatever you need.

It’s very well located in the centre of Dublin, so it’s close to everything. There is a bus stop here (right outside the door) and I just used the bus for the first time the other day. I went to RTÉ and I was the audience. It was of children playing instruments and they were speaking in Irish so I didn’t understand, but it was really cool.

What do you like about living in Dublin?

Definitely not the weather.

I like Irish people; very very friendly, very funny with a great sense of humour. And it’s funny how, Irish people can still be happy, even with, this weather, there is something really amazing. My city is very similar, the weather is very similar and everybody is very closed nobody talks to each other, they are not friendly. So Irish people are really, really nice.

I like Guinness.

I like that we can walk everywhere, we don’t need a car, we can walk around the centre. It feels like a small town, but it’s a big town. It’s a big town with the feeling of small town.

What are experiences that have made your time in Ireland Special?

One day I went with my friends from school, to learn how to play hurling and Gaelic Football. One of my Teacher took us and taught us, and that is a day I will never forget. It’s really fun, I was good at it.

Residence Christmas Dinner

Every year we hold a Christmas dinner for our residence in the weeks coming up to our closing and the residents returning home for Christmas. This is always a night to remember with everyone gathering together to have a celebration, with laughter filled chat over a traditional Christmas Dinner. We try to make this special for the students so we serve them and clear the tables and they just get to sit together and chat.

I’ve chatted to a number of students to find out how they found the evening and what their favourite bits are, let’s see what they said;

‘The vegetables were good’ Monique

‘I loved the turkey and the dessert was amazing’ Adrianna

‘The food was amazing, décor was festive and it felt Christmassy’

‘It was nice to be pampered but the food was the highlight’ Sara

‘The crackers were a lot of fun, and I won all of them.’

Welcome to the YWCA Residence

This is our first blog post and we would like to start by welcoming you to the YWCA Residence on Baggot Street. We were opened in 1920 after the YWCA was officially founded in Ireland in 1876. We house students most of the year while they attended different colleges throughout the city. We can be found on Twitter or Facebook.

We would like to introduce you to our current staff:

This is most of our dynamic team which is made up of Managers, Supervisors, Cleaners, Chefs and volunteers, who you are sure to meet if you ever step through the door of 64 Baggot Street Lower.