Conor Walsh | Contributing Writer
It may surprise a few members of College to learn that this this year’s group of freshers at Trinity Hall are not the only ones to occupy the famous residences on the tree-lined Dartry Road. For a small minority of the Halls community, it meant either returning to a past haunt or taking up residence for the first time, albeit as a Junior Sophister. The particular population I refer to are the newly elected scholars, of which some were assigned a room in the leafy suburbs of Dublin 6 due to the renovations of Houses 38 and 40, and the policy of providing campus accommodation to the ever increasing population of international students in Trinity.
The decision to locate the new scholars to Halls came as a surprise to the wider community, with a mixed reaction being the best way to describe the overall sentiment of the newly elected scholars. Weighing up factors such as study time lost to the commute or the opportunity to get involved in the wider college community, it has to be said that for many the option to move out to Rathmines was not an easy one. For some scholars, the fact that Halls was the reward for months of sweat and toil in the first half of second year left them somewhat aggrieved. For others, it presented the opportunity to live away from home for the first time and experience College in a whole new dimension.
The fact that Halls was the reward for months of sweat and toil in the first half of the second year left them somewhat aggrieved.
A certain degree of context is required in order to fully capture the feeling of the Halls scholar community. For the vast majority of those successful in sitting for the exams at the beginning of January, the provision of College-sponsored rooms on campus was a practical solution to the issue of seeking accommodation in Dublin given the locations of their homes down the country, or, in some cases, overseas. It was seen as an incentive to continue study in their field minus the need for trawling the streets in search of a place to live for half the year. It was, then, a surprise for some to learn that their new home was not the dream apartment on Campus as had been expected.
Health Science students were at a particular disadvantage; the fact that the proximity of Dartry Road to St James’ is somewhat of a logistics nightmare was, for many, a concern. The journey from campus to James’ by bike typically takes a mere 10 minutes, 15 via the 123 bus and 15 minutes if those happened to be close enough to Abbey St Luas station. By going to Halls, this journey immediately made public transport an undesirable prospect, with the 140 being anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes travelling in the morning. The cyclists, in addition, are permanently at the mercy of Ireland’s wonderful weather – hospital staff not taking too kindly to students turning up with wet hair and dirty clothes – as well as the not so friendly elements of Dublin’s traffic.
Speaking as someone who is new to the arena of living away from home, Halls was never in doubt in my mind. The bike ride to lectures in James’ is certainly more tolerable than the hour long bus and subsequent Luas journeys I had to take. Furthermore, I’m able to fulfil the role of class representative for the 3rd Physio class far better than if I were at home. My feelings however do not reflect the general consensus of the scholar community in Halls. It would be unwise of me to assume that all is rosy in the garden, although the majority of people
I’ve been in contact with seem generally satisfied with their current situation.
Halls was never in doubt in my mind.
Halls, then, is not without its perks. The opportunity to live independently and in relatively close proximity to their university was too good an offer for many new scholars to turn down. With its modern apartments and facilities such as a laundry, shop, sports centre and social rooms as well as its location in a vibrant part of town, it’s easy to see why one would take up an offer of such a place. As many students struggle to find accommodation well into the academic term, the residents of Halls, including the new scholars, can count themselves somewhat lucky that they have perfectly adequate accommodation in Dublin that so many each year covet.
