Today FM DJ Ray Foley talks about his years living in a run-down house in Mountjoy Square
I'm from Mayo and originally wanted to do journalism so I was pretty determined to go to DIT to study it. I went into digs when I started first year but it didn't work out at all so I left after a few months. I was 17 when I left home so it was pretty tough to have to do that, but I was lucky.
I moved out around Christmas and moved in with a couple of friends.
They were older than me which was great because I was pretty wet behind the ears. We were living in this huge house near Mountjoy Square.
It was an absolute kip, it was falling down around our ears, but we were paying damn all for it so it suited us fine.
I think we were actually squatting in it at one point.
The landlord just decided to do some renovations but he didn't tell us anything about it, he just sent the builders in.
We had nowhere else to go so we stayed.
I really got to know Dublin that year. It was great living with older guys. It was like having two big brothers. One of the guys was working as a journalist during college so he would take care of the bills and just tell me what I owed him.
It was kind of like having a dad. It was a great buffer zone. As far as household jobs and things went, my Mum was always adamant that I should learn to cook. She's a nurse and is always very busy so she showed us how.
So I could cook pretty well. The only thing is that I stopped as soon as I got to college. When you're just feeding yourself you don't tend to put on a pot of potatoes. McDonald's is just so easy.
I suppose if we'd have had any sense we would have all chipped in and taken turns cooking but we never did.
We just ate loads of easy things like chips and sausages. Of course I put a load of weight on.
We used to go to a laundrette to get the washing done. I wouldn't have gone home every weekend but I might have brought some washing home when I did!
After Mountjoy Square we moved into Temple Cottages right next to Kings Inns. It worked out really well.
If there's any way of moving in with older people like I did, I'd recommend that. It's a great way of finding your independence but you have a bit of back up as well.
Ray Foley presents The Blast from 10pm to midnight weekdays on Today FM. You can view his blog at rayfoley.net