Perhaps one of the biggest fears of any (international) student: not being able to find a room. That also seemed to be the fate awaiting 19-year-old Sandra Macháčová, a first-year Built Environment student at TU/e. Until, during introduction week, she decided to spend the night at the Intro camping on the university grounds.

A deflated air mattres

“It cost 60 euros for the whole week,” Sandra says about the campsite. When she arrived on the first day, it turned out she was the only girl there at that point. Boys and girls slept in separate tents, so she ended up alone in a large tent. 

“My air mattress deflated right away, so I was lying on the ground basically the whole time. I had also forgotten to close the tent window, so I got rained on in the middle of the night. My pillow was wet the entire week.” On top of that, after the first few days, she no longer found the showers and toilets hygienic.

“During introduction week, I called my sister in Amsterdam to keep her updated on my search for a room,” says the Slovak student.

Just for fun

Macháčová had traveled to the Netherlands a week before the Intro, where she stayed in the capital with her sister. That meant she could attend potential viewings in Eindhoven, but none came up. “My sister helped me through this whole process.”

Once in Eindhoven, she sent her sister photos and videos of the campsite. “Just for fun,” Macháčová says. “I didn’t expect her to make a video or anything like that. But because she’s a content creator, she decided to share it on Instagram.”

750.000 views

‘Instagram do your thing and please help me find a room for my sister in Eindhoven’ reads the caption of the video, which to date has been viewed almost three-quarters of a million times.

The video also received some less positive reactions. Some commenters asked why she had come to the Netherlands if she didn’t have a place to live. “At that point, I got a little sad, because I wasn’t planning to give up my studies here just because I couldn’t find a room right away.”

A new housemate

Eventually, a girl contacted Macháčová’s sister. She said she lived in a student house and was looking for a new housemate. From that message, things started to fall into place.

Three days and one viewing later, Macháčová received the keys to her student room in Eindhoven. She now lives with seven other girls in a house on the edge of the city center.

“All the shared spaces are pretty nice and my room is pretty big. Bigger than I had at home. I can’t complain.”