Prospective Medical Sciences & Technology student Sarah van Wageningen sleeps in one of the Thêta houses during the Intro – a spot she found on crashplace.com. From the start of the academic year she will have to commute from her parents’ house, located in Utrecht. Sarah, who asked for a room thirty times on Facebook and was invited to two viewings (kijkavonden), does not want to study in the same city where she grew up. “I consciously chose Eindhoven. The trip from my house to Gemini (the building where her department is located, ed.) will take two bikerides and one trainride for a total of one hour and ten minutes. I’m not looking forward to that.”

This does not apply to Sam van den Berg. From his bedroom in Oss to the lecture hall in Atlas (for Industrial Design) he has to travel for an hour, which he actually feels like. "A student room might be nice, but it is also very expensive."

Demos house

Jorrit Hofma is in the Intro program of Psychology & Technology. He is a bit of a repeat offender; last year he started at the department of Mathematics at TU/e. From November he obtained a small expensive room through a broker (550 euros per month). He was looking for a solution which was found through the help of a dad of one of his Demos friends and now Eindhoven is blessed with another student house. The intention is to make it an official Demos house. An additional advantage: "Then we will get a hook on the coat rack at the society."

Relieved

Since he knows he wants to study Built Environment in Eindhoven, Marco van Rooijen has been looking for a room. Only when his mother posted a Facebook message to the South African community, a couple was willing to rent out a room to Marco. It is a new house in Tongelre and it only takes seven minutes to cycle to the university.

In Marco’s Built Environment Group 16 we also meet Pepijn van’t Hof, a Dutch guy living in Luxembourg(!). After the Intro, for which he found a sleeping accomocation through Airbnb, he will be back on the streets. He hopes that his father will be able to buy an apartment the week before the lectures begin. Otherwise there is no other option than staying with friends or renting an Airbnb again. Because commuting between Luxembourg and Eindhoven is a little too ambitious.

Home sweet home

Dionne Egelmeers and Janneke de Lange are sitting on the edge of the pond. Same Intro group for Chemical Engineering (name: "Mam I'm pregnant"), but many differences. Also with regard to the room: Dionne from Nuenen (a village close to Eindhoven) is not even looking for a room (“staying home is fine”) and Janneke is already looking for her second room. “I studied at the Design Academy last year and I have a room but it is only 8 square meters. I'm looking for something bigger.”