Huisjesmelker(s)

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For me, the experience of living as a student in The Netherlands started last year with a room in one of Delft’s post-war symmetric blocks in Poptahof, known for their traumatic effects. To be precise, I was living in Roland Holstlaan . RoHola for the in-crowd – with a contract with Duwo, the housing corporation, which I couldn’t break for one year! A couple months later and almost from one day to the next, Duwo decided to displace me and place me in a plastic container in the middle of nowhere, which was even more depressive… and also more expensive! So, I made up my mind to go to Duwo’s office and have a talk with them, hoping for a better solution to my shelter problem. My clear question, Can I move into one of your cheaper rooms?, got a clear answer, “No. As a foreign student you can get a container. If you don’t pay the rent, we’ll lock your door!”

However, just when things seemed to be going as extremely wrong as possible, I found my beauty through an architect friend of mine who was preparing to move back to Istanbul. A room with a view, overlooking a nice urban square with old hemelbomen (ailanthus altissima), as part of a shared etage in one of those pre-war herenhuizen along a lively downtown street in Rotterdam. Yes, opposite from . an interesting detail for a Turkish woman – Pim Fortuyn’s Casa di Piëtro. It all happened so quickly. I met Vliegenthart in Café Engels, next to Central Station, we drank a coffee, bargained a little and signed the contract, which I can give up with one month’s notice. My new neighbours are from Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Hungary and Holland.

Of course, you always have to keep an eye on such a sharp businessman, especially landlords, but all in all, and certainly compared to Duwo, Vliegenthart is definitely less discriminatory about the mixture of people I live with, acts less bureaucratically about the services he offers, and till now definitely behaves less threateningly. And, dear Duwo, the room is cheaper!

Discussing the clichéd Dutch (student) housing problem the other day, I found myself defending my current landlord, Vliegenthart, a well-known ‘huisjesmelker’ in Rotterdam.

For me, the experience of living as a student in The Netherlands started last year with a room in one of Delft’s post-war symmetric blocks in Poptahof, known for their traumatic effects. To be precise, I was living in Roland Holstlaan . RoHola for the in-crowd – with a contract with Duwo, the housing corporation, which I couldn’t break for one year! A couple months later and almost from one day to the next, Duwo decided to displace me and place me in a plastic container in the middle of nowhere, which was even more depressive… and also more expensive! So, I made up my mind to go to Duwo’s office and have a talk with them, hoping for a better solution to my shelter problem. My clear question, Can I move into one of your cheaper rooms?, got a clear answer, “No. As a foreign student you can get a container. If you don’t pay the rent, we’ll lock your door!”

However, just when things seemed to be going as extremely wrong as possible, I found my beauty through an architect friend of mine who was preparing to move back to Istanbul. A room with a view, overlooking a nice urban square with old hemelbomen (ailanthus altissima), as part of a shared etage in one of those pre-war herenhuizen along a lively downtown street in Rotterdam. Yes, opposite from . an interesting detail for a Turkish woman – Pim Fortuyn’s Casa di Piëtro. It all happened so quickly. I met Vliegenthart in Café Engels, next to Central Station, we drank a coffee, bargained a little and signed the contract, which I can give up with one month’s notice. My new neighbours are from Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Hungary and Holland.

Of course, you always have to keep an eye on such a sharp businessman, especially landlords, but all in all, and certainly compared to Duwo, Vliegenthart is definitely less discriminatory about the mixture of people I live with, acts less bureaucratically about the services he offers, and till now definitely behaves less threateningly. And, dear Duwo, the room is cheaper!