‘I quickly built a strong bond with my housemates’

Sacha Moerman (20) is a second year student of Architecture and the Built Environment. She started studying during the pandemic and lives in a house with 13 other students.

What was it like to start your studies during a pandemic?
“The preparations alone were very different. I first tried to find accommodation in Delft. That was hard as the interviews for student houses were done very differently. In the first round I attended a Zoom meeting with 50 people and only eight people were invited for physical meetings. There was also only one physical day during the OWee and I did not have a first years weekend. This meant that I did not meet many people on my course. I tried to become a member of DSC, but I did not get through the draw. It was also a lot busier than usual as all the student associations received more applications because of Covid.”

How did you settle down in Delft?
“I quickly found a nice house with 14 people. After a whole day of online lectures, a group of lovely people sat around in the living room. The lockdown meant that I spent a lot of time with my housemates and I quickly formed a strong bond with them. I also became a member of Laga. I ended up in a fun rowing team and I still see the team members a lot.”

‘We had rules in our house about the number of people you could invite round’

What did you find difficult during the pandemic?
“In terms of education, I found it hard not to have real contact with the teachers. Teachers can’t clearly see how you are doing on Zoom. For first years everything is new and you have to get used to everything. I sometimes simply did not know what I was supposed to do, and I did not get the help that I needed. Socially it was hard as I had to plan everything in advance. We had rules in our house about the number of people you could invite round. That made it hard for my rowing team to meet up at my place. We needed to split up and half the team met at someone else’s house.”

Do you have the feeling that you missed anything?
“Sometimes. For instance when someone asked me if I wanted to go to Alev. I had no idea what that was. I now know that Alev is the snackbar where everyone goes after going out. I didn’t know that as I had never been out in Delft. I feel like I have missed a lot, but also that I’m catching up on it all. Of course I sometimes ask myself what my first year would have been like if there had been no pandemic. But in the end, I’m really happy with how everything has fallen into place. I was very lucky to find this house and that I was able to settle in Delft.”

• You can find the other parts of this series here.

Doris Aafjes / Student-redacteur