She felt that she owed it to her younger self to write about her student experiences. So Rosanna wrote about them in a novel. “My memories turned out to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration.”
For her book, Rosanna drew on her own experiences in the Delft student life. (Photo: Thijs van Reeuwijk)
Belgian Rosanna Blond (pseudonym for Siirilotta Moonen) immediately fell in love with Delft when she first set foot there in 2017. And now, in 2025, she still lives there. Now a Civil Engineering alumnus, living with a Dutch guy, and author of a self-published novel. She still loves Delft. “And it’s not only student nostalgia. It is the city itself and the atmosphere. I love the Oostpoortbrug and the rowers on the Schie. It was too soon to leave.”
You can see Rosanna’s debut novel as an ode to TU Delft. The book started as a series of observations in her student time, which was largely during the pandemic. She writes about studying, parties, houses, love, but mostly about the Dutch student culture that fascinates her.
She has now turned her notes into a novel called Liever Jij Dan Ik (rather you than me) which is on sale now. The main character is Julie, a Belgian student at TU Delft. She gets involved in a complicated on-off relationship with a student club member called Mees. She wants love while he wants sex, beer and fun. Or not?
Just like the main character Julie, you too come from Belgium. Are there any other similarities?
“I tried to characterise Julie as I was myself when I was 19 years old. I did this on purpose as I did not want to write about things that I don’t understand.
We both came to TU Delft from Belgium to study Civil Engineering. Julie lives in a house with only men, as I did too. And we both think about things a hundred times. At one point she is so broken because of heartache that she skips her exams. I did so too.
The other characters and events are based on real people and real stories. But they are all combinations, such as Mees who is a blend of various guys that I knew.”
Few technical people write novels. Why did you?
“In secondary school I really wanted to go to university, and now it’s done. I realised that this is a very valuable period. I wanted to mark it in some way and it turned into a book. So in some ways I am indebted to my younger self.”
You already said that you are fascinated by the Dutch student culture. Is it very different in Belgium?
“Oh yes! Student life in the Netherlands is much more open. Here as a student you can do what you want and that’s great. If you want to join a social club or a sports association, you just do it. It is a real bubble, a very close student community. I never went to university in Belgium, but I think that that student feeling is much less strong there.”
‘A lot of anecdotes about language and culture were lost if I made the main character Dutch’
In the book, Julie regularly notices differences between Belgians and the Dutch. Why did you write these experiences in your book?
“It’s what I know. When I started writing, the main character was Dutch. I thought that nobody would read it otherwise. But it did not feel authentic. I saw that a lot of anecdotes about language and culture were lost if I made the main character Dutch.
I consciously did not join the Belgian Moeder Delftsche student association. I did not want to only meet up with Belgians. And I quickly saw that Dutch people really like it if you come from somewhere else. They like how you speak their language, but do so slightly differently. I never had any problems integrating.”
You write about all sorts of student things. As an example, Mees goes through a typical initiation when he becomes a board member. There is a scoreboard in his house where the housemates keep track of how often they have snogged. They play drinking games like bussen, kingsen and vikingen. Did you write about things that you yourself experienced?
“Just like Julie, I am an observer. The initiation for example, while I didn’t go through it myself, I heard other people’s stories. The scoreboard I saw hanging on some house’s wall.
I am not sharing my friends’ personal stories. They are mostly shared experiences, combinations of stories that I heard through the grapevine. I have endless memories.”
In your book I read various references to Delft student life. But you don’t give the names of the student associations that your characters are members of. However, readers at TU Delft might recognise them. Why is this?
“I wanted to keep the student associations a bit in the dark, and not create an image that may give them problems later. But indeed, if you study at TU Delft, you will recognise a lot of things in the book. And if you don’t, you won’t. That was my intention.
A reader from Groningen can then associate them with their own student associations. Every student city has student clubs like D.S.C. and a student discotheque like Lorre.”
‘In terms of what I do, I am truly indebted to Remco Campert’
At the start of the book is a quote by Remco Campert, a Dutch author. I quote: ‘You never get to understand people, nor yourself either let alone others’. What does this quote mean to you?
“For me the quote typifies the feeling behind my own story and Campert’s book Het leven is vurrukkulluk (Life is Wonderful), though I am not absolutely certain if the quote really is from that book. The complexity of humans and the dynamics between people are at the heart of both books.
Campert hits the nail on the head in Het leven is vurrukkulluk. He describes what it is like to be young in the Netherlands perfectly. I try to do the same in my book. But he is of course a total language virtuoso and I can’t compare myself to him. But in terms of what I do, I am truly indebted to him. Campert is my favourite author. Everything he has written is beautiful.”
Will there be another book?
“I will continue to write, though it will be on a different theme. Before I started studying and after that so much as happened. My mother is from Finland. It is also a beautiful country and a beautiful culture. I would like to write about it too. But my first goal is an English language version of the book.”
Rosanna Blond (pseudonym) – Liever Jij Dan Ik (March 2025)
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