My new housemates
A while ago, I had to leave what had been my home for over five years more or less overnight. Left with no choice, I decided to accept the offer of both my parents and my girlfriend, to stay at their place. Neither was enjoyable, though. Whereas my parents have a house with a sufficient amount of space for me, it’s a 1.5 hour ride to university. My work place was only a 15-minute bus ride or 30-minute bike ride away, but with buses not running after 7 pm, while shifts last until 10 pm and the summer making way for fall, neither was an alternative. My girlfriend, although living in a place with better public transport connections lives in a student room of approximately fourteen square meter. That’s okay if you’re a student living alone. With the two of us, the room seemed to become smaller by the day. Still, I spent five out of seven days with her and we still didn’t get into any fights, at all!
The best part of my time was then spent finding a place of my own. Desperate to find a room as soon as possible, I didn’t limit my search to Amsterdam, where I study, but broadened my search to include places nearby, up to an hour away by public transport: Utrecht, Amstelveen, Zaandam, Hilversum. Luckily the company where I work has branches throughout the country, and getting transferred to a different branch shouldn’t be a problem; in fact, they’ve expressed a wish to transfer me elsewhere before. When I still hadn’t find something after a month, I decided to look into housing in Almere as well. Not known as a welcoming city, I had never thought my search in Almere to be either serious or successful.
As irony had its way, it was Almere which offered me a serious chance on a place of my own. At 460 euros all inclusive, I’d have 25 square meters of my own, a huge shared living room and all facilities shared. At just 5 minutes walking of the main train station. To call it mine I’d just have to be the first to let the landlord know. As I was the first person to look, and the only one that day, I seized the opportunity and confirmed the deal the next morning. Within a few weeks, I would be able to put an end to weeks of ’staying over’ and ‘visiting my parents’ and go home again. Although I was still not looking forward to living in Almere, the thought I could be in Amsterdam’s city centre in under half an hour, including the walk to the train station, convinced me Almere wasn’t that bad, to live for a few years. Journey time was even less than from Amsterdam’s outer boroughs to the city centre.
With the move I was set back from living on my own for five years to sharing all facilities with a phenomenon that’s new to me: housemates. I’ve lived with my parents, on my own and together with my (now ex-) girlfriend, but this was a first. Although I was a little afraid it would be disastrous, it turned out not to be so bad at all. Sure, I get along better with some of the housemates than some of the others, but as I’m able to retreat to my own room, I still did not have any issues with any of them.
There’s Q and R*. I feel I connect best with the two of them. Listening to metal they’re the most alternative of the lot. And regardless of whether one’s a result of the other, they’re crazy, outgoing. Not pretentious. The only thing they do truly care about, is showing others they love each other. Besides, love and joy is the only thing they seem to need in their lives. Q’s working in a game shop and, although the pay’s bad, finds joy from his job, everyday.
W and D* are a completely different story. Instead of metal, it’s hardcore, or perhaps other sorts of similar music that rocks their boat. In sheer contrast to my expectations of most of the people listening to such music, W works at an opera house, working on all kinds of decorations. D* is still a student, while working a few hours a day at a local supermarket. Perhaps the fact W works at the opera house shows these two are more aware of the world beyond their music, as I generally tend to expect from hardcore-fans. Although I find myself struggling to get on with what I was doing when I get involved in a conversation with W, they are friendly people.
Due to his harsh Amsterdam accent, I found it hard to talk to J at first, but a few weeks later, he doesn’t seem so bad either. Listening to largely the same music as do W and D*, his oddity is his love for fish. With a large quarantine aquarium to grow new fish in the shared living room and an even larger display aquarium in his own room, fish truly are his ‘thing’. What certainly improved my thoughts on him was him asking if he could try one of my coffees, after hearing me getting on with grinding beans, frothing milk and such. I still haven’t gotten around to making him one, though.
Lastly, there’s P, whom only recently moved in to the house. As far as I know, he hasn’t yet spent the night here, but has been working on getting his furniture in and set up over the past weekend. He’s moved to Almere from the east of the country so seeing his girlfriend whom lives in Almere is easier.
All in all, I’m not living in an ordinary student house. Not only do people actually clean - more or less. Most of my housemates aren’t students anymore, but instead are working. The reason they’re renting a small room in a house differs, but we all, myself included, seem to be there until something better comes along, as affordable living space is hard to come by, waiting time for social housing starts at five years and money is hard to come by.
Originally published at Interrailing.net. Please leave any comments there.