‘The poop was flowing down the hallway’

2023 was an eventful year for students. Even though inflation rates were falling, the interest rate on student loans started. The monthly allowance (basisbeurs) from the government made its comeback in September, at least for some of the students. The Dutch cabinet fell and national elections followed. Everybody knows who won. Wars, climate change, the housing shortage. In short, students have enough things to worry about. DUB joined the residents of apartment 61, in the IBB complex, to ask them how 2023 treated them.

It’s Sunday evening, December 17. There is no doubt it's wintertime, considering how quiet the squares between the IBB apartment buildings are. In the summer, people play beer pong and splash around in plastic swimming pools, but now all residents are hiding inside their (expensively) heated homes. But, as Dutch custom goes, many curtains are still open, revealing scenes of conviviality against warm lights.

Once we enter apartment number 61, all silence is left outside. Twelve of the fifteen roommates are gathered in the living room. Alex (25), a Master’s student of Philosophy and Mathematics, also this evening’s chef, stirs in three frying pans with roti. Now and then, he opens the ovens and glances at four dishes of increasingly golden aubergine cubes. “You bought the potatoes, didn’t you?” he asks fellow chef Milena (22), a Physics student. She shakes her head in shock and disappears, heading towards the nearest supermarket as other roommates run through the kitchen, screaming. They are playing tag. Others are sitting at the dining table or watching TV on the couch. A Christmas tree adorns the middle of this homely student house scene.

Maybe there is always a bit of a Christmas feeling lurking in the average student apartment at IBB. There are candles in wine bottles, people dining in large groups, and permanent Christmas lights, in an attempt to cheer up the daubed walls and Ikea furniture. Number 61 is no exception. "Here it’s house night every night,” they say, meaning that being together is the rule, not the exception. The residents gather not only around the dinner table but also for lunch, at the library and on the couch, after dinner. They are currently working on “a very slow Harry Potter marathon”.

For this reason, the last Sunday evening of the year doesn’t make the students feel melancholic. They sit down exactly like they do any other night: together and full of sarcastic remarks. The nostalgic conversations are mainly about how they spent their weekends: “Last night was golden”, “Dude, I’m broke”, “Me too.” Asked if they have already looked back on 2023, they answer: “Not really, why?”

The house party: both the highest and the lowest point

Milena comes back with the potatoes. She puts them in the pan, in a hurry, and dinner is ready not much later. “Folks, come to the table!” The table is set and candles are lit. The conversation can begin. They don't have to think twice when asked about the year's highlight. “The house party!”

“Yes, the house party on September 22. I remember the date because that’s when I asked Irene out,” says Caspar, pointing to the girl on the other side of the table. She smiles. So does the rest. Then someone remarks: “Now we not only have a house cat, but also a house couple.” Annouk adds: “But it was also the best event of the year. We had security guards, murals, DJs, and, of course, a techno bunker.” Milena: “A night to remember. There were 450 people here.”

Mathis: “Yeah, we noticed because of the toilets. In that sense, the house party was also the lowest point.” Bastiaan adds: “The poop was flowing through the hallway!” The other housemates laugh and shout that the DUB reporter should be given some context. The story should be told with all its graphic details.

Milena sacrifices herself. “It happened the next day. We were having breakfast when we heard something that sounded like a waterfall. We went to have a look and the whole floor was covered in brown water.” Caspar, horrified: “It just became worse and worse. Every time someone took a shower, a layer of poop was added to the mess.” Bastiaan: “That’s how we found out what kind of people live here. Those who ran away and those who went to mop up.”

“We should have called Rijkswaterstaat (Department of Water Management, Ed.),” says Mathis. "In the end, we called the real estate agent," says Milena. Irene: “You mean the plumber.” Milena replies, confused: “What do you mean, the real estate agent is the one who fixes things, isn't it?”

Most popular conversation topics in 2023 

DUB asks what else they talked about at the dinner table, apart from the epic house party. 
“Dating!”
“Women!”
“Sex!”

There are smothered laughs. Some are stared at longer than others. Names and fragments of stories fly across the table. One of the men proclaims that he has been celibate for a week. “I am not,” shouts another. “Can you put that in the article? Guy, 23, single for over five years. The search for love is a long road.”

Milena: “We think dating is by far the most fun and the funniest topic of conversation. It looks like we spend a lot of time talking about it.”

How do you get so many dates?
Mathis: “Through dating apps. Or real life.” The other roommates look at him incredulously. "From real life? Really?" Bastiaan says, grinning: “The other day he did an entire photo shoot for his dating app profiles.” Mathis confirms, saying that Alex is really good at taking pictures. 

Alex: “But we talk about serious stuff too. Sometimes, we talk about the future." Caspar confirms. “Some of us are almost done with our studies. So, we're thinking more and more about what we're going to do next." The others nod: when not talking about dating, they usually talk about the future.

The time of their lives

This was a recurrent topic in the news this year: how students in the Netherlands feel more uncertain about the future than ever. DUB asks them if they suffer from that too.

Silence.

“A little, I think,” someone finally says. “Sorry, is that boring?” 

“Well, we were talking about it the other day. Life is so much fun now that we’re afraid it won’t get any better after this,” says Milena. “Help! The clichés are true," exclaims Julie. "These are the happiest times of my life!”

Meanwhile, part of the group is crying. No, they didn't get emotional when talking about the future. Alex put way too much chilli pepper in the food. “Go get some milk!” someone shouts. A heroic roommate gets up to fetch six glasses of water, while Milena finds a long hair in the pan.

Mathis: “You know, I hope I will grow at every stage of my life. I won’t feel like drinking this much and living in a dirty student house by then. If you think about it, you might be able to be happy at every stage of your life, simply because it suits you.”

Caspar: “I’m already looking forward to not having as many money problems.”

Worries

Money. Another topic that has been in the news a lot. DUB asks if the roommates are all short of money. The question is followed by sighs and groans. And more crying and sweating.

Irene: “The inflation rate has dropped, but everything is still expensive. Besides, people who have been studying for more than four years are not entitled to a monthly allowance from the government." Bastiaan: “Instead, we get to pay interest!”

Someone loudly proclaims the solution: shoplifting at Jumbo. Half of the table cheers, while the other half resists. “It doesn’t matter how you do it", says Milena. "As long as meals cost under five euros per person.”

So far, their concerns have stayed fairly close to home. Do they ever worry about the world? The house is divided: some people like to talk about politics, society and climate change, while others prefer not to. “We're a little bit less likely to talk about that kind of stuff when we're all together because not everyone likes those topics.”

The elections were an exception, though. Voting preferences varied considerably in the house, from left to right to total disorientation. This led to discussions and attempts to convince each other. In the end, the left-wing part of the house managed to persuade some indecisive voters to vote for GroenLinks-PvdA (an alliance between Green Left and the Workers' Party, Ed.). Someone who was initially planning on voting for the centre-left party VVD member switched to the centre-left party D66. “Don’t put that in the article,” says the person in question, asking to remain anonymous. “My father might read it.”

And then came the results. But they were in the movie theatre that night, watching The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel to the Hunger Games. “That news was about as shitty and post-apocalyptic as the film itself,” ponders Milena. The others nod fanatically.

So, what was the best movie of the year? “Oppenheimer!” exclaims Caspar. “No, Barbie!” shout three or four others. Milena disagrees with them all: “No, guys, it’s always Harry Potter.”

Bangers

The conversation is suddenly interrupted by a shout: “Banger!”, says Irene. It’s not the first time that someone says something like that tonight. Every time it happens, some of the roommates switch off from the conversation for a little while. They prick up their ears to listen to the music and then hum along. “Yeah, that's a banger,” they sometimes sigh back.

“This house loves music," Irene explains. "There’s always a playlist playing and, if we like something, we shout ‘banger’. That’s kind of our word of the year.” Milena: “And our song of the year is...” She can barely finish that sentence. The roommates start debating, with many titles and musical genres flying around. In the end, the group comes to a consensus and Milena gets to finish her sentence. “... How to save a life by The Frey.”

Asked if they are going to celebrate Christmas together, the roommates say they will have a Sinterkerstennieuw party, mixing the Dutch words Sinterklaas, Kerst (Christmas) and Oud en Nieuw (New Year's Eve). "But we’re busy, so that's only happening in February or something,” explains Lodewijk. Anouk interrupts him: “We'll be throwing a New Year's Eve party here." Someone says “Shoot, I don't think I'll make it. This is giving me FOMO (Fear of Missing Out, Ed.) and Julie replies: "Hey, I even get FOMO from missing meals here". Milena: "I get FOMO in this house just from being in my room!”

These roommates seem like pretty close friends. DUB asks them if they are each other's best friends. The first awkward silence of the evening follows. 

Milena: “Uhm, we’re still a bit cautious about that.” 
But why? Three others ask at the same time.
Alex doesn’t understand either: “Most people in this house see each other more often than they do their closest friends.”

Dinner is coming to an end. The plates are empty and no one dares to take a second helping of "pure pain". "But it was tasty, Alex”. A few people clear the table, while the rest prepare the seating area for the daily movie night. Conversations about how the year went or the quality of their friendship seem to have been forgotten by now. A dozen bodies drop onto the couches. Blankets and bodies intertwine as the opening tune of Harry Potter fills the living room. If you’d look through the windows, you would see, like every other evening, a little bit of Christmas.

The students portrayed in this article are aged between 22 and 25 and they study Mathematics (1), Philosophy (1), Law (2), Medicine (1), Physics (2), Psychology (1), Politicology (1), and Economics (1). The newest roommate moved in four months ago, while the oldest has been living there for four years.