My Temporary Home

My new housing situation is a little, well, a step backwards.  I feel like I'm back in my freshman year of college - which is awesome for the social life, but bad for down time and cleanliness.  I live in an international student house called Winschoterdiep, which houses over 330 students.  It used to be an office building, so some things are a bit jankity for bedroom quality standards.  Smoking is only allowed in the smoking room, yet the cleaning staff smokes every weekday in their break room just down the hall from me.  One caretaker is here for four hours, five days a week - meaning the three out of five broken washing machines and three out of three broken dryers will stay broken indefinitely.  We also have to provide our own soap and toilet paper for the bathrooms, which I find very strange.  If the floor has an E. coli outbreak, you've got a pretty good chance of guessing why.

The photo below is my bedroom for the next four months.  You may notice various carpet stains and a broken desk drawer.  What you can't see are the dust and surface stains that were not cleaned before I arrived.  Someone vacuumed and my sheets were clean, but that may be about the only clean things.  I hate dirty things, so I was quite put off by the room at first. 

You'll also notice a red box on the shelf.  That is my kitchen box, which contains a plate, bowl, mug and utensils.  I am so thankful that I have my own things that directly touch the food that goes into my mouth.  We have around 40 people who use one kitchen on a daily basis.  I know I've got much higher cleanliness standards than most, but it can get pretty gross in there.  Half the sinks are always clogged and numerous dirty dishes are left out - garbage disposals would be an excellent investment.  I make sure to wash every pot/pan/spatula/knife before I use it (I have my own sponge) because I don't trust whoever washed it before me.  I know, I'm OCD.  I don't know if it's possible to have a clean kitchen when dozens of young 20 somethings are in charge of clean up, so I just let it go and keep my stuff clean.

Despite the less than quality accommodations, living here is incredibly fun.  Everyone is nice and most people are very social.  Cooking in the dirty kitchen is always a good time, because you inevitably run into your floor mates and strike up conversation.  There is always someone to hang out with, and always something going on.  I'm only now getting around to blogging because it's been so much fun with all the distractions.  But, more on that later :).