Students are also welcome in the skating hall after Eurekaweek: “We will stay here as long as necessary”

First-year German business administration student Eliwon (19) has been answering rooms every day for three months and has finally found something in Prinsenland. One problem: he is not the only candidate. He has 720 euros left for a small room somewhere in Rotterdam. “But it’s not because of the money that I can’t find anything,” he sighs. That’s why he sleeps during Eurekaweek and as long as needed in the skating hall.

During Eurekaweek 75 students are housed in the pavilion of the Leonidas Hockey Club, where ice skating takes place in winter. Each student has their own locker in the hall. The canvas booths look like luxury festival tents. Here and there, clothes and suitcases on the floor. The room smells of wet towels. Around noon, most of the guests are at Eurekaweek. Only a dozen students who want to take it easy find themselves in the dorms.

The pavilion has room for four hundred students, but the permit offers room for two hundred. In the mixed dormitory, students have the choice between two sleeping options: a small hallway with ten bunk beds where a bed costs 78 euros for four nights, or an enclosed space with two bunk beds for 20 euros more.

As an international student, Eliwon struggles to find a room.

“I have often been told that the municipality does not allow students to live in the room, or that the owners only want Dutch students in the house. It doesn’t help that I’m a boy either.”

Still, he is happy with the bunk bed he shares with another German student. He doesn’t mind having to share the hockey club’s showers and locker room. “You get used to it quickly, but it will also be because it’s now Eurekaweek, so there’s more of a holiday feeling.”

Eliwon heard he could stay in the pavilion until the beginning of September, but he doesn’t want to let him go that far. “Of course, I would have preferred to find a house, although I’m glad the organization offers this option. Many international students feel the pressure to find something as quickly as possible, but it’s difficult. ”

Max (21), a first-year economics student, thinks of the pavilion primarily as a hostel. He sits on the bottom mattress of a bunk bed in his own sleeping cabin. “You could stay cheaper at Erasmus Sport, but here you have a lot more privacy and it’s much quieter.” Staying is not really an option for him. “I prefer to go home after Eurekaweek.”

This also applies to Simon, who grew up in Slootdorp, a town just off the Afsluitdijk. “During Eurekaweek it’s a nice place and cheaper than a hostel, but I’d rather travel two and a half hours round trip than live here.” He has been looking for accommodation for four months. “Money is not the issue, my girlfriend and I are looking for something for 1500 euros together.”

Ruben van Goor of The Sleeping Agency would prefer to house students who cannot find accommodation for as long as needed. The Breda-based company facilitates temporary venues for major festivals and refugees. “Initially, we had agreed with Leonidas that the students could stay here for a month. After that, many regular sports activities on the grounds resume. But if the need arises, we will see if there are other things that are possible.

Van Goor spent months discussing the project with EUR, the municipality and the Eurekaweek board, with little success. “The shortage of rooms is of course a long-standing and unsolved problem, because no one takes responsibility for it. The EUR would like us to take care of the students for as long as possible, but at the same time , they do not want to actively help.This is because they also want to spread the message that students must first have accommodation before coming to study in Rotterdam.

In their own words, Van Goor and his partner Derk de Groot are not enriching themselves from the refuge. “At the moment, we are mainly investing. We see Eurekaweek and the period that followed as a test to see if we can alleviate the current housing shortage through this initiative. If it works, we want to launch such projects in other cities and develop a more profitable model.

Eliwon doesn’t sleep worse due to the lack of rooms. “You hear students say they wake up because of the zippers in the cabins or the heat in the clubhouse, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m a deep sleeper and in the morning the air is still a bit humid and very cool. I feel really fresh every morning.