From the left: Nicole, Emma and Nienke. Photo: Guy Ackermans | Text: Coretta Jongeling There are student houses and there are weird and wonderful student houses. In this feature we visit the latter. This time: Huize de Hemel.
House: Huize de Hemel
Occupants: Emma Corten, Nicole van Dijk, Nienke Hilgen
Unique because: they practically live in the Nji-Sri clubhouse.
Nienke: ‘From up here you can hear exactly what is happening in the clubhouse downstairs. The open party on Thursdays goes on till four o’clock, and on the other nights the club is open till two.
Nicole: ‘Sometimes you are already in bed, in your pyjamas, but then you hear a nice song and you get up again. Unfortunately, it also happens that you are already asleep and are woken up by a karaoke session. And even from here, you can hear that they can’t sing.’
Nienke: ‘When I’m sitting at my desk, I see my desk lamp being shaken by the sound of the bass.’
Nienke: ‘The boardroom is on our floor. So during the day, we actually have six housemates.’
Nicole: ‘You’re never alone here. There are always members coming over, there are meetings, and you see someone you know and have a chat.’
Nienke: ‘And it’s just really great not to have to cycle home after a party.’
Emma: ‘And another advantage is that you don’t have to take a coat. I always used to lose my coat! I’d be looking for it for 15 minutes…’.
Nienke: ‘Traditions? There were back in the day, before Nicole and Emma moved in…’.
Nicole: ‘Back in the day, haha – three months ago!’
Nienke: ‘Well, back then, one of the house rules was that there should always be cheese soufflés in the house, but the deep-fryer is so grubby… I did try to clean it, but we abandoned that rule.’Nicole: ‘What we do keep up is the tradition of the house shot. If all three of us are downstairs, we have to drink a shot together. Blue Curacao and Gold Strike: the blue of the sky and the gold of the stars.
