On Friday morning, the hall of the Auditorium is slowly filling up with people. The first-year international students are signing up for the TU/e Welcome Day and are given a bag of information material. The day’s program consists of a presentation, an information market in Atlas (see photo above) and a social component with workshops, games, drinks and dinner.

The students present were fortunate enough to have found accommodation. TU/e had previously given international students the urgent advice not to come to Eindhoven if they could not find a place to live before the start of the academic year. Meaning: give up or postpone the dream of studying at TU/e.

Money

Sukhman Singh (18) will be studying Mechanical Engineering. He has found an apartment in Eindhoven, but it took quite some time. “I searched from the end of May until July. I’m from India but my parents and I moved to Brussels five years ago. Therefore, I had the advantage of being able to come to Eindhoven for viewings. I did that three or four times.”

First-year Chemical Engineering student Tharun Kunaar is also from India. How did he manage to find a place to live? “By spending a lot of money, I guess”, he says with a crooked smile. On a more serious note: “I registered with about eight or ten agencies, and there were always costs involved. It was extremely difficult to find anything. I searched from the end of May to the second week of July.” Kunaar is happy with his apartment near campus, “but I did worry”.

Selling yourself

Arta Priedniece (18) is going to study Applied Physics, but first, she has a Dutch exam lined up, for which she has been studying for the past few weeks. In early August, she travelled from Latvia to Helmond, where she rents two rooms in a house with a few other girls. “I started room hunting in June and it took me two weeks.”

How did she manage to do that so quickly? “By selling myself well, I think”, she says laughing. “My housemates were looking for a Dutch, employed woman of 22 years or older, but they still chose me. I told them I’m a hard-working student and an athlete – I’m one of the top badminton players in Latvia – and that I’m not much of a party animal.”