- unpacking and settled down in my apartment
- searched for a Bank to withdraw cash for housing deposit
- signed housing contract at the housing agent
- went to the university for a little tour
- shopped at a near-by super market
About the apartment
One thing I should really be thankful about TU/e’s International Office is the housing arrangement. Though they don’t have on campus housing like NUS, they help exchange students to rent apartment through a housing agent called Vestide. TU/e asked me to fill in a housing application form, in which I indicate the type of room (single/double) and the rent that I am willing to pay and they will find a matching room for me to stay.
Pic taken before I Ieft Eindhoven and got back my deposit.
The house I am in is a typical student house. There are three bedrooms and one bathroom on the second floor, and one downstairs beside the living room. We have a pretty big living room and kitchen. And there is also a quite big yard with a store room for bicycles. The house is fully furnished with carpet, washing machine, fridge, vacuum cleaner, TV, furniture and we even have cable for broadband internet and cable TV.
In my room, there is a desk, a wardrobe and a bed. Probably because I am living for the shortest period of time, so I got the smallest room among all. Much of the space is cut by the slanted roof. But still, I am quite happy with it given the rent is also the least in the house, 250 euro/month.
However there is only one problem—we only have one toilet downstairs and it has a window opened directly to the outside. So if I need to go to toilet at the middle of the night, I would have to climb down the staircase and walked into the really cold toilet at night.
And talking about the staircase, I am really amazed by how small and narrow and steep it is. The stairs are not even big enough to my whole sole on, so I have to step sideway on them when I go down. And they are really steep that the handle is very necessary even for supporting. It is very narrow too, just about the width for one person to squeeze in. Furthermore, the stair makes a lot of noisy when people step on it since it is made of wood (just like the rest of the house). But it seems this is common for all Dutch houses, even those with old people. And given the height of normal Europeans, it is really facinating that they live in it without any problems.
Biking
I must admit that I am totally shocked when I see a sea of bicycle parking at the university. I have never thought that any other country will use bicycle the way the Chinese does in a developed country. But in Netherlands, they do.
自从1998年离开北京，我已经有好多年没骑过自行车了。只在2001年住Presby Hostel那一年骑车去维初上学。不过那是一条给锻炼的人准备的专门的路，所以没什麽需要注意的。可是荷兰这儿的路上，不仅有一般的小汽车，还有大卡车。所幸，这里有专门给骑车人自行车道，还有特别的红绿灯专管自行车。但是这也让我很困惑，不知道哪个灯是我该看的。尤其是看到很多人看见红灯还继续骑，我就更懵了。
Shopping
There is a German supermarket called Lidl about 10mintues bike from my house. Just like in everywhere else, there are a few major supermarkets dominating the market and Lidl is one at the cheaper end like Shop & Save in Singapore.
Since NL is an agriculture country famous for its diary product, milk, cheese and yoghourt are really cheap and have many varieties. 1L of milk only costs 0.5E and one long bread costs only 0.8E. Wines are also very cheap here. A bottle of Caifornia rose wine (white and red mixed) costs 2.5E and I know the cheapest wine in Singapore will cost at least 20S. We bought Pasta with tomato and beas, then spinach for soup.
Housemates
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