Many students would be happy with Mark Koolen’s room, he realizes. Twenty square meters at spitting distance from the Amstel, ten minutes by bike to the center. The kitchen and bathroom to himself. It was therefore a lottery ticket: the umpteenth time that he responded to an advertisement with hundreds of others and finally it was hit. But now, now he wants to leave. “I miss roommates.”
‘Purely because I was one of the first to respond, I was allowed to visit here at the time,’ says Koolen (20). ‘The room almost went to someone else, but the landlord allowed me a little more because everything for that other boy was paid for by his parents. I get nothing. I borrow a maximum of – 930 euros per month – and I work. In rent I pay 750 euros including. Quite an amount for me, but not close to market value I believe.’
What did you imagine living in rooms in Amsterdam?
‘That I would enter a whole new bubble. People who are not necessarily your best friends, but who are new people from whom you learn a lot. Perhaps an international person would be there. Really different from people in Almere, where I come from. It is quite a step from Almere to Amsterdam. I call it an all-you-can-eat city there. It is about convenience, preferably cheap, and accessibility by car.
“It was really cool to live here in the beginning. All Almeerders left behind could come by. And I’m in a student tennis association. It’s nice when I have a party there, that I don’t have to get back on the last train. But I underestimated how much time it would take to socialize. I was a sophomore in law and I thought it would be easier for me to get to know people through the study. People do their own thing more.
‘And I imagined that after a night out I would sit down with some roommates. Or maybe I made that up more afterwards. Because of course I chose to live here alone. That feeling was also reinforced because I just came here in October when the corona measures were strengthened. Just when everyone thought: now it gets better. In the beginning I still had rose-colored glasses on: look how beautiful I look. But at one point I was alone here all day. I collapsed peak capitalismorder speed cameras.’
Why have things delivered to your home when you already have so little to do?
“I got into a lazy rut. That’s a spiral. I also skipped workgroups. If I had slept badly or because I thought the teacher was bad. Also stupid, because then you have even less to do. In the winter, the study also went completely from home via the screen.
‘I still saw friends from Almere, but not very often. I didn’t have a job yet. No relationship either, that would have made a difference. I got the feeling: I’m standing still. I don’t want to sound pathetic, I’m privileged. Afterwards I also think somewhere: what were you doing. But I lost my motivation. You also talk to yourself: how hard it is. I thought: what am I actually paying the 750 euros for?’
Did it help when you found work?
‘I work as a receptionist at an apartment building on the Zuidas. It’s okay what I have to do. Arrange maintenance, call a technician, accept a package. I have quite a lot of time to study there. And I often work nights. Then I sleep there and I am standby. At night there is not often something going on. But I do sleep restlessly with the idea that I could be woken up at any moment. And I’m lying there in a little bed with a curtain that lets in light.’
You sleep somewhere else a few nights a week to pay for this room?
‘Pretty ironic, isn’t it? But I do have to work on it. The maximum amount of my loan dates from the time when you could still rent a room for 400 euros. I’d rather borrow more.’
You will end up with a debt of half a ton after your studies. Don’t you worry about that?
‘Not at all. I don’t spend everything. And I don’t pay interest on it. A very safe investment already pays off a few percent. I have already invested a bit in a package of shares. Tech-like, via a trading app. It is irrational not to borrow, if you also consider inflation. Yes, if I don’t finish my studies I will have a problem, but I have a passion for law. A valid concern is whether you will be able to buy a house with a debt later on. But it may sound lavish, I am confident that I will earn enough in my career. And if necessary I will rent an extra year.’
The room next to yours is empty. Can’t a roommate live there?
‘The landlord has that room for convenience. He’s not even here once a month. I did ask him if a roommate can come. But he wants to be able to sit here every now and then. He happens to live in Almere himself, which is also quite ironic.
‘This summer I’m going on an exchange to America for six months. Then I’ll get out of this room. Before that I want to find something with roommates. But I don’t say to everyone ‘I’m looking for something’ all the time. It kind of feels like I’ve failed. Like: I’m late, I don’t have enough network, I’m not nice enough with hospitalization. Especially if you come from Almere.’
An Almere inferiority complex?
“Well, you always have to defend that a little bit. You’re in the line Helmond, Lelystad, Purmerend, aren’t you?’
Would you be able to live at home in Almere again if you had to?
‘That could be, but I think that’s a shame. What you learn from living in rooms, I think that is an investment that will get you so much out of it.’