Living in Dijkgraaf: A home far away from home

Finding a room in Wageningen was difficult for new students, including me

I will start my story with my struggle of finding a room. However, after struggling to find a room in Wageningen, I received an offer via Idealis website and I accepted it. I heard about the struggle of some students in finding the rooms. To be honest, I only chose every accommodation on Idealis website that suits my budget, without really paying attention to the details.

I have accepted the offer in Dijkgraaf. After I officially got the room, I was worried about how I will live in a foreign country with strangers. I tried to google how is the living condition in Dijkgraaf and how I will reach my student housing. But I only found less information. So, now I will tell you, just in case you will live in Dijkgraaf.

Starting a new chapter of life as an international student

When you arrive in Wageningen for the first time, do not panic! You can take your keys in Idealis office. You can go there by taking bus 88 from Ede-Wageningen train station and stop at Bornsesteeg. Then, you can walk from Idealis office to Dijkgraaf. It was quite some work to walk from Bornsesteeg to Dijkgraaf with my big luggage, but I managed it.

There are many types of room in Dijkgraaf: furnished and unfurnished, rooms that provide kitchen, or rooms with sink. The first four corridors have 18 people and the other rooms have 10 people. The residents will share showers and bathrooms with their corridor-mates. We also have a cleaning schedule to maintain the corridor and the common facilities. The corridor representative arranged it for us and ideally, everyone needs to do their cleaning assignments.

A house that is a home

I live with other 17 corridor-mates. They are from different countries and friendly people. At the first time, I feel really shy to go to the kitchen and cook. I have the worst cooking skill and I did not when people watching me cooking. But now I feel comfortable to cook and talk with people. I also love to spend times in the kitchen. My corridor has TV and one of my corridor-mates put his Netflix account on it. So we often watch movies together, or I sometimes exploit the kitchen to watch my favorite Korean dramas during my days off. There were also times when I studied in the kitchen during the exam weeks because I was tired of studying by myself in my room.

If you live in Dijkgraaf and we see each other at the parking area or the elevator, do not be hesitate to say Hi! And finally, I would like to say that: you are the one who can make your new place a new home for you. So I hope you, the readers, will find a home in Wageningen, either in Dijkgraaf or in other housing you already got.