Stricter rules after party in SSH flat
‘A few people messed it up for everyone else’
‘It’s such a shame that a small group of people messed it up for everyone else’, says Jakob (20), a game design student. ‘Pretty much everyone here obeys the rules.’ The new rules say he has to wear a face mask in the shared kitchen, which he does. He also has to stay 1.5 metres away from his roommates at all times.
But that’s not all. The residents are no longer allowed to have guests, security guards have been stationed throughout the flat, and during the day, only four people are allowed in the shared spaces at a time. Jakob’s not too bothered, though.
‘The new rules don’t really affect me’, he says. ‘I’m in my room studying most of the time anyway, and I already avoided people.’
Face masks
Master students of biomedical engineering Juliana (21) and Carol (22) aren’t overly affected by the new rules either. ‘I never spend much time in the shared spaces anyway’, says Carol. They don’t mind having to wear face masks. ‘I thought it was weird that no one in the Netherlands was wearing masks’, says Juliana.
The only thing they don’t like is that it’s harder to spend time with their roommates now. ‘It’s too bad we can’t hang out and have a beer in the common room at night’, says Juliana.
Close together
But they understand why SSH decided to make the rules apply to everyone, including the students who weren’t involved in the party. ‘There are so many of us here, so close together. They have no choice but to be strict’, says Juliana.
The girls realise how lucky they are that the classes for their master are mostly on campus. They spend a lot of time at the university. ‘I can imagine only having online classes would make you feel isolated’, says Juliana. ‘You can’t even go to the only place where you can still socialise with people.’