
Kleine Roze is an example
of integration and inclusion
Internationals only (sorry Dutchies)
They come to Groningen excited and full of expectations, eager to dive into their studies and student life, yet their first months in the city can become a desperate hunt to find a shelter.
Every year, international students struggle to find accommodation in the city, and the situation does not seem like it will change any time soon.
The university has recommended international students once again not to come to the city if they haven’t found a room by August. The municipality of Groningen, despite creating 260 emergency beds for internationals next academic year, fears the worst. Alderman Roeland van der Schaaf says that, for various reasons, it’s even more difficult to arrange emergency shelter.
One big reason is that until September, the university and therefore the municipality will not be able to know the actual number of international students coming to the city to study.
11.000 internationals
Currently, around nine thousand internationals study at the UG. Add to that the Hanze University of Applied Science’s international students, roughly 2,300, and Groningen today hosts over eleven thousand foreign students. This is more than five percent of the total population of the city. Not an insignificant number.
The Stichting Studentenhuisvesting (SSH) is one of the main providers of accommodation for international students in the city and has approximately 1,600 rooms and studios especially for internationals. They have grim news: ‘The reservations for the next academic year have been open for a while and unfortunately all our rooms and studios are already booked,’ says Madelon van Gameren with SSH.
‘No internationals’ policy adds up to the feeling of being unwelcome
On top of that, internationals often face closed doors in private student houses. The ‘No internationals/Dutch only’ policy included in many rooms ads adds up to the frustration and the feeling of being unwelcome.
Balance in the house
Yet, despite the crisis, many students are doing their best to help. Kleine Roze is an example of integration and inclusion.
The ad that Dutch student Sarah Bannet posted on Facebook was pretty clear: ‘INTERNATIONALS ONLY (sorry Dutchies)’.
‘We want to keep the balance in the house, and we all agree on that. Our French housemate Florent is leaving soon, so we want another international, preferably another guy, to join our house,’ says Sarah.
La Petite Rose, as they call their house in Kleine Rozenstraat (‘little roses street’), is a very big house, technically divided into two smaller households. Twelve students live here: five Dutchies and seven internationals – of which some speak Dutch.
The international students in the house hail from Germany, Slovakia, and France. From the beginning of July, a new member is joining, as Florent Hallal, exchange student from France, is leaving.
Who will join?
Although they’re sad to see Florent go, La Petite Rose is now curious to see who will join them next in the house, and from where.
‘We have many candidates: from Greece, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Italy,’ says Dutch student Thomas Dijkstra.
300 responses in a 24 hours clearly shows the state of the current housing situation
La Petite Rose is running the hospi, – Dutch name for house viewing – both online, for those who connect from abroad, and in person. This year, they decided to ask applicants to provide a video to introduce themselves.
‘It is to bring down the large number of applicants, since not everyone wants to put in the effort to film themselves. Last year, we asked only for a Facebook message. We posted a room on a Friday and on a Saturday evening we already had three hundred responses from all over the world,’ says Thomas.
Three hundred responses in a bit more than twenty-four hours clearly shows the state of the current housing situation in Groningen, especially for internationals.
Crisis
‘We are well aware of the crisis. Trying to keep the balance in the house is a way to be fair and to help those who are struggling more,’ says Carla Anderer, from Germany. ‘We also decided to run online viewings to give an opportunity to the many who are already looking for accommodation from back home.’
They are aware that their internationals-only policy sounds very much like the more common policy that excludes them, but the reality is different. Kleine Roze is open to everyone, and to protect this happy island they do their best.
At Kleine Roze, English is naturally the official language
‘At least try to meet them. If you already say no internationals, you don’t give them a chance. At the end of the day, you get to choose who you want. Maybe you would miss an amazing person to live with and to get to know, just because you want to apply such a policy,’ says Sarah about the no-international approach.
Often, when the ‘no internationals’ sign is posted on an ad, students say to be hesitant to share a house with foreigners due to the language barrier and the cultural gap, especially in the way Dutch student life is organised.
Uncomfortable
At Kleine Roze, English is naturally the official language. ‘I understand that many Dutch students feel uncomfortable speaking English at home, but keep in mind that it is no different for most internationals. They are not all English native speakers, so we all struggle together. And it makes it funny,’ says Sarah.
‘Sometimes, when words aren’t enough, you have to communicate with signs, or rely on the most classic passepartout word “thing”: where is the thing used to close the other thing? Yet, we always understand each other,’ she says.
‘In the end, everyone is in the same boat. It is a struggle for them just as it is for us. The English language is the common ground,’ says Florent.
The same goes for cultural differences. What might seem like insurmountable incompatibilities easily become added value to the house.
‘There might be cultural differences, but I’ve stopped noticing them. There might be different eating schedules and habits, but those easily become positive aspects,’ says Dutch student Gijs Hennen.
Big community
Kleine Roze feels like a big community, they all say. ‘It is kind of a unique configuration. The differences enrich the place and people are openminded. And we learn a lot from each other,’ says Florent.
‘You get to try something new every time, especially with food. Friends bring or cook food from their home countries all the time. You get to know different traditions, and we explain to them the Dutch ones,’ says Sarah.
Like that time Florent made a quiche Lorraine. It was delicious according to everybody. Too bad they discovered that that quiche is in no way French, as the recipe is actually German.
‘When I discovered that, I realised that my whole life had been a lie,’ laughs Florent.
The sharing of food and recipes works both ways.
Friends bring or cook food from their home countries all the time
‘Well, Dutch cuisine is always a bit disappointing,’ says Carla with a smile. She is more into Middle Eastern and Asian flavours and cuisines. The latter in all its variations is also the most loved in the house.
‘They may make fun of Dutch food, but they all love it in the end, especially when they are drunk,’ Thomas answers back.
Celebrating Sinterklaas
But there is much more to share in terms of traditions and culture.
‘We celebrated Sinterklaas all together this year. It was not easy to explain it, but it was fun to do,’ says Thomas. ‘It is tradition for Dutch to celebrate with families and friends, so we wanted to include our international housemates.’
Sarah, Thomas, and the other Dutchies explained the tradition of making gifts and writing short poems on things that annoys you about someone in a nice and funny way.
Florent is known to be very slow to do things in the house. ‘Once it took me one hour to get groceries. From that day I did not escape the nickname: snail,’ he smiles.
‘Therefore, I gifted him a (fake) small escargot – French for snail – for Sinterklaas,’ says Sarah.
But Florent understood pretty well how Sinterklaas works. ‘A former housemate was very much into student association boys. And most of the time it was either Vindicat or Albertus. So I made her a little spinning wheel with the two options, asking: who is going to be this time?’
Carla instead got to learn the core of student Dutch culture: the gezelligheid. And she loves it.
Gezelligheid is officially an untranslatable Dutch word. But the concept refers to a positive and relaxed atmosphere, friendship and fun.
‘Germans are always on the run, that makes you easily stressed. Dutch people are quite chill, and I love it. I learned to embrace the gezelligheid from my Dutch housemates,’ she says.
‘It is great. Honestly the best part of my Erasmus experience has been living in this house,’ says Florent.
This year was Florent’s first experience on his own, far from home and in a shared house, and he could not be happier.
‘Even if Groningen is an international city, it is not always that easy to connect with people, especially during the pandemic,’ he says thinking about his first semester here. ‘But I connected right away with all my housemates.’
‘It truly feels like home to me, I have never felt like this in a house before,’ agrees Sarah. ‘I also liked my former houses, but there was not the same connection with the other housemates.’
Internationals feel unwelcome because they are unwelcome, and if they weren’t such Godless cosmopolitans they would understand that. There is no nation without a shared language. You will always be an outsider, regardless of what impressively high percentage of Dutch people speak English. You have been tricked by the globohomo agenda.
Yet the researches, based on which the RUG retains its prestigious position, are welcome. The researchers of this university are predominantly international. The achievements are harvested but the people are unwelcome? I’d call that pretentious.
That’s the university’s fault for putting profit above social cohesion.
Post with your real name lmao
I am an international and I am searching for an accommodation, it is nice to see that out there is someone that gives a chance to the international to find a place. It is really a hard for international to find a room. I have been looking for more than two months and the ‘No internationals/Dutch only’ requirement is in 3 out 4 add that I find on Facebook :(. I really wonder why… does a different nationality implies an impossibility to pay the rent? Or I dunno to be a nice roommate of tenant… I really wonder why so many people are unable to look beyond the nationality.
Also to find a place is harder if you are a guy. Because most ads ask for girls only and just few of those have a reasonable motivation
I read through all the comments and I can understand you feel annoyed about that word, nevertheless I believe that the author of the Facebook post was using it in a lovingly way to make feel the international more welcome. I also think that this was not the place for raise such an argument.
When I was looking for housing a couple of years ago, coming from Berlin, I was quite shocked about the many adds saying “Dutch only”. It was not even “Dutch speaking only”, which I would understand more. But it gave me the impression of the Dutch student body being quite immature and … racist. As this is for many interantional students the first contact with Dutch students, I think the signal it sends is quite strong.
So thanks for this article, I hope the majority of flats will become mixed over time.
UK, can we please get rid of the pejorative term ‘Dutchies’?
How is that pejorative, and moreover, how is that coming from UKrant? It’s a term used by all internationals, and clearly it was in the title of the facebook post, so not coined by UKrant…
I thought we all recently learned that things are pejorative when the people in question perceive them as such. More specifically, ‘Dutchies’ is a belittling (literally) word that really implies not taking Dutch people very seriously. I get that, if this word is so commonly used, it’s impossible to omit it altogether, but it would be nice to see less of it. And this is where the UK has a role, I’d say.
Your argumentation is lacking and no one agrees with you.
Whatever, Andre. But thanks for doing the poll!
Dear Fokke, you cannot just get offended at things, this is not how pejorative terms work. The Netherlands consisted of many Dutchies, so the term ‘Dutchies’ then makes sense and even sounds quite royal. The word ‘Dutchies’ also can mean multiple other things in multiple languages, from a joint to a cooking pot. Your interpretation of it as “belittling” is flawed and wrong. Also, most offensive or belittling words have a history of oppression behind them. You cannot just claim something is belittling when no one suffers ACTUAL consequences that impact their lives (more than “oh I don’t like this”) Your comment reeks of entitlement and ignorance to actual problems of the world. Go cry some privileged tears.
I see your point, I really do. I even partly agree with you.
Still, your response does suggest a selective approach to what people are and are not allowed to feel about how others talk about them. If I use any kind of word to refer to any group, I have to take into account how the members of that group will feel about my using that word. Obviously I cannot reckon with every individual reaction there; we can’t keep everybody happy, nor should we try to. But at the very least it seems to me that I have a moral obligation to take it seriously when somebody raises an issue about that, and not immediately say ‘your objection to this term is flawed, the word is not pejorative at all’. If so, we would be back at only reasoning from people’s intentions in using these kinds of labels. A history of oppression is relevant there, sure, but why should this be the only relevant thing? ‘Actual consequences’ matter, absolutely true, but what are actual consequences and what aren’t? Who gets to decide that?
I’m well aware that I am in no way marginalized; I am not a member of a minority group; I am not discriminated against on a daily basis; and so on. I’m not trying to trivialize any of those experiences people have (although you’ll probably think that I am).
Strictly speaking, the word ‘Dutchie’ is *literally* belittling in the sense that it is (or at least strongly resembles) what we in Dutch would call a ‘verkleinwoord’. There is a societal dimension to using them. In Dutch, for example, the word for ‘girl’ is ‘meisje’. This is also a ‘verkleinwoord’ and it has been rightly pointed out that it’s strange that we only use a word like that for girls and not for boys. By our using this word, girls are being belittled on a daily basis. This is why we’re now seeing a (slow) shift towards ‘meiden’ instead of ‘meisjes’.
So wait, am I equating my irritation about this word to gender-stereotyping and discrimination? No, of course not. There’s a huge difference between the two, and the one is much more serious and pernicious than the other. Does that mean that I should completely shut up about it? I don’t see why, and claiming that I should reeks of whataboutism to me.
To be honest, I suppose it could also be argued that a word like ‘Dutchie’ expresses a certain kind of fondness. I’m sure it’s often used in that way. Fine. But surely the speaker does not have the sole right to determine how a word is to be read or heard?
I realize that I’m only incurring more and more anger, so I will just leave it at this. There will probably be a lot more angry replies, fine, I’m not looking to get into an argument with anyone here. I find the word irritating, nobody else does (apparently) – OK. I’ll just stay somewhat irritated and try to have a nice evening anyway – as I hope you’re doing too.
Fokke, you should ask yourself how one feels when they read:
‘No internationals/Dutch only’ after they’ve been literally spending their own time trying to find a roof over their head.
I don’t think the issue with this article is that ‘Dutchie’ is hurting Dutch people’s feelings, get over it and learn how to make fun of yourself. Clearly, those who posted the ad were apt in doing so.
Also, enjoy: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dutchie
I know. I find it hugely embarrassing and disheartening, as well as inexcusable, that internationals are being discriminated this way. Other than that, you don’t know me at all, so you have no idea whether or not I’m able to make fun of myself, so please refrain from making this personal. :-)
I really do feel that it is legitimate to make a remark about a term like this if one has feelings about it. Apparently this is not something that is appreciated by the international community, because other (i.e., internationals’) issues are always more important than anything else, especially if it’s Dutchies complaining about something. So much for integration and inclusiveness – once again it turns out to be a one-way street. It’s a pity. I’ll shut up about it.
You do have some nerve to make a baseless accusation of a pejorative term and then make it about integration and inclusiveness and random ramble about a “one-way street”. Your comment is tone deaf, because it is about something that is NOT based in reality, yet it is under an article which describes ACTUAL problems of internationals which impact them in day to day life. As in opposition to some random word you choose to be offended to for no real reason.
Yes, the inclusion thing was too much, you’re right. My apologies for that. And I see what you mean with tone deaf, since the article was about a pressing problem (and a nice solution to it). I still think there’s nothing wrong with my expressing irritation at this word (and I still believe you don’t get to decide who has the right to be annoyed about what), but it may not have been the right time or place and I see how it may have caused irritation in turn.
“The ad that Dutch student Sarah Bannet posted on Facebook was pretty clear: ‘INTERNATIONALS ONLY (sorry Dutchies)’.”
I think that this person means the whole term very lovingly. The ad clearly states that she herself is Dutch, so why would she use it negatively?