Housing

I don't know if miscellaneous is the place for this question..but i'm shooting anyway
So I got admitted. Msc BA- Finance and...I have no ideea what accomodation I should choose. I am going to contact the Housing Office next week and see what offer they'd make but I want to know what do you think is best. I understood that is better for socialization to live in a intl house. ok. I looked and there are quite a few ...so which one? I liked Martini, Orange, Van Houtenlaan and Winschoterdiep House. But these aren't necessarily my last options.
I was hoping maybe you could share some of your opinions regarding the places where you live now and maybe give me an advice.

Hello!

Well, I have only stayed in Van Houtenlaan, which I have to say is very funny at the beginning. However, then it gets a bit messy and stuff. The thing is, it's one of the biggest student houses in Groningen so there are lots of people you can meet. The rooms are pretty small, also. Now, this is one of the cheapest, too. If you are not so budget conscious, you would have to choose for Winschoterdiep, with large rooms, lots of people as well, better parties and even a better location (20 min by bike to univ, 5 min to the center --- compared to 30 min to uni and 15 to the center). About the others, I do not really know what to tell you. There is also the possibility to get accomodation through www.in-groningen.nl (better follow this link, cause the rest is in Dutch http://www.in-groningen.nl/nederlands/in/ik-zoek/kamer/foreign-students ). Here the rooms are around 240 euros, they're quite big, but I do not know anything about the social life. If you already know what you want exactly, you can also specify it in your application to the Housing Office.
Have a nice day!

Thank you very much Diana! It was really helpful! I haven't made any arrangements for the accomodation yet and I was trying to figure out with the help of a Groningen map where are those student houses situated...pretty nasty )

Do you have any ideea when is the Msc academic year finishing? I found a StudyGuide for the year 2007-2008 and from what I read in the timetable I understood that it is approximately at the beginning/middle of July (excepting the resits period). I haven't managed to find a timetable for the current year but I guess that the one for the previous year is applicable too.

and thanks again for your advice

You finish around the middle of July, the latest. I saw that this year they finish on the 2nd, but I cannot guarantee it will be the same next year It's cazy around here with school, 10-10,5 months. But do not worry, you made the right choice. About that map... one idea would be to look on google maps for the name of the street and then look at the distance to the Zernike complex, where you will study. The complex is in the north west of the city. Hope this helps! Sleep tight, it's late in Romania

You were right. Google map rulez!

Hello!

well i am pretty happy to find out that are a lot of romanian students here.I have been accepted to msc- finance and i hope we will meet asap.there's a small problem regarding the housing.i was accepted on 20th of july and i immediately registered for housing but got no answer yet.should i worry?are there enough rooms? .maybe we'll get in touch there.

have a nice day

Hi, Cristian. I've been accepted to Msc Finance too so we'll
probabily be colleagues if you're also aiming for risk and portf mngm

Let me tell you the steps that I followed in order to obtain
a room. From my experience and from what I know due to a friend of mine that
applied a week later than me, the Housing Office moves pretty quick J

1. Send the application form and receive a confirmation of your application (1 day)

2. Receive an e- mail with the details needed to pay the deposit and the tax ( 2 days)

3. After the payment,I waited 3 or 4 days to receive their confirmation for the money
arrival

4. In 4-5 days they sent me an offer which I was asked to accept or reject in 5
working days (I definitely accepted it ..I got lucky because they offered me
a room in Plutolaan which was my first option..my friend received a room in
Winschoterdiep ..)

5. After my approval for their offer they sent me another mail (3 days) with the detailsof registration and the details of the student manager to whom I am supposed to send a mail and let her know the date and time when I’ll arrive in Groningen in
order to receive the rental agreement and the key.

Hope that this helped. I don’t know which one
of these steps you reached, but I’m wishing you luck. And I think that the best
option is to contact them and see in what stage is your request : info@housingoffice.nl