In Leiden, I live in the Klikspaanweg, which is both the name of my complex of flats and the street that runs through the complex. The Klik is about twenty minutes walking, or seven by bike, from my school. It’s more suburban than the Pelikanhoff (Peli), which is the other flat complex my school uses. The Klik is nice because we have free washing machines (but I have to line dry my clothes). Other than that, it’s more of a pain than the Peli. As far as I can tell, it’s much tamer than the Peli. Some flats around me are active, but my flat is dead.
In my building, the flats are by floor. On each floor, there is a common kitchen/lounge in the middle back of the floor. In the middle there are also two toilets, each in their own closet, and a shower room that also houses the washing machine. Basically, the floor/flat is split in half by the rooms that run down the middle (kitchen & bathroom stuff). Each side of the flat has their own doors into each different common room. Then, each side has a hallway with four rooms that come of it. Eight girls (including me) live on my floor. On my side of the flat, all the girls are from the Dutch Antilles. Two of them are students and one is a doctor (the student housing flats have to allow former students to stay there in order to retain their government grants, so people stay to save up money and take advantage of cheap rent. The doctor has been a doctor for several years, and she’s planning on moving out in a year or two after she buys a house). I never really see my flatmates, so I try to go hang out with other people from my program so I can meet their flatmates.