What do you get when you gather about fifty alumni? The current and former residents of Huize Leopold soon found out. The house at Campuslaan 53 organised its first ex-housemates’ day in October.
BY Marieke Vroom PHOTOGRAPHY Frans Nikkels
Ding dong dang! The familiar tannoy sounds from the Dutch national railways rings through the corridors of the campus flat. “Are you coming into the living room?” Eelkje Kooistra (Mechanical Engineering master) speaks to the housemates still studying in their rooms via the intercom. It is a Monday evening during exam week. Those eating at home today are having kale mash. Completely home-made, because the residents of Huize Leopold would rather not uses packets and sachets. “This announcement system is very useful, but it does create a kind of Pavlov effect” says Johanneke ten Broeke (Technical Medicine bachelor). “Now every time I hear a public address at the train station, it makes me feel hungry.”
Nickname
The first students moved into the house in 1966, when it was still just called Campuslaan 53. Later it became Diaspora, as the housemates came from every corner of the country. The current name originates from a red tomcat. He was actually called The Brain, but was given the nickname Leopold. The cat kept the fourteen residents company, together with his counterpart Pinky. The cats were named after a cartoon about two laboratory mice who wanted to conquer the world. The Brain has been nowhere to be seen for a while now, and cat Pinky is not a regular guest anymore, says Karina Boekhoudt (Computer Science premaster). “She’s still around somewhere, but she’s probably found a house where she gets even more food.”
The human ex-residents do return to the house willingly. The current group tracked down as many alumni as possible for the ex-housemates’ day. On the 27 October, the common room was full of residents from different generations: from new graduates to pensioners. “At first we thought: there are lots of old people, should we be extra formal to them?” says Laura Oosterom (Industrial Design master). “But they were horrified when we were.”
Close-knit club
Frans Carelsen, chemical engineering alumnus, lived at Campuslaan 53 from 1970 to 1975. He has always kept in touch regularly with his housemates from back then. “We attended each other’s graduations, weddings and visited when new babies were born. Our wives also get along great. We still have a little getaway every year, in the Netherlands or abroad. It was great to be at the ex- housemates’ day, to meet residents from before and after us.” The alumni were given a tour of their old house, with the name not the only things that changed over the years. In 2001, all residents had to be reaccommodated due to a renovation. The kitchen was extended, the house was given a balcony and an extra room was added on. Frans discovered that his room no longer exists. “It’s a laundry room now,” he says, laughing. The showers were also renovated. “In my time, only men lived here and showering was done in one open space. Women now also live in the house and the showers have been screened off.”
Klootschieten
After the tour there was time for a game of klootschieten, a local ball-throwing game. In mixed teams and with a cart full of beer, the current and former housemates completed a course across the campus where the aim was to get the ‘kloot’ (a wooden ball weighted with lead) across the finish line in as few throws as possible.
Klootschieten was discovered a few years ago by a few housemates on a weekend away and is now the ultimate house sport. Karina: “There wasn’t a club for students yet. We thought that was strange; it’s a local sport. That’s why we founded a club ourselves, with Leopold as the clubhouse.” And it all got a bit out of hand, she says. The Drienerlose Klootschietvereniging ‘de Zeuven Reeën’ (pronounced as: zeu’m reejn) now has about eighty members.
A successful day
Both the new and older generations of housemates agreed it was a successful day. “We had a great time and the ex-housemates were really super enthusiastic. The group that goes on holiday every year even invited us to come visit sometimes,” says Johanneke. “This group is really well-suited,” says Frans. “They organised nice activities and they cooked us a great meal.” The alumnus hadn’t expected the latter from the student house. “We mainly cooked as cheaply as possible,” he says, and that was sometimes detrimental to the flavours. It’s why he had already decided, together with a few other ex-residents, that they would go to a restaurant if the food wasn’t up to scratch. “But that wasn’t necessary, it was very good!”
This article appeared in the UT Alumni Magazine Winter 2018/2019 Edition.
