Thursday, 19 June 2014

Lukas Eichmann (Germany)

Verbs Life 

Verbs life is messy. Verbs life is dirty. Verbs life is chaotic.
Imagine living together with 16 complete strangers in rather basic facilities, sharing 3 showers, 2 toilets and one kitchen with them – welcome to Verbs. When you approach the 60s style buildings, you’ll most likely be greeted by abandoned shopping carts and empty beer cans. Watch out, there’s a “rat plague” going on! Trying to cook something in the somehow always dirty kitchens is like a scavenger hunt for otherwise common kitchen tools. Spoons and forks especially have become a rarity, but plates and pots are also either dirty, broken – or stolen by other floors. Good luck having a nice and quiet dinner as there will most likely be an “Asian Invasion” or the arrival of the (very loud) “Spanish (speaking) armada” going on.

Verbs life is funny. Verbs life is always busy. Verbs life is adventurous.

Imagine living together with 16 strangers from different cultures that can teach you and show you about their background. Watch out if you enter the kitchen – there might be a group dinner or BBQ going on that you’ll be drafted into, getting to try amazing foreign home-made food. You might not learn any Dutch but you surely will pick up some Spanish, Czech or Chinese. There is always something going on and adventure awaits you behind every door (well, or a napping student).
I have now lived in Verbs for nearly a year and have strongly experienced both sides of this medal. I’m amazed by how quickly friendships can be formed and at how well all these different people (with occasional clashes of course) can get along. I might have not learned a lot academically during my stay in Tilburg but I for sure have learned a lot in life experience which I think more than enough makes up for the lack of “school knowledge”. I’m glad to move away from Verbs into my own apartment again but I’ll also miss the business and chaos that is Verbs. Because if one thing truly can be said about Verbs it’s that:

“Verbs is love”
Hear more about Lukas' exchange on his blog: http://lukaseichmann.blogspot.nl

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