Accommodation in Groningen 2.0
You chose for a study programme in Groningen and you already have the permission for your programme?! If you can answer those questions with a ’yes’, you should start thinking about your new home in Groningen.
Finding an appropriate accommodation is not easy, especially in Groningen. Looking for accommodation in the peak season - August and September – can be a nightmare. We therefore advice all international students to try to arrange accommodation AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
There are two ways of living in Groningen:
Tips & Tricks: How to find cheap furniture
At some point everyone has to face the challenge called find the perfect accommodation in Groningen but even if you manage to do that there is the additional trial to buy some furniture because most of the rooms in Groningen are not furnished and it is up to you how comfortable and pretty your home is going to be. Even when you are international student, living in some of Housing office’s student houses keep in mind that they are providing only the basic furniture like a bed and a table and in most cases students prefer to add some personal touch to this almost empty picture, so let me give you some tips and tricks how to deal with the matter.
The first solution and most expensive one is going to the good old IKEA, which is situated at Sontweg 9, a little bit far from all major sights of the city but can be reached with busses 9, 22, 73 and 76. The IKEA in Groningen is one of the biggest in the Netherlands and offers a great variety of products, in other words the possibility not to find what you are looking for is very little, the price is a different question.
The opening hours are:
Monday –Frida: 10am–9pm
Saturday: 9am–8pm
On Sunday it is closed.
Even if you don’t have what to buy there, still it is interesting to just visit since it can definitely you’re your boredom at least for one full day.
Moving on our next and cheaper option is buying second hand furniture. I will recommend Mamamini, which is a shop for secondhand stuff; you can find everything from junk and clothes to reasonable furniture. Keep in mind checking if some kind of bugs hasn’t decide to claim your new sofa for theirs. In Groningen there are three Mamamini stores for you to choose. Be sure that all of them have completely different furniture compare to the previous, so if you don’t find something that you like in the first who knows maybe you will be lucky in the second. Here is a map to check the locations or you can just Google it for yourself.
Last but not least, is to buy your furniture from other students; normally this is the cheapest solution.
First you can have a look at the different student houses, typically there are sell-advertisements on the ground floor but I don’t really believe that anyone will really start going from house to house just search for someone’s old chair, so let’s go to the more convenient option.
You can join the Facebook group “For sale in Groningen”, where people offer you their old stuff on quite reasonable prices. The variety is not limited to furniture only but you can buy a bike or something else. The group is all in English and all the items offered are shown on photos for you to know what exactly you are buying. In addition, you can negotiate the price if the seller is willing to do so.
With this my little lecture is over, I wish you good luck in decorating your perfect room!
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Checklist for the newcomers
If you plan to study in Netherlands be sure you checked everything before your arrival.
Nuffic website provides a great checklist for this.
Here is the link: http://www.nuffic.nl/international-students/how-to-prepare/checklist
Good luck!
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Melkweg/Kraneweg
The Melkweg/Kraneweg student house is conveniently situated at just a few minutes walking distance from the city centre and close to a nice park. It takes no more than 15 minutes cycling to get to Zernike. It is a relatively small student house, providing accommodation to 46 international students. In the video below you can see what some of the residents of Melkweg/Kraneweg had to say about their experience there.
Read MoreBisschop Nierman Centrum (Plutolaan)
Albertine Agnesplein
Albertine Agnesplein is a relatively small and cosy student house with a brilliant location halfway between Zernike and the city centre and just a few minutes walking from a nice park. It provides accommodation to 50 students in 24 shared rooms and 2 single rooms. So if you are willing to share a room with another fellow student, this is an affordable and convenient choice. Have a look at what some international students living there had to say about their experience:
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