Over the past four years, I have lived together with several different people, each with their own personality. Going to uni and living ‘alone’ for me never really meant living ‘alone’ - it meant learning how to deal with people who aren’t related to me. From being woken up at 4 am because a housemate clumsily dropped a pan in the middle of the night to coming home to a sauna because a housemate can’t stand the cold, I’ve experienced a lot. Below I’ve described the 8 housemates you’ll have at some point at uni. Have you lived with any of these? 

1. The clean freak 

Every house has a clean freak. They’ll complain if there is only a little bit of a mess, passive-aggressively force you to clean it, and after your done clean it themselves again with their obscenely over the top cleaning products. Not to forget the fact they probably have a little bit of OCD - and will have a mini-breakdown every time you misplace their favorite pan in the cupboard.

2. The early bird 

Every household has its early bird, who starts their day at the crack of dawn. They usually like to cause a lot of commotion, and are always surprised when you ask them to keep it down because you’re still trying to sleep. They probably ran a 10K and finished an essay before you’ve hit snooze. My old housemate used to wake up at 5:30 every morning to go to work out, which was crazy, but also nice for me because she’d make fresh coffee before I even woke up.

3. The elephant

There’s not an elephant in the room, but they're probably is one in your house. This is the housemate that comes home in the middle of the night, tries being quiet but ends up waking everyone up because of their heavy footsteps or uncontrollable clumsiness. You can hear the elephant from the other side of the house, mainly from the sound of their footsteps. The good thing about this is that you know exactly when they get home, which gives a pretty homey feeling. 

 4. The party animal 

While your house might like to party every so often, no one likes to party more than the party animal in your house. They’ve been begging to throw a house party for months, and won’t take no for an answer. They also most likely go out every night and always try to get everyone to join. In the end, you’ll probably find them asleep at the kitchen table with their head in their kebab. While waking up with the smell of kebab filling the kitchen might be kind of gross, the party animal is usually the reason for some of your best party nights.

5. The one that is always cold

The winter months mean cold student houses due to bad isolation. The result is that you’ll see your energy bill shoot upwards because of that one housemate who always insists on having the heat on max, transforming your house into a sauna. If you want a sauna in your house, just move to Finland. My electricity bill does not enjoy the amateur attempt at household saunas in Groningen. 

6. The overachiever

The overachiever is the student who is actually doing way more than they can handle, but can’t admit to it. Between balancing their studies, committee, part-time board, 3 different social groups and a networking event every night, you rarely see this housemate at home for more than 5 minutes. They’re too busy to do their household tasks, and since they’re always on the go, the only food-like substance you’ll find on their shelf is anything caffeinated. Writing this, I now realize that this is me. 

7. The food thief

We’ve all experienced it: you’ve been looking forward to the leftovers of the cheesecake you so finely baked yesterday, but once you get home - it’s gone. When you confront your housemates, it’s always the same person who is guilty (it’s most likely the overachiever, who didn’t have any food at home and needed a quick bite between board meetings). I was a food thief at one point in my first year - I was trying to only eat healthy food but eventually snuck into my housemate's room and ate all of his cookies. It was not received well. Learn from my mistakes - don’t be a food thief, buy your own snacks. 

8. The extra housemate 

Each house has an extra housemate, a boyfriend or girlfriend who practically lives with their significant other. They have their own key, have their own food in the fridge and walk around as they live there. They won’t at all feel obligated to help keep the place clean or buy supplies like toilet paper or trash bags, because “they don’t live there”. A solution: send a Tikkie to that extra housemate next time you buy toilet paper.

At the end of the day, whether you are living with an overachiever, a clean freak, a party animal or early bird: your house is like your family, and you accept them for who they are. 

What kind of housemates do you live with? Let us know in the comments below, and leave any suggestions for housemate stereotypes we might have missed!