International Houses Contest Part III: Van Houtenlaan!!

 
Houston, we have a problem…what do we do, now that we have THREE houses in the race that were all equally amazing! When there are already two really strong competitors, in this case Martinihouse and Albertine Agnusplein, one would almost wish for the next one to be…well, not quite as good, just to make the decision a little easier!

But no, the people at Van Houtenlaan have obviously read our previous reports, since in the first one we were going on about the ping-pong table at Martinihouse and in the second one about the amazing buffet at Albertine Agnusplein, so what do they do….BANG, the biggest buffet we’ve EVER seen, at least in a student house (I know that’s not saying much, but in this case it is!) AND…table soccer!!! Needless to say that we were impressed!
 
What we were almost more impressed by though was the ENORMOUS common room in Van Houtenlaan! We could easily have had dinner with all the Erasmus students of this and last semester in this former hospital. Admittedly the tiny TV looks a bit out of place, but nothing that about 15 comfy couches can’t make up for! It made me wonder why Winschoterdiep has a reputation for being the party house, because Van Houtenlaan would definitely be a perfect location! ;)
 
And the dinner, oh dear I can go on for hours about this dinner, which is not surprising when you imagine what a variety of food you get when every person brings a special dish from their own country. I still have no idea what exactly I ate (what is Vietnamese salad, Polish soup, Kenyan pancakes  or, the weirdest of all, an “Iranian pizza” :P), but to be honest I don’t think any of us could care less, because boy..it was GOOOOD! And I just HAVE to give the Germans a big thumbs-up for the dessert menu....YUM!!!!
 
But apart from a variety of food, the immense variety of people (I think Van Houtenlaan is the 1st house we’ve been so far where we’ve had dinner with people from every continent…) was obviously the best part of the evening. Even better is how this variety of people can all of a sudden have one common interest when table soccer is involved…I can see why the Housing Office puts all these ping-pong/soccer tables in the common rooms, it is the best way to bond and make friends…or enemies! ;)
 
Anyway, I think I’ve made my point by now: we had a bloody great time, and would like to thank everyone at Van Houtenlaan once again for the great dinner and for letting us have a look into your Erasmus life! Hope to see you again soon!
 
P.s. I was having such a good time that I completely forgot about my camera, so that’s why there are so few pictures! I apologize! But here's the link anyway:
 
http://s784.photobucket.com/albums/yy127/ErasmusMagazine/IHC%20Van%20Houtenlaan/