Spacebox millionaire

Although much maligned by many international students, there is one student from India who just loves living in the cozy little spacebox she calls home.

Home sweet spacebox. (Photo: no credit)

Behind the EEMCS Faculty lie a number of colored boxes, stacked like a giant child’s play blocks. These objects can be deceptive at first sight, much like Superman. Is it a Microwave? No. Is it a Laundromat? No. It’s the Spacebox!
Admittedly, these modest little boxes have a terrible reputation at TU Delft, but what’s truly excellent about these tin cans is that you wake up in the morning, roll over and practically find yourself in class. Some seriously excellent location, those boxes.
A spacebox moreover is a challenge to the imagination and creative skill of any designer – in a fantastic way. Measuring just 14 square meters and with limited furniture, you’d think there’s only so much you can do. But the white walls offer infinite scope for color, and the large, wall-sized windows allow every rare, warm ray of sunshine in. The rooms inspire cozy, ‘gezellig’ themes and the absolute tininess of the spacebox makes it super cheap to fix up and maintain.
The idea of having to live in a spacebox for a year yields inspired storage and space-maximizing solutions - a lot like what Ikea has capitalized on. Little touches, like a rug here, a cushion there, go a long way. And a lazy Sunday of creative painting, inspired by sun-drenched memories of home, results in beautiful art for the walls. A spacebox can definitely be an inspiring place to live!
Part of the bad reputation of the spaceboxes is no doubt owing to the crazy things that happen there week after week, some of which are truly mind-boggling. You wake up in the morning only to find that absolutely all the bikes parked outside the boxes have had their tires stabbed flat - yes, very friendly and neighborly that. Or you hear knocks on your door in the middle of the night, followed by crazed, liquor-induced laughter from outside, as you reach out for a stick or a bat. Will-hardening life lessons I’ve learnt living in those boxes. 
But anyone who has ever lived in a spacebox is guaranteed to be a ‘Chopstick Warrior’. Many of the spaceboxes house the warm, polite and hospitable members of the TU’s Chinese student community, and who could refuse their regular dinner invitations to share some delectable homemade Dim Sum and Wantons? And these quiet, super-chefs sure have a quirky sense of humor: as soon as they hand you a pair of chopsticks for your slippery dim sums, out flash their cameras to record your furious battle with a white dumpling that’s just begging to be murdered to bits, all for the amusement of their folks back home via Facebook. Definitely something your future employers will enjoy when they Google you.
So living in the spaceboxes is definitely one of the crazy things to do while you’re still a student: it’s right up there with skydiving, Russian roulette and voting for George Bush.

Aarabi Kumar, from Chennai, India, is an MSc student studying electrical engineering.