The Milk House, Huize Barbarossa, the Window House, the Vatican and Villa Elephant. Some student houses have a nickname. What’s the origin?

#1 Het Melkhuis

On the Groesbeekseweg you can find Het Melkhuis (The Milk House), the house of fraternity The Gong. Inhabitants Dirk, Max and Sjoerd explain the origin of the name: ‘It refers to a nearly hundred-year-old tradition. In 1927, fraternity The Gong was established by members of De Heemvaart, which in turn arose out of the temperance movement that was popular in the early 20th century and whose adherents refrained from drinking alcohol for religious reasons. The fraternity founders were opposed to alcohol consumption among students. Later on, people joined the fraternity who did drink alcohol, so at parties, a glass of milk was drunk as a statement. In the 1980s, our fraternity acquired this house, and named it after this movement.’

‘No one drank milk at the fraternity night’

The milk-drinking tradition has lost much of its power these days, the students say. Sjoerd: “I bought milk for the fraternity night last year, but no one drank it.’

The name doesn’t appear on the facade. But the house slogan, Vae Soli, meaning ‘Woe to the lonely’, is written on the staircase. This slogan is intended to remind the inhabitants that people can sometimes feel lonely and that in a society, we have to care for one another. ‘Het Melkhuis is a place for living. Our house is a bit of a mess, but the atmosphere is very lively.’

#2 Huize Barbarossa

The name ‘Huize Barbarossa’ comes from the hostel that was located on the St. Anthoniusplaats until 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the building was transformed into a student house. Fourteen students are incredibly happy to be living in this old part of Nijmegen. On the door a white sign proclaims ‘Barbarossa’ in red letters. Five students, Ruben, Brook, Onno, Jesper and Samantha talk about their house.

‘Our thing is ‘bakkies trekken’, i.e. doing shots. We’re the most fun and notorious student house in Nijmegen, and we’re famous for our parties. There’s nearly always an afterparty at our place. We would kind of like to change the name of the house, but not too much. We had some brainstorming sessions, but we didn’t get further than Barbaramkoers (‘Barba-collision course’) and Barbaosso.’

Ruben jokes that they do a lot of sports together, but the others disagree. Drinking and partying is more the thing at this house. And they sometimes organise a games night. ‘Things usually get pretty heated when we play Ludo.’

#3 Het Vensterhuis

Het Vensterhuis (The Window House), on the corner of the Wilhelminasingel and the Sloetstraat, is the fraternity house of the Tempeliers. It has been home to students since 1957 and houses eleven members and prospective members. The house is named after the prominent glass window on the corner.

Jorg, a prospective member, is enthusiastic about his house. ‘Social cohesion is strong. We get up together in the morning, we go together to the University, and at night we sit around the same dinner table.’

Since 1968, the Tempeliers have also organised the annual hockey tournament Coupe des Tempeliers, which has grown into a full-blown festival over the years. It’s a national event bringing together fraternities from all over the country.

#4 Het Vaticaan

Since 2015, the Emmanuel Community, a charismatic movement within the Catholic Church, has rented this house on the Van den Havestraat to students. A group of earlier inhabitants christened the house ‘Het Vaticaan’ (The Vatican). Why? The current inhabitants, Robert, Samuel and Jakob, have no idea. But the fact that all the house inhabitants are religious probably played a role. ‘When we eat together in the evening, we always pray before the meal,’ explains Jakob.

Het Vaticaan could certainly do with better marketing. The name doesn’t appear anywhere on the outside of the house, and the only reference to the world’s smallest independent state is a sign on the kitchen wall. ‘Maybe we should have a sign or a flag outside with a reference to the Vatican,’ says Jakob.

‘Our house may not be as prestigious as the real Vatican, but it’s at least as much fun’

So what do people do at Het Vaticaan, apart from making the occasional sign of the cross? They eat, apparently. Pasta à la Michael, named after one of the inhabitants, is a classic. ‘We used to joke that the portions Michael made were too small, so one day, he cooked two-and-a-half kilos of pasta.’

In addition to praying and eating, inhabitants of Het Vaticaan enjoy playing video games. ‘We sometimes organise a FIFA tournament,’ says Jakob. ‘We play for a beer trophy that we then display on top of the cupboard. Our house may not be as prestigious as the real Vatican, but it’s at least as much fun.’

#5 Villa Olifant

Villa Olifant (Villa Elephant) is the home base of the Olifant fraternity on the Straalmanstraat. Emiel is one of the nine students who live there. Their house dog is called Lulleaux. ‘The name ‘Olifant’ (elephant) comes from the horn of Knight Roland,’ explains Emiel.

‘The poem tells the story of how Roland warned Charlemagne, who was retreating from a Spanish battlefield, that his rear guard was under attack by blowing on his elephant horn. This cost Roland his life, because he blew so hard on his horn that his eardrums burst and his lungs were destroyed.’

‘There are small elephant figurines spread all over the house’

Green letters on the window proclaim ‘Villa Olifant since 1965’, the year when the house was taken into use as a fraternity house. Above the door, you can see the horn of Roland. ‘There are small elephant figurines spread all over the house. And some walls sport images of elephants.’

What does the house stand for? ‘Conviviality is all important, and ‘less talking, more drinking’,’ says Emiel.’We do a lot of things together, and we organise a weekly fraternity night.’ During the ‘fleurtijd’, the period when the fraternity is recruiting new members, they always rent a big inflatable elephant.