Huis rules

The Black Nuns' Convent is a historical building. For over five hundred years people have lived their lives here devoted to God and the service of others. The present residents are invited to respect this history, to enjoy and maintain the facility's peaceful serenity and beautiful style. Living and studying here is a privilege, but should also be a pleasure.

In general you are asked to avoid any damage or destruction, and to make sure that your guests observe the same directives mentioned below. Obviously all damage will have to be paid for either individually or collectively.

In a more positive vein, everyone is responsible for keeping the house clean and presentable at all times, both inside and outside (no graffiti or stickers anywhere).

Loyola International Nachbahr Huis is situated in one wing of the Convent. Please be aware that the building is also being used by other people. More specifically there are offices located on the ground floor along Zwartzustersstraat and these offices’ windows face our garden behind the bushes. Therefore please stay in front of the bushes when you use the garden. Behind the bushes is not our territory. The part of the building across the garden is Zwartzustersresidentie, another student residence. Car parking under the gate or in the courtyard is strictly forbidden!

The following rules are designed to help the residents of this house live together happily. The most important thing is to be respectful of your neighbors. Not everyone in the house shares the same lifestyle, and these rules are to mediate the inevitable differences that will arise in a house this size.

1. Noise

The house is noisy and the walls are thin; please be considerate of people who want to study or sleep (especially late at night). Do not hold loud conversations in the halls or on the stairs and keep your door and the door of your kitchen closed at all times. Also please remember that the courtyard acts like an echo chamber and many students will be trying to study in their rooms. Also people are working in the offices behind the bushes. So do your best to keep noise in the courtyard to a minimum, and in particular do not play music there.

During QUIET HOURS each resident is responsible for making sure that his or her noise is not at a level to disturb anyone else who may be studying or sleeping. Quiet hours vary somewhat according to the academic schedule and exam period. Thus:

• quiet hours from 11.00 p.m. to 8.00 a.m.:
  • Sunday July 3, 2011 till Friday December 23, 2011
  • Sunday February 5, 2012 till Friday May 25, 2012:
• quiet hours are in effect ALL THE TIME because of semester exams and the fact that EVERYBODY needs to study:
  • Saturday December 24, 2011 till Saturday February 4, 2012
  •  Saturday May 26, 2012 till Saturday June 30, 2012

Noise has been an occasional problem in the past, and the house rules concerning noise will be enforced strictly.

2. Smoking

Loyola International Nachbahr Huis is a non-smoking residence, therefore smoking is forbidden in ALL parts of the Huis.

3. Rooms

Never use nails, tape, stickers or paint on the walls of your room (or anywhere else in the building). Only thumbtacks are allowed.

The furniture must not be moved outside the room. Never put the mattresses directly on the floor.

Cooking (cook stoves, camping stoves, ovens, etc.) is not allowed in the rooms.

You are responsible for cleaning your own room. The necessary equipment is available in the bathroom of your unit and a vacuum cleaner can be obtained from the secretariat. Please put everything back in place after use.

For reasons of security students living on the ground floor should never leave their windows open when they leave; anyone can jump in from the street or the yard, and there have been thefts in the past.

Please do NOT climb out of the windows on the first and second floor: serious accidents have happened this way!

Also do not put anything in the gutter on the top floor, nor on the outside window sills on the first floor.

4. Keys

You get 5 keys:

• one for the gate,
• one for the entrance doors,
• one for your room,
• one for your cabinet in the kitchen,
• and one for your mailbox.

You are not allowed to make extra keys yourself. If you lose a key, inform the secretariat immediately. Upon payment you then receive a new key. A gate key or a house key costs € 10; any other key costs € 7.

5. Huis governance

The Huis consists of 6 units (corresponding to the kitchens). At the beginning of the academic year each unit elects a Unit President. At the beginning of the second semester there will be the opportunity to select a new unit president in order to give other unit members a chance to take up this responsibility. In general it is the task of the unit president to stimulate community life in his/her unit and ensure that all residents participate as much as possible. He/she is responsible for making sure that a decent environment is maintained in which it is pleasant to live and in which people can study and sleep. In compensation once a month the director will host the unit presidents to a nice meal at a local restaurant.

More specifically:

• The president should call regular meetings of the whole unit to discuss problems that may have come up in the unit and to plan unit events like common meals, outings, and parties. To facilitate such facilities each unit president will have 5 euros per student per semester at their disposal. Receipts must be presented in order to receive the money and should not include reimbursement for alcohol.
• The president is responsible for the distribution of the various tasks and duties needed to maintain a civilized environment in the unit, among them: kitchen cleaning, garbage removal, purchasing supplies and the like.
• He/she should see to it that the rules and regulations of the house are observed in his/her unit, especially those in regard to silence during quiet hours, the policy on posters, the overnight guest policy, etc.
• The president must be familiar with security and safety regulations, especially those in regard to fire.
• He/she should report any defects or damages so that repairs can be made as soon as possible.
• The president can be dismissed and replaced by the Director, especially when the president is found not to observe the rules and regulations of the house or does not fulfill his/her task satisfactorily.

6. Kitchens

• As a rule no one should use the kitchen of another unit for cooking and/or eating. Only exceptionally can this be permitted.
• After 11.00 p.m. the kitchens are to be used only for cooking and/or eating and not for recreational purposes.
• The kitchens are not to be used for studying, there is a large study room on the ground floor.
• Refrigerators are to be shared and cleaned at least once a month.
• Every student will have a personal cabinet that can be locked.
• Clean the tables after use and hang the towels so they get a chance to dry.
• Please wash, dry and put away kitchenware, so the counter and tables are always usable for the next person. This is one of the most serious causes of conflict in the house, so your cooperation is critical.
• Don't remove kitchenware or furniture from the kitchens. By the end of the year a kitchen inventory will be made and all the kitchenware that has disappeared will have to be reimbursed by the unit members collectively.

It is everyone's responsibility that the kitchen be clean and tidy. Arrangements are to be made in your unit as to cleaning the kitchen and removing the garbage and recyclables. Everyone has to do his/her share of the work. A list of who are responsible (2 students per week in a rotating system) should be made and posted in the kitchen. The students who are responsible any given week have to bring the full garbage bags and recycle bins to the recycle shed daily if needed and clean the kitchens thoroughly on Thursday. The green bags (organic trash) have to be taken out on Mondays and Thursdays, even if they are not full. This has to do with the smell they start to spread after 3 days!

Thorough cleaning consists of taking out all the garbage (also paper and glass), doing all the dishes, washing all tables and countertops, sink, stove, oven, top of refrigerators and finally sweeping and scrubbing the floor. On Thursday the director will inspect the kitchens to make sure they have been cleaned. On Mondays the kitchens are cleaned again by the professional cleaning team. They can only do so if the countertops, sink, stove and tables are empty and the garbage is taken out. This has to be done in the morning before 9 a.m. If the kitchen is not picked up, there will be no cleaning by the cleaning team!

Important reminders:

• Do not dump dirty cleaning water in the sink, nor in the showers or utility sink in the bathrooms. Use only the toilets for dumping dirty water or liquid kitchen left-overs.
• Do not put anything on top of the ovens: it might damage the oven or start a fire.
• The microwave ovens have to be used in the proper way: never turn them on when they are empty and never put metal items in them.
• The use of deep frying pans (electrical or other) is prohibited for safety reasons (fire hazard, burns) anywhere in the residence.
• The stovetops work with a timer (white knob against the wall: push once to work the stove for half an hour). ALWAYS TURN OFF the burners and oven when you are done with cooking and avoid putting electrical cords (coffee machine, water boiler) on the stove or near the stove.

When a kitchen is constantly in poor shape (i.e. always full of dirty pots, pans and dishes, always trashed, never cleaned, etc…) it will temporarily be locked until better arrangements can be made. During the Christmas and the summer break a number of kitchens will be locked for practical reasons. At least one kitchen will be at the disposal of those students who stay in the Huis.

7. Garbage

A. Garbage bags 

Every unit (kitchen) has to buy 3 kinds of garbage bags. All these bags are available in supermarkets or at the secretariat. The bags are of different prices and are designed to encourage maximum recycling, which is good for the economy and the environment.

• brown trash bags of the city of Leuven: are only to be used for non-recyclable trash; they cost €2 apiece. Regular trash in brown bags is collected on Tuesday mornings.

  • NOT ALLOWED IN BROWN BAG: paper and cardboard, glass, dangerous garbage, bricks.

   

• blue trash bags (PMD): are to be used for recyclable packages, i.e. cartons, cans, plastic bottles (of beverages and toiletries). They cost €0.25 apiece. Blue (PMD) bags are collected every other week on Wednesday morning.

  • PMD IS: plastic bottles (of beverages, toiletries, dish soap, etc.), cans, aluminum trays, metal caps, cartons.
  • PMD IS NOT: cardboard packages, plastic bags or foil, aluminum foil, yogurt, margarine or dessert packages.

   

• green trash bags (GFT): are to be used for organic trash, i.e. fruit, vegetables, flowers, etc.... They cost €0.40 apiece for a small one. The use of the smaller ones is recommended because of the smell. The green bags are to be dumped in the 2 black bins in the recycle shed. Green (GFT) bags are collected on Friday mornings.

  • GFT IS: (peels of) fruit and vegetables, food left-overs (such as meat, bread, pasta, etc.), egg and nut shells, flowers, coffee grounds (with bag), tea bags, grass, leaves.
  • GFT IS NOT: bones, mussel shells, shellfish, wood, diapers, feathers, charcoal, vacuum cleaner bags.

   

When a garbage bag is full, kindly close it and take it to the garbage shed in the garden. Do not wait for the next person to do it.

B. Plastic boxes 

For recycling purposes there are also large plastic boxes in the kitchens: please sort the recyclables the following way:

• paper and cardboard in the red box; this box has to be emptied in the big gray container on wheels labeled 'PAPER/CARDBOARD' in the garbage shed. It is collected separately on the first, third, and fifth Wednesday morning of the month (along with PMD).
  • PAPER/CARDBOARD IS: newspapers, magazines, stationary, computer paper, course notes, books, cardboard packages (of cereals, pasta, cookies, etc.)
  • PAPER/CARDBOARD IS NOT: used tissues, used paper towels, packages of milk, juice, yogurt, etc.:
• glass in the green bins: please rinse and sort green, brown and white glass in separate bins; when the bins in the kitchen are full, please empty them in the big bins in the garbage shed: the director takes them to the recycling center every other week. ATTENTION: broken glass does not belong here, but has to be wrapped in newspapers and dumped in the brown bag!
• KGA (small dangerous garbage): put in the green box in your kitchen. Every 2 months this is taken to the recycling center.
  • SMALL DANGEROUS GARBAGE IS: pens, detergents, soap, make-up, spray bottles, batteries, paint, oil (also frying oil or fat).

C. Garbage from your room 

Sort the garbage from your room in your kitchen: NEVER put small bags with trash in the shed! All trash has to be in one of the three bags mentioned above, except for glass, paper and dangerous trash.

D. The garbage shed.

PLEASE PUT THE BAGS IN THE DESIGNATED AREAS: There are designated spots to put the brown bags and the blue bags.

• The green bags are to be dumped in the 2 black bins on wheels.
• The large bins for the glass also have a designated place, don’ t move them.
• The wheeled gray bin is ONLY FOR PAPER AND CARDBOARD: don’t throw any other trash in it!!

NOT ALLOWED IN THE SHED:

• big gray trash bags and other non-official bags
• other bags with trash (supermarket bags, etc..)
• other big trash: ask permission at the office first!!! (e.g. bike parts, chairs, tables, etc.)

TIPS:

• By recycling you save money, because for that kind of garbage (i.e. blue and green bags, paper, glass) you pay (almost) nothing and it is good for the environment.
• Buy drinks in refundable bottles, that way you avoid trash.

8. Bathrooms

Please turn the lights on when using the showers because the same switch turns on the ventilation system. Don't forget to turn the light off when leaving. Also please close the shower curtains after use, to avoid mold. There is cleaning equipment in the bathrooms to be used by anyone in the unit; please return it to the bathroom when you are finished. During the Christmas and the summer break a number of bathrooms will be locked for practical reasons. Enough bathrooms will be at the disposal of those students who stay in the Huis.

9. Public rooms

Please do not leave the windows open when you leave the public rooms, even if you are only gone for a short period of time. The public areas include kitchens, commons room, bathrooms, the study and the computer room. The use of the public rooms is restricted to residents of Loyola International Nachbahr Huis.

10. Hallways

Each door in the hallways is equipped with a magnet to help keep it open. In order to release the door, please push the red button; DO NOT PULL the door. Also DO NOT PROP the doors open, these are fire doors and should be closed in case of fire.

The hallways are not sports fields: do not play soccer, baseball, badminton or other sports here: the sports center is not that far from the house!

The hallways are not storage places either: for safety the hallways always have to be clear, do not leave or store personal stuff in the hallways, it will be removed.

11. Commons room

This room will also be used for classes. Therefore, please keep it tidy. Please do not eat meals here. Turn off the light when you are the last one to leave. If cleanliness in the commons (dirty plates, dishes, beer bottles, etc.) becomes a problem, it will be necessary to temporarily close the area! If you want to use this room for a party or a gathering, please fill out the appropriate form at the office. If you decide at the last minute to organize a party, you have to send an E-mail to the director or associate director with all the details. Parties with/for non-residents are not allowed.

12. Bike parking

Please place bikes and motorcycles in the bike racks only, neither against the facade nor in the passage and certainly not in the rooms or hallways. Bikes and motorcycles not properly parked will be confiscated. After one week they will be returned. During Christmas, Easter and summer break you can put your bike in the basement. Please ask Christel first.

13. Yard

Please clean up and do not leave furniture outside overnight. Please use the receptacle provided for cigarette butts and take trash and recyclables back to your kitchen for disposal.

14. Computer room

Use of the computers and printers is restricted to residents of the Huis only. If you are working on a paper, presentation, etc. with students who don’t live here, you should NOT let them work in the computer room alone. Students who don’t live here always have to be accompanied by a resident when using the computers. Do not leave any personal items (books, papers etc.). Food and drinks are not allowed in this room under any circumstances. Don’t throw anything through the windows, it will land in our neighbors’ backyard!

15. Music

Please keep the doors closed, so that no one outside the room has to listen to your music. Never play loud music with open windows. It's generally best to use earphones when possible so as not to disturb your neighbors. In case of repeated complaints, your equipment will be removed for a week; then for a whole semester.

16. Common equipment and supplies 

Please do not take anything meant for COMMON USE from the kitchens, bathrooms or public rooms, e.g. lamps, paper towels, toilet paper, computer paper, etc.

17. Pets

Pets in the house or garden are forbidden.

18. Overnight guests policy

An overnight guest is defined as a guest who sleeps in the house, regardless of the time of day or night. No overnight guests are allowed during study and exam periods, i.e. between Saturday December 24, 2011 and Saturday February 4, 2012 and between Saturday May 26, 2012 and Saturday June 30, 2012. During the summer, no overnight guests are allowed between July 1 and August 15, 2012.

For the rest of the year overnight guests will be allowed under the following conditions:

• Guests must register with the secretariat. Reservations should be made as far in advance as possible. Overnight guests must provide identification (passport and/or ID card) upon request.
• A maximum of 2 guests per room is allowed on any given night and every resident is entitled to 15 “guest nights” per semester.
• A maximum of four guests is allowed on any given night in any one of the units. Guests are welcome on a first-come, first-reserved basis. In multiple rooms, the consent of the roommate(s) must be both sought and given.
• There is no charge for guests who stay in the House for three days or less. After three days, the charge is €5 per day. Ordinarily, residents should not have guests stay in the House for more than five days.
• The secretariat has a limited number of mattresses that are available for registered guests to use. These are available on a first-come, first-reserved basis.
• The host is responsible for the behavior of his/her guests, as well as for any damage done to the House or to property.
• Guests may not sleep in any of the common rooms.
• All special cases or requests should be discussed with the Director.

Violations of the overnight guests’ policy will result in a fine of €40 per night per guest.

19. Fire emergency

Please read the fire emergency instructions and check out the emergency exits. It's forbidden to use any of the four emergency exits, unless there's real danger. Don't misuse the fire alarm or fire extinguishers in the corridors. The University's security service and the fire brigade supervise this strictly. You understand that no abuse can be tolerated for the sake of your own security and that of all other residents. Transgression of this rule will result in a fine of €40. At the beginning of the academic year fire captains will be assigned.

20. Posting announcements

It is not allowed to post ANNOUNCEMENTS or hang posters, etc. in the building without the director's or associate director's permission.

21. Gate and entrance doors

For safety reasons the big gate has to be closed between 10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m. When leaving or entering the building between 10.30 p.m. and 7 a.m. please close the gate behind you. Also NEVER prop any entrance door open by means of the rugs, etc., not even for one minute. This has already caused theft and unwanted visitors to enter the residence. If anything is stolen from the residence because of non-compliance with this rule, all residents will be held collectively responsible and have to reimburse the stolen items.

22. Telephones

It is FORBIDDEN to accept collect calls in this residence: never accept the charges for incoming calls.

23. Security

In the past we have had problems with unwanted visitors and thefts in the building. To avoid these problems, please follow the guidelines below.

• Take good care of your keys, both inside and outside the Huis. Don’t leave them lying around. Never put your name and/or address on your keys!
• We don’t put names on the door bells, because strangers have abused this system to get access to the residence. Tell your visitors which unit you live in, so that they know which bell to use. DO NOT PUSH THE BUTTON TO OPEN THE DOOR WITHOUT ASKING WHO IS AT THE DOOR! When somebody rings the bell, ask the visitor whom he/she want to see and check if this resident is home. If not, please don’t let the visitor in. If the resident is home, have him/her answer the door.
• Do not prop entrance doors open, they have to be closed at all times.
• Never leave windows open on the ground floor (TV room, kitchens, bathrooms, sacristy, hallways, rooms) when you leave the room.
• LOCK your room when you are there, especially at night. Always lock your room when you are gone.
• The big gate at the street side has to be closed at night between 10.30 p.m. and 7 a.m. If you go out or come home at night, please close it behind you. Make sure to close this gate GENTLY, as a student lives right next to it!
• Report defective locks to the office immediately.
• Group 4/Securitas, the security service contracted by the University patrols the ground floor two times a night within the intervals of 22:00-24:00 and 2:00-4:00. They check that all the windows and doors (including those of the commons) are securely locked, so don't be surprised if you come across these people as they do their work. They wear uniforms and have to identify themselves with a badge if so requested.