International House or more commonly known as I-house is the hostel where most of the summer students stay. The most interesting part of staying in I-house is that you will get to meet people from all around the world.
Room
The size of the double room and single room in I-house is the same. The only difference is the double decker bunk bed and an additional study table for the double room. Hence, the space in the room is much smaller compared to SUTD.
Dining Hall
All of the students are free to select a fixed number of meal plans. However, the minimum is 80 meal plans. Personally, I will recommend people to choose the smallest number of meal plans as you will eventually get tired of the food in I-house. Although it is buffet style, but you would be interested in exploring the large variety of food just outside the campus. If the Berkeley students ever get to know that you are staying in I-house, they will be envious of you because the food in I-house is commonly known as delicious and affordable!
Facilities
There is a kitchen where you are free to use the kitchenware but you need to get the key from the receptionist. Great Hall is where students like to gather around to watch TV and talk together. It is usually pack especially during the World Cup period. It was quite interesting to watch World Cup there as you will know which country won by observing the reaction of the people. The Koreans suddenly screamed when Korea won against Germany. Game room is also available where our friends can be found enjoying a game of table tennis, or FIFA game.
Coffee Hour
Every Wednesday is Coffee Hour. Sometimes there is a specific theme or country who host that particular Coffee Hour. Usually. there will be food like cookies and coffee being prepared. It aims to promote bonding between the residents. It is free for residents and the coffee is free also if you bring your own cup.
I-house Events
I-house sells some of the events tickets at promotional rate. For example, normal price of ticket for baseball is 30 usd but I-house residents can buy it at 15 usd. However, you need to be fast to get your hands on those tickets as they run out pretty fast. The musical tickets were sold out in 10 minutes.
I-house Activities
I-house also organised activities such as the big-C hike, Karaoke session which give us opportunities to meet other I-house residents. It is interesting to get to know their culture and university. Some of the friends that we met are from KAIST, University of Michigan,Russia.
The photo above was taken during Big-C hike. Most of us were on the left of the picture.
