Instead Of Getting An Apartment, This Student Decided To Build And Live In A Yurt

Work the yurt.

Michael Jeffrey loves the outdoors and hates paying bills. So instead of an renting apartment or living in residence he built his own badass yurt to live in during the school year. Here he is with his hand-built yurt mansion.

Sam Rose Phillips

"I figured I could build a yurt and live in it, and it would be a way cheaper way to go to school," Jeffrey told BuzzFeed Canada.

He decided to go for it after testing out a friend's yurt in Edmonton over the summer. Then he put all the necessary pieces in the back of his truck and drove to school at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C.

A yurt is typically an eight-sided, tent-like portable home that was used by nomadic peoples in Central Asia.

Jeffrey's yurt sits in the corner of a horse paddock. He pays the land owner $150 a month. He built a stove and doesn't use electricity, so his housing costs are super cheap. "I have friends paying $400 for a bedroom," he said.

Sam Rose Phillips

Jeffrey lives about a 10-minute drive from school, but sometimes he canoes across the river to get to class. He's in the adventure guide program at university, and hopes to have a career in adventure therapy.

Jeffrey said he rarely uses his stove or his generator, and charges his cellphone and computer at coffee shops. He's had a lot of positive reaction to his living arrangement. "A coupe of classmates are talking about maybe [building a yurt]," he said.

Sam Rose Phillips

"My backyard is just a big mountain so I go for hikes or go to the river," he said. "Or I go hang out with neighbors."

He spends most weekends camping in the woods, and is currently trying to crowdfund a trip to horseback ride across Mongolia.

Jeffrey said too many Canadians "are addicted to their comfort — if they don't have central heating then they’ve got a problem.

"It’s a bit more challenging [to live outside] but people did it for hundreds or thousands of years," Jeffrey said. "Humans are well-suited to live out here."

Just a man, his truck, and a yurt. This is living.

Sam Rose Phillips