Nijmegen Travel Forum

I recently visited the Netherlands. This isn't really about Nijmegen...it's about the whole country. I just came home Sunday april 10th and it has been a culture shock to come back to America. I cannot get used to it. I miss the way of life in Holland. I was only there for 2 weeks. I know I don't know everything after such a short period of time. But I fell inlove with that way of life. I like all the bike riding and caring about the environment. I like how people are more upbeat/friendly and say hi and bye or randomly start conversations in stores/cafes/restaurants. I like how beautiful it is and the way people take care of their homes and surroundings. It is a completly different world from here. But I like that world. I never really liked America. I am born here and I am only 20 and in my second year of college. I also need to leanr the language. Is it crazy to want to live in another country. If there is anyone who could speak to me, tell me more about Holland and things I might not know. Or if anyone has moved their from another country or America also. I have a friend who lives upstairs who is dutch. He moved here because he met and American online and they got married. He is a doctor...so yes he has more opportunities here. He and also the family I stayed with say it is not as great as I think and there are bad things to. But I believe there are good and bad things everywhere. But I think in Holland the good outweigh the bad. He also mentioned that in Holland people in work are acknowledged by their age and not their work. Whether that is true or not for me work is just a way of survival and hopefully you can do something you enjoy. But I have never made that my life. I just want to be happy and live a nice life. I care more about the overall lifestyle I live rather than being a CEO of a company. Am I crazy...to want to live there. Please help or talk to me. I have been on vacation before but a place has never afffected me like this. My email is dee46_91@yahoo.com and that's also for MSN messenger or just on here also. Thank you so much.

Oh Drummergirl. Sigh...
Been there, done that, and really thought as you do. I could have written your post 15 years ago. You don't know how different it is until you live it seriously for a while. I went to graduate school in Amsterdam for two years, planning to stay on. By the end of the second year I couldn't wait to leave.
Don't get me wrong. I go there often and enjoy it, have a long term relationship with a Dutchie, and a great admiration for Dutch culture and achievement. And my ancestry is Dutch. For me, though, it was an impossible place to adapt to. As for whether the good outweighs the bad....I could see all the good things clearly enough, but the bad things drove me nuts.

I just deleted a lot of what I had typed because I didn't want to offend anyone. If any expats or Dutchies want to chime in it could be an interesting thread.
Cheers
DW

I went to Amsterdam when i was 20, and loved it. Im only 22 but when i did get back i knew i wanted to live somewhere else. Then last year i went to thailand and thought i had to live there....this year im going to brazil and i can assume that im going to want to live there. i guess im still young but can see the pattern. Id rather just remain a traveler than a resident.

I'm another "been there; done that" except it wasn't Holland, it was another country. We have friends from Holland who moved to the US to get jobs. It's a small country and there are limited job opportunities and seniority is very important.

You might consider graduate school there to get a real feel for the place. Certainly you might want to take an extended stay (of several months) and see if the magic wears off in time.

It doesn't matter where you live, there are good and bad things that you have to learn to deal with. If you are really into the environment, consider Chapel Hill, North Carolina or Bloomington, Indiana in the US. There are lots of places like that here where many people feel as you do.

Whatever you choose, good luck.

Hi drummergirl or should we call you a drimmer girl? :)

I am also the one who been then, still there and the rest is almost exactly as dnwitte said. I'm leaving in August, and although I'll miss the country and will be coming back often, I am very happy to go home.
Think well before you make such a move, this is my suggestion. I lived in many countries in my life and the biggest culture shock I ever got was in the Netherlands. The longer you live here the more you learn.
Everything you described in your posting is true: people are very nice here, life is relaxed, but the culture is very different and it won't be easy to adapt to it. And by the way learning the Dutch language will probably be the most difficult part of your adaptation.

Additionally, you will have a real problem finding a job especially if you don't speak the language, not to mention working permit. You say you're a student, why not to transfer to one of the many universities here? After living here for a year or two you'll be able to make a decision whether to stay or to go.

Nathalie

Yes, I found graduate school an excellent way to be in the country and try it out for a while to see if it would work out for me. It gave me a built in community and an excuse for a VISA. You do need to be able to prove to the immigration police that you have enough money to live on, and they are the ones to decide how much that is.
I was in love with the Dutch "philosophy", if you will, but became ground down into exhaustion by the Dutch way of daily life. I could trace the root cause of every difficulty I had with the culture to the terrific overcrowding of the country. Their solutions are brilliant, but quite a shock if you're used to wide open spaces and a high level of freedom.
Depending on your field of study, you might be able to get some help from the Netherland America foundation, an educational exchange program which offers interest free loans of $5000 per year for study abroad. They're in New York City and I bet a quick Google search would get you quite a lot more info.
DN

Hi everyone! I am going to go in Nijmegen for a month and i would like to konw anything about it....bed and breakfast or other way to live in.

Hey,
I have moved to Nijmegen 3 weeks ago. To stay. I had lived in the Netherlands for a year three years ago, so I knew what to expect, but still, changing of the country, for you even a continent, is a HUGE thing. Consider very good before you do anything.
In case you dont know these pages... check them.
http://www.undutchables.nl/
http://www.howtosurviveholland.nl/

Of course there are good and bad things everywhere, and if you feel that the good overruns the bad, it is a good feeling. But knowing that from a short vacation is a hard thing to do. It all depends what you do in life, what is important, where you wanna go 'in life'...

Best,
Neva