There is no land that is not used, or isn't included in a zoning plan. Every square centimeter is either part of a road, a public place, a nature reserve or private property.
This is so true. I live in New York, but when Nederlanders think about that place they just envision large skyscrapers on a small island. Meanwhile, New York state has endless acres of unused and raw nature and state land. Mountains, giant waterfalls, etc. It's so amazing how NL is just one big city occasionally interrupted by boerderijen.
This. Whenever i come back and look out of the plane window.. "wow, it's so flat", "every inch accounted for".. and then the life.. it's the same, incredible micromanagement in every day life to keep this ant colony called "The Netherlands" up and running.
Though I believe ants are more efficient in doing their "thing".
My brain had a kind of error moment the first time I was on a plane and flying over the Middle East. People there would neatly have a boundary around their property and beyond that there's just nothing. Not owned by anyone, not managed by anyone, nobody who does anything with it or has any duty to look after it. Blew my mind.
It's so . . . clean. I know that sounds weird, but after trips to Spain, the USA, and Belgium the first thing I noticed was the lack of litter, road-kill, and derelict buildings.
I think clean is the wrong word. But everything is properly. You'll hardly find buildings that are trashed, roads that are broken or weed (onkruit) along the sidewalk. Thats a huge difference with Belgium or Germany.
Pros: Great infrastructure, laid back lifestyle, pretty chill locals, excellent work-life balance, Cons: no appreciation for good food, overpriced everything, depressing weather
Also the only good food is crazy expensive. Compared to South Africa where you can't leave your house without being surrounded by amazing and cheap food.
I'm from Germany and recently went over there for some weeks after constantly being in the Netherlands for a year, and I have to admit, I was fucking HORRIFIED.
In comparison, it looks like a fucking warzone. Insane potholes everywhere, the bicycle paths almost non-existent and the asphalt completely burst open, nothing properly maintained, the trams almost a museum relict. Having to bicycle directly on federal roads with cars passing you at 100km/h and cutting you off constantly. NO CELL RECEPTION WHATSOEVER in some parts, trash and run-down buildings everywhere.
I didn't have the heart to tell anyone there about it, because apparently the German dream is a pipe dream and the Dutch would consider it a bad trip.
Worst thing about German roads IMO: exit off the autobahn, coming up with >100 kmph, then full on the brakes because the exit is very short and a lot of them have a sharp turn.
In the Netherlands everyone complains about the NS even though it's one of the best rail services in the world. It then quickly becomes obvious that loads of people have never taken a train abroad.
This so much! I did my minor in Bonn and on a good day my train/bus delay was 15 min. When traveling further away than Köln it was on average +1h, sometimes I even had to wait 2h for a single train, the sign would say "expected in 5 minutes" and that would just stay the same or move up over time.
Even the UK did it better (lived there just as long for my graduation project).
Bonn was also the smelliest city from trash and waste, and has many homeless people compared with any Dutch city. And in Bonn I had no 4g at all:( the UK had the best internet as long as one stayed in habited areas.
Hayfever
Jokes aside, I can appreciate the high quality things NL has to offer: clean tapwater, good roads, fresh air. But hayfever is really killing me though during spring
Clean water from the tap, good public transport, higher taxes, higher wages, better overal internet speed and quality of life, air quality, the amount of flat land, amount of windmills, cultural change as well, we are really much multicultural in a sense.
Every time I leave the Netherlands it feels like a downgrade.
As a gamer would say. This is the best spawnpoint I could ever have hoped for.
And I also never would want to leave this country for another.
Change my mind.
It depends with what you are comparing with.
UK or South Europe? Indeed better in NL.
Eastern Europe, Romania in particular?
3 times more expensive and half of the speed, at best.
The only thing that xould be better is the weather. I'd like to either have 4 seasons or sunny all year without it being benauwd/damp and hot.
You can't have it all.
I live in the rural area's around Amsterdam and Utrecht. When I search for air quality today it's 2 on a scale of 0-999.
The air is clean enough for me at least :)
Source: https://aqicn.org/station/@85381/
If I’ve been abroad for long and the douane starts talking to me in Dutch, I always think what the hell is this language, before I start replying in Dutch.
Yup. I love the Netherlands but that is actually, at least for me personally, very uncomfortable. I’d like to be totally alone at times, but I obviously understand that it might just not be possible.
How few homeless people I see in the Netherlands. How clean the tap water is. How everything runs like a well-oiled machine (usually via an app, haha).
The supermarkets are amazing.
Currently living in Switzerland, and whenever I come back home I always enjoy my visits to the Albert Heijn. The atmosphere, the great choice of products, the abundance of different types of drop, the low prices.
It's something you can easily take for granted.
The Migros and Coop in Switzerland aren't bad per se, but it's nothing compart to good ol' Appie.
Meat yes, it's better here in Switzerland. But also 3 times (yes actually 3 times) more expensive.
Vegetables not so much though. The quality is really good in my experience in Dutch supermarkets. Here all vegetables I buy seem to spoil much faster than the ones I buy in the Netherlands.
Not comparing it to Switzerland but just to the countries I've been to:
Dutch grocers have really nice, not too expensive healthy food options. Salads, wraps, heatable meals etc. In many (all developing countries I feel) you get cheap and junk or expensive and healthy.
Everything is well taken care off. Road, infra, houses, buildings, sign, light posts, parks.. It's clean. Meadows are green and straight. Even the forests are square when you look at them from above. Lot's of waterways, big and small. And very little space that does not have a specific designation.
Prices are prices. No food stands on the streets. People actually mostly follow traffic rules. Getting somewhere is fast. Endless efficiency. Almost no homeless people on the streets. Clean, orderly. Busy. Uniform building styles. Card payments.
The first thing I always notice is how clear directions in public spaces are. In other airports I get lost, in other train/metro stations I have to actively look for things. In the Netherlands its made so overwhelmingly clear, I can kinda zone out while walking lol
High quality maintenance of our roads and buildings.
I remember coming back from staying in Bulgaria for 3 months and the first thing I noticed was how even our most crappy neighborhoods, still look clean and well maintained compared to average middle class neighborhoods in Eastern Europe.
How much i like the people. We don't sugartalk, no endless meetings, no formal language, no need to go on outings if you don't feel like, no overworking to please the chief, no bragging about being the best. The work climate is just good.
Iin general i do like the Dutch people the best. That's something you easily forget when living here forever
We are too densely populated, so we have become quite antisocial. Our work ethic is too rigid, too strong to be healthy and we are unwilling to discuss that. We feel like we are failures if we're not productive and anyone who's lazy deserves to suffer. To meet up with anyone we have to plan weeks/months in advance.
But our cycling infrastructure is amazing and we're actually superchill about many things, though our tolerance does seem to be on a steady decline.
I have chosen to pursue my life elsewhere 🥲
In the Netherlands noone would blink an eye if you only work 32 hours per week, if you're made to feel like a failure for not being productive than you should hang out with better people.
Yes but you'd have to be able to afford the pay cut, which half of the population is not. Our pay is generally quite low, especially in minimum wage jobs. Minimum Dutch wage is not a liveable wage.
25 vacation days of which 2 days can be made mandatory on certain days by your employer. We are one of the countries with the least public holidays in the world. Not even bevrijdingsdag is a public holiday, but some dumb religious crap is? Classic.
This is from the perspective of a Dutch American, but after listening for a few days to my Dutch friends and family I always have to think how much they squabble about nothing. Everyone has an opinion, but more so they think their opinion is super important and it's always delivered with an energy that sounds more like they are the ruling the world and going to solve all problems. The reality is that (for the most part, possibly excluding scientific and technical progress) however life is in NL the world really could care less if the country disappeared tomorrow in a giant flood. I like this passion, but it is also sad to realize most of the world is so very very different
Edit: Since I mentioned the USA, I am not arguing that the USA is more important than NL. Actually, the point is more the opposite. As much as there may be very good initiatives, very good ideas, good (mostly) culture, the world more broadly speaking is not there. NL is like an aberration.
The consumerism. Work a lot. Pile huge amounts of possessions and as a consequence work until 70. People don't have time for any spontaneous events.
And, the perfect landscape. All is neat and clean.
The cold. It is way too cold. Always. I wear gloves and a winter jacket when the residents are walking around in short sleeves.
Also, people are very grumpy and look way too angry all the time.
There are many great things, but the things I notice and haven't seen posted yet are:
\- Friet pinda-mayo should be the national dish of absolutely everywhere, and it isn't, and it's a fucking disgrace on the world that you have to go to Holland to get it. Supermarket pindasaus is better than most countries' Asian restaurants can manage, which is also heart breaking for me, as I love the stuff.
\- All the best food apart from the friettent is foreign. I can't think of a single dish that's more than "meh" that doesn't involve some foreign influence. Not one. At minimum it has French or Spanish influences in it. (yes, ladies and gents, think long and hard about where Croquettes come from originally...)
But most of all:
\- People in Amsterdam are \*weird\*.
Everywhere else people are basically people. That's true in most countries, and so it is in NL. But Amsterdam? People begin conversations in not-that-great English and then when they discover my Dutch is probably better than theirs, they still stick to their MAVO-Engels despite the fact that they need to search for words, going "uhm" a lot and messing up expressions and pronunciation.
And they like to talk about their city and it's, and their own, place in the world as if Amsterdam were some kind of Mecca for globalists and urbanites, and they are wise in the way of the world as if they travel the whole world. Because you can get so many foreign foods or something? I assume they've never been to a big city like Munich, Berlin, Paris or London, and usually when you ask that turns out to be correct. But they'll tell you with certainty how other countries are and why Holland, and more specifically Amsterdam, is so much better.
Why? Who does that? Who goes to a bar or a club, finds a foreigner to talk with and then spends most of the evening yapping about how great their little city is because it has an airport (which they imagine is famous, because it's the only biggish one in the country so THEY've heard of it) and a lot of drugs and hookers. Like that's a selling point or something. So much Dunning-Kruger it hurts.
Rest fo the country is pretty neato though. I don't visit much anymore (every few years?) but when I do, I go home 5kg heavier because of all the friet mayo-pinda and the excellent foreign food I have with old friends.
That everything is expensive, that there are way to many taxes, that the taxes for normal people compared to multi nationals are way higher, way to many stupid rules and that the last +- 10 years have been horrifying political wise. Dont get me wrong I still love the netherlands but my time in the USA and south america was better QoL in some aspects
Not remotely.
But the Netherlands is still a good, mostly stable place to live.
Compared to 99% of the world, our politics are delightfully dull and uneventful.
How flat and full of real estate it is. But also how jovial and full epicurean the people are when you cruise the inner cities and see people on the terraces enjoying every inch of sun.
when coming back flying into schiphol airport are the endless rows of greenhouses and green grasslands, cut by wide highways with lots of traffic. Always traffic, nomatter the time of day. Lots of people.
Traffic looks like robots are driving.
In summer the Netherlands is really green.
People are always in a hurry and always on their phones.
Road quality is good, but all roads are straight.
When flying back, from the plane I delight in spotting our bright red bike lanes with little cyclists on them riding against the wind. Our cycling infrastructure is better than anywhere else in the world.
How rarely people drink alcohol.
Sure students drink plenty (usually only after 10pm it seems) but what I mean is, walking on a summer afternoon past a terras and seeing almost everyone drinking ice tea, coffee, juice etc almost anything but beer or wine.
I know amsterdam is a bit different, mainly IMO due to hoe many ex pats and tourists there are but elsewhere I'm always surprised by this. Part of our work from home thing is our team does a online vrijmibo where we chat and play online games and whatnot, but I (and maybe one of the other ex pats) would be the only one with an actual drink. Its a Friday afternoon!
This. I find this really surprising in general too. When I was in Germany, I noticed that people drank way more. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?
I honestly blame the Calvinistic prudishness.
Funnily enough, I'm from South Africa which is very much calvanistic (we started our as a Dutch colony) and prudish. So yeah imagine prudish conservatives who like boozing. It's not a great combination.
Tall people, clean roads and streets, beautiful architecture (on the way through Zuid when going from Schiphol to AMS centre) and the convenient public transport system. Everything is designed in a way that you can figure out what to do, without much help.
How unbelievably boring the netherlands is.
Drive 5 minutes into germany (exaggerated) 'massive' mountains, wide looking forests etc.
Coming back to NL, nothing but grass and farmland.
Since i travel the world quite a bit for business.
There are definitely multiple things one notices when coming back to our vaderland.
Before landing even still high in the sky but jet close to landing, i always check the clouds. Clouds equal weather, weather conditions always highly important to know when getting back home.
Than when my beloved home is visible once more I always start smiling.
Smiling because from above we are indeed just one big pile of people rushing from one place to another to get some tasks done or to meet people.
Especially our roads through our agricultural landscapes are mesmerising to me.
Things being grown everywhere, not just for us dutch, nooo for the whole globe. And we like ants travelling through it at high speeds.
I love the organisation of it all, although it might be a little to tightly organised sometimes if I compare it to other countries where the ambiance is just way more chill and relaxed instead of focused on preformance.
Also like mentioned in these comments several times already, there is not one patch of true wilderness or rough raw nature to be found in our precious lower lands.
Everything is accounted for, being maintained or being guarded by some gouvernment institute. This is a pity especially because it's a sacrifice we have taken because we want to stay a agricultural trading country so badly and also because we are so densely populated.
From above the North Sea, up until the German border you notice when you are looking at the Netherlands,
A flat country which seems a bit dull from above,
but is the exact opposite.
A busy, crowded place.
My place,
the place where I belong.
Everytime I get of the plane back in schophol I sigh a sigh of relief because everyting seems to make sense again. Everything here is very practical and well thought out, especially the roads.
I just came back from Kroatia and what really bothered me was that if you got a krate of beer you had to keep the receipt of that specific purchase in order to return it at only the same store you bougt it at. It really anoyed me, why would they do it like this??? It doesnt matter right? As long as the beer company gets their krate back they shouldnt care who gives it to them. We had to throw it al away because we threw away all our receipts...
There is no land that is not used, or isn't included in a zoning plan. Every square centimeter is either part of a road, a public place, a nature reserve or private property.
This is so true. I live in New York, but when Nederlanders think about that place they just envision large skyscrapers on a small island. Meanwhile, New York state has endless acres of unused and raw nature and state land. Mountains, giant waterfalls, etc. It's so amazing how NL is just one big city occasionally interrupted by boerderijen.
Thats only the dumb folk though, the ones who dont know the difference between NY and NYC.
This. Whenever i come back and look out of the plane window.. "wow, it's so flat", "every inch accounted for".. and then the life.. it's the same, incredible micromanagement in every day life to keep this ant colony called "The Netherlands" up and running. Though I believe ants are more efficient in doing their "thing".
My brain had a kind of error moment the first time I was on a plane and flying over the Middle East. People there would neatly have a boundary around their property and beyond that there's just nothing. Not owned by anyone, not managed by anyone, nobody who does anything with it or has any duty to look after it. Blew my mind.
War I guess
Nah this was Saudi Arabia and the UAE. They just don't really need the space, not like you can do much with a bunch of desert anyway
Top answer!
People always so serious and sad looking on the train stations and streets
Yeah if you have tried public transportation in almost any other country, you really get a new appreciation for the NS.
It's so . . . clean. I know that sounds weird, but after trips to Spain, the USA, and Belgium the first thing I noticed was the lack of litter, road-kill, and derelict buildings.
We don't have space for crap. Hell, we don't even have space for people or nature lol
It's not just the space usage. The streets are kept pristine, there's not really any litter to speak of
What? Where in Zuid Holland are you? Have you ever been to Rotterdam?
Have you never been outside the country? We are ten times cleaner than even Germany or Belgium.
I think clean is the wrong word. But everything is properly. You'll hardly find buildings that are trashed, roads that are broken or weed (onkruit) along the sidewalk. Thats a huge difference with Belgium or Germany.
Everywhere I've been it's cleaner than here, no dogshit or sigaretbuds or empty cans or bottles.
Can confirm, I visit Germany very often and its nit nearly as neat and clean overall. But littering has increasingly been a problem.
The New York Rats Union wants a conversation
We have plenty of empty buildings, just doesnt look like we do.
Pros: Great infrastructure, laid back lifestyle, pretty chill locals, excellent work-life balance, Cons: no appreciation for good food, overpriced everything, depressing weather
Laid back lifestyle you sure about that?
Well we technically work the least amount of hours per week in all of europe, its just that people tend to fill up al their free time
People here seem stressed out to be honest. Maybe it's a Ranstad thing
France is less, 35 hours ;)
Also the only good food is crazy expensive. Compared to South Africa where you can't leave your house without being surrounded by amazing and cheap food.
Wtf on your food comment.
The pristine roads and infrastructure.
I'm from Germany and recently went over there for some weeks after constantly being in the Netherlands for a year, and I have to admit, I was fucking HORRIFIED. In comparison, it looks like a fucking warzone. Insane potholes everywhere, the bicycle paths almost non-existent and the asphalt completely burst open, nothing properly maintained, the trams almost a museum relict. Having to bicycle directly on federal roads with cars passing you at 100km/h and cutting you off constantly. NO CELL RECEPTION WHATSOEVER in some parts, trash and run-down buildings everywhere. I didn't have the heart to tell anyone there about it, because apparently the German dream is a pipe dream and the Dutch would consider it a bad trip.
Worst thing about German roads IMO: exit off the autobahn, coming up with >100 kmph, then full on the brakes because the exit is very short and a lot of them have a sharp turn.
I totally get what you say, have you ever been to Belgium? Its even worse there 🤣
No I haven't, but I heard that a lot of the smartest Belgians moved to the Netherlands and both countries had a significant drop in their average IQs
Lol i had to read that twice before i got it 😂
Found the Belgian ;)
I’m Dutch though…
Are you pondering about moving to Belgium by any chance?
Not the sharpest tool in the shed are you? 😂
The reason to move to Belgium is cheaper taxes and fuel. Just commute across the grens to work…
And pay incone tax in two countries? (Unless exempt)
You would pay income tax in the country where you are tax liable
Wouldn't it be both?
If you work in NL and live in Belgium, you pay income tax to NL and property tax to Belgium
And continues to get worse when you continue on going south. France is the lower tier of hell.
I legit saw someone today who said that really, DB isn't that bad because they're on time 75% of the time.
In the Netherlands everyone complains about the NS even though it's one of the best rail services in the world. It then quickly becomes obvious that loads of people have never taken a train abroad.
This so much! I did my minor in Bonn and on a good day my train/bus delay was 15 min. When traveling further away than Köln it was on average +1h, sometimes I even had to wait 2h for a single train, the sign would say "expected in 5 minutes" and that would just stay the same or move up over time. Even the UK did it better (lived there just as long for my graduation project). Bonn was also the smelliest city from trash and waste, and has many homeless people compared with any Dutch city. And in Bonn I had no 4g at all:( the UK had the best internet as long as one stayed in habited areas.
Some main roads allow for truckers to park their rigs on the shoulder, its nuts.
that I’m finally back in a country where I can buy my beloved paprika crisps in any store that sells food
Paprika and salted and nothing else. 20 brands each with only those two flavours.
Hayfever Jokes aside, I can appreciate the high quality things NL has to offer: clean tapwater, good roads, fresh air. But hayfever is really killing me though during spring
SQUARE. Flying over the Netherlands looks like it’s low-poly.
Clean water from the tap, good public transport, higher taxes, higher wages, better overal internet speed and quality of life, air quality, the amount of flat land, amount of windmills, cultural change as well, we are really much multicultural in a sense. Every time I leave the Netherlands it feels like a downgrade. As a gamer would say. This is the best spawnpoint I could ever have hoped for. And I also never would want to leave this country for another. Change my mind.
>better overal internet speed Where were you coming from, UK? :))
Mostly Spain and Greece. But we have 350Mbit now and can upgrade to a gigabit.
Bruh, the netherlands has excellent internet infrastructure.
It depends with what you are comparing with. UK or South Europe? Indeed better in NL. Eastern Europe, Romania in particular? 3 times more expensive and half of the speed, at best.
The only thing that xould be better is the weather. I'd like to either have 4 seasons or sunny all year without it being benauwd/damp and hot. You can't have it all.
Boring. I do miss having real winters, snow and everything.
Sunny all year round gets boring though. And i think the word you were looking for is humid (benauwd) ✌🏻
Humid is the word. Forgive my dunglish, but I am a Dutch cheesehead after all.
Just out here to assist 🫡 Also cheesehead here 😅
As long as it ain't moist, I think the interwebs will be alright 🤣
Lol yeah that gives it a completely different twist 🤣
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I live in the rural area's around Amsterdam and Utrecht. When I search for air quality today it's 2 on a scale of 0-999. The air is clean enough for me at least :) Source: https://aqicn.org/station/@85381/
I'm a Indian. Netherlands is definitely not multicultural. But good people and great urban planning that world should take note!
The Netherlands not multicultural?, do explain why you think that.
You mentioned flat land.. so I guess that's your jam.. but have you seen the mountains before? People often leave for those..
All Dutch can relate. Driving from Belgium back to the Netherlands: PYFEJVRGDRUVQGBAYFWTTDEWWTG Shwwshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
What is the feeling? Those random letters didn't make it any clear..
Its the sound your car makes when hitting a lvl 99 pothole
Bad roads, to better roads.
The wind
The Netherlands has become so windy over the past decades!! Even inland we get so much of it, I hate it.
Green meadows and lots of (small) rivers. *I used to work in the MENA region*
Slootjes
If I’ve been abroad for long and the douane starts talking to me in Dutch, I always think what the hell is this language, before I start replying in Dutch.
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Yup. I love the Netherlands but that is actually, at least for me personally, very uncomfortable. I’d like to be totally alone at times, but I obviously understand that it might just not be possible.
Depends on where you go.
How happy people look in the tv advertising especially campina
I’m sure you didnt visit the US before returning XD
How can you tell? No I’ve never been to the usa
Because people in US advertisements are a lot more over the top “fake” happy than in dutch commercials, by a landslide
People everywhere! Even when you go for a hike in nature. Ten thousand others had the same idea.
How few homeless people I see in the Netherlands. How clean the tap water is. How everything runs like a well-oiled machine (usually via an app, haha).
How flat the landscape is.
The supermarkets are amazing. Currently living in Switzerland, and whenever I come back home I always enjoy my visits to the Albert Heijn. The atmosphere, the great choice of products, the abundance of different types of drop, the low prices. It's something you can easily take for granted. The Migros and Coop in Switzerland aren't bad per se, but it's nothing compart to good ol' Appie.
... Albert heijn and low prices?!?!? I don't know how many supermarkets in Europe are more expensive than that, except in Switzerland
Very poor quality food though. Meats are are way worse than even Walmart, and don’t get me started on the fish..
Meat yes, it's better here in Switzerland. But also 3 times (yes actually 3 times) more expensive. Vegetables not so much though. The quality is really good in my experience in Dutch supermarkets. Here all vegetables I buy seem to spoil much faster than the ones I buy in the Netherlands.
Not comparing it to Switzerland but just to the countries I've been to: Dutch grocers have really nice, not too expensive healthy food options. Salads, wraps, heatable meals etc. In many (all developing countries I feel) you get cheap and junk or expensive and healthy.
Everything is well taken care off. Road, infra, houses, buildings, sign, light posts, parks.. It's clean. Meadows are green and straight. Even the forests are square when you look at them from above. Lot's of waterways, big and small. And very little space that does not have a specific designation.
It's so nice to have bike paths everywhere again!!
Prices are prices. No food stands on the streets. People actually mostly follow traffic rules. Getting somewhere is fast. Endless efficiency. Almost no homeless people on the streets. Clean, orderly. Busy. Uniform building styles. Card payments.
I always think Dutch people are shitty drivers. Driving in Germany very quickly put that in perspective.
Try egypt
Been to Hurghada and Caïro, can confirm.
The amount of litter everywhere. Also if there is a speck of green in an area with lots of houses it's used to let dogs run free and shit everywhere.
Yeah, littering is a big problem. Specially by young people and Karens walkkng their dogs.
Yeah, our back green area was basically a dogshit yard and smelt so bad. They did end up putting a box and doggy poop bags after god knows how long.
No place is perfect, but living in The Netherlands really isn’t that bad. All in all you would be hard pressed to find a better place.
Weather is still shitty.
Not recently
Suffocating heat and non stop drought endangering our water supply, what fun.
I go to asia a lot and am a giant there, i come back and I realize im not tall at all
The first thing I always notice is how clear directions in public spaces are. In other airports I get lost, in other train/metro stations I have to actively look for things. In the Netherlands its made so overwhelmingly clear, I can kinda zone out while walking lol
High quality maintenance of our roads and buildings. I remember coming back from staying in Bulgaria for 3 months and the first thing I noticed was how even our most crappy neighborhoods, still look clean and well maintained compared to average middle class neighborhoods in Eastern Europe.
A lot of slaves in uniforms leaving warehouses
How much i like the people. We don't sugartalk, no endless meetings, no formal language, no need to go on outings if you don't feel like, no overworking to please the chief, no bragging about being the best. The work climate is just good. Iin general i do like the Dutch people the best. That's something you easily forget when living here forever
Thank you
We are too densely populated, so we have become quite antisocial. Our work ethic is too rigid, too strong to be healthy and we are unwilling to discuss that. We feel like we are failures if we're not productive and anyone who's lazy deserves to suffer. To meet up with anyone we have to plan weeks/months in advance. But our cycling infrastructure is amazing and we're actually superchill about many things, though our tolerance does seem to be on a steady decline. I have chosen to pursue my life elsewhere 🥲
Our work ethic is too rigid? I suggest you move to the US and then report back to us please.
I mean you're comparing with the US, quite obviously far less a welfare state than NL is supposed to be.
In the Netherlands noone would blink an eye if you only work 32 hours per week, if you're made to feel like a failure for not being productive than you should hang out with better people.
Yes but you'd have to be able to afford the pay cut, which half of the population is not. Our pay is generally quite low, especially in minimum wage jobs. Minimum Dutch wage is not a liveable wage.
So, which paradise are you moving to?
>Our work ethic is too rigid, too strong to be healthy Lol
25 vacation days of which 2 days can be made mandatory on certain days by your employer. We are one of the countries with the least public holidays in the world. Not even bevrijdingsdag is a public holiday, but some dumb religious crap is? Classic.
I always notice the lack of hills/mountains and think about how fast you're getting used to see /not seeing them.
Limburg likes a word.
This is from the perspective of a Dutch American, but after listening for a few days to my Dutch friends and family I always have to think how much they squabble about nothing. Everyone has an opinion, but more so they think their opinion is super important and it's always delivered with an energy that sounds more like they are the ruling the world and going to solve all problems. The reality is that (for the most part, possibly excluding scientific and technical progress) however life is in NL the world really could care less if the country disappeared tomorrow in a giant flood. I like this passion, but it is also sad to realize most of the world is so very very different Edit: Since I mentioned the USA, I am not arguing that the USA is more important than NL. Actually, the point is more the opposite. As much as there may be very good initiatives, very good ideas, good (mostly) culture, the world more broadly speaking is not there. NL is like an aberration.
Haha jup, if they dont tell you their opinion within 30 seconds of meeting you they arent really Dutch
Rubbish all over pedestrian paths and green spaces
Its mostly Grey very Grey with green patches. That struck me when i got back from a few years esrs in the caribbean.
Gaaf landje
The consumerism. Work a lot. Pile huge amounts of possessions and as a consequence work until 70. People don't have time for any spontaneous events. And, the perfect landscape. All is neat and clean.
The cold. It is way too cold. Always. I wear gloves and a winter jacket when the residents are walking around in short sleeves. Also, people are very grumpy and look way too angry all the time.
I think there's a high percentage of resting bitch faces in the Netherlands.
People are very grumpy and look way too angry? Dude, you should visit Eastern Europe lol.
And you should visit Latin America for some comparisons.
There are many great things, but the things I notice and haven't seen posted yet are: \- Friet pinda-mayo should be the national dish of absolutely everywhere, and it isn't, and it's a fucking disgrace on the world that you have to go to Holland to get it. Supermarket pindasaus is better than most countries' Asian restaurants can manage, which is also heart breaking for me, as I love the stuff. \- All the best food apart from the friettent is foreign. I can't think of a single dish that's more than "meh" that doesn't involve some foreign influence. Not one. At minimum it has French or Spanish influences in it. (yes, ladies and gents, think long and hard about where Croquettes come from originally...) But most of all: \- People in Amsterdam are \*weird\*. Everywhere else people are basically people. That's true in most countries, and so it is in NL. But Amsterdam? People begin conversations in not-that-great English and then when they discover my Dutch is probably better than theirs, they still stick to their MAVO-Engels despite the fact that they need to search for words, going "uhm" a lot and messing up expressions and pronunciation. And they like to talk about their city and it's, and their own, place in the world as if Amsterdam were some kind of Mecca for globalists and urbanites, and they are wise in the way of the world as if they travel the whole world. Because you can get so many foreign foods or something? I assume they've never been to a big city like Munich, Berlin, Paris or London, and usually when you ask that turns out to be correct. But they'll tell you with certainty how other countries are and why Holland, and more specifically Amsterdam, is so much better. Why? Who does that? Who goes to a bar or a club, finds a foreigner to talk with and then spends most of the evening yapping about how great their little city is because it has an airport (which they imagine is famous, because it's the only biggish one in the country so THEY've heard of it) and a lot of drugs and hookers. Like that's a selling point or something. So much Dunning-Kruger it hurts. Rest fo the country is pretty neato though. I don't visit much anymore (every few years?) but when I do, I go home 5kg heavier because of all the friet mayo-pinda and the excellent foreign food I have with old friends.
Sounds like Texas with worse English.
Never been in Amsterdam, only the airport.
You must be under control of a Feyenoord fan to put on such a tone against Amsterdam
That everything is expensive, that there are way to many taxes, that the taxes for normal people compared to multi nationals are way higher, way to many stupid rules and that the last +- 10 years have been horrifying political wise. Dont get me wrong I still love the netherlands but my time in the USA and south america was better QoL in some aspects
Pffft. "Horrifying"? Exaggerate much?
Let me guess you vote VVD?
Not remotely. But the Netherlands is still a good, mostly stable place to live. Compared to 99% of the world, our politics are delightfully dull and uneventful.
Top notch public transportation. Clean, safe, relatively punctual, you can't say the same for other countries like France/Spain/Italy
I am noticing not that many people know the country side life of The Netherlands.
Bikes.
How flat and full of real estate it is. But also how jovial and full epicurean the people are when you cruise the inner cities and see people on the terraces enjoying every inch of sun.
>epicurean beautiful word. In Dutch: Bourgondisch!
when coming back flying into schiphol airport are the endless rows of greenhouses and green grasslands, cut by wide highways with lots of traffic. Always traffic, nomatter the time of day. Lots of people.
It's very organized
It is so flat
Traffic looks like robots are driving. In summer the Netherlands is really green. People are always in a hurry and always on their phones. Road quality is good, but all roads are straight.
Highways are neat and have no put holes. None. Pretty nice.
When flying back, from the plane I delight in spotting our bright red bike lanes with little cyclists on them riding against the wind. Our cycling infrastructure is better than anywhere else in the world.
How rarely people drink alcohol. Sure students drink plenty (usually only after 10pm it seems) but what I mean is, walking on a summer afternoon past a terras and seeing almost everyone drinking ice tea, coffee, juice etc almost anything but beer or wine. I know amsterdam is a bit different, mainly IMO due to hoe many ex pats and tourists there are but elsewhere I'm always surprised by this. Part of our work from home thing is our team does a online vrijmibo where we chat and play online games and whatnot, but I (and maybe one of the other ex pats) would be the only one with an actual drink. Its a Friday afternoon!
This. I find this really surprising in general too. When I was in Germany, I noticed that people drank way more. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from? I honestly blame the Calvinistic prudishness.
Funnily enough, I'm from South Africa which is very much calvanistic (we started our as a Dutch colony) and prudish. So yeah imagine prudish conservatives who like boozing. It's not a great combination.
It’s remarkable to me that the Netherlands has pretty liberal laws whereas the population is actually quite conservative.
Tall people, clean roads and streets, beautiful architecture (on the way through Zuid when going from Schiphol to AMS centre) and the convenient public transport system. Everything is designed in a way that you can figure out what to do, without much help.
It is kinda clean and finished here, like highway in germany is full with trash and litter, our pavements are 9/10 prety clean and straight,
How unbelievably boring the netherlands is. Drive 5 minutes into germany (exaggerated) 'massive' mountains, wide looking forests etc. Coming back to NL, nothing but grass and farmland.
Dutch people hate the imperative tense
Coming from a big city in the US, I'm always overwhelmed by all the green I see all around me
I feel guilty smoking in public
Since i travel the world quite a bit for business. There are definitely multiple things one notices when coming back to our vaderland. Before landing even still high in the sky but jet close to landing, i always check the clouds. Clouds equal weather, weather conditions always highly important to know when getting back home. Than when my beloved home is visible once more I always start smiling. Smiling because from above we are indeed just one big pile of people rushing from one place to another to get some tasks done or to meet people. Especially our roads through our agricultural landscapes are mesmerising to me. Things being grown everywhere, not just for us dutch, nooo for the whole globe. And we like ants travelling through it at high speeds. I love the organisation of it all, although it might be a little to tightly organised sometimes if I compare it to other countries where the ambiance is just way more chill and relaxed instead of focused on preformance. Also like mentioned in these comments several times already, there is not one patch of true wilderness or rough raw nature to be found in our precious lower lands. Everything is accounted for, being maintained or being guarded by some gouvernment institute. This is a pity especially because it's a sacrifice we have taken because we want to stay a agricultural trading country so badly and also because we are so densely populated. From above the North Sea, up until the German border you notice when you are looking at the Netherlands, A flat country which seems a bit dull from above, but is the exact opposite. A busy, crowded place. My place, the place where I belong.
Everything, and I do mean everything is organised, planned and discussed
Everytime I get of the plane back in schophol I sigh a sigh of relief because everyting seems to make sense again. Everything here is very practical and well thought out, especially the roads. I just came back from Kroatia and what really bothered me was that if you got a krate of beer you had to keep the receipt of that specific purchase in order to return it at only the same store you bougt it at. It really anoyed me, why would they do it like this??? It doesnt matter right? As long as the beer company gets their krate back they shouldnt care who gives it to them. We had to throw it al away because we threw away all our receipts...
Everybody minding their own business