Expat life: The Reality

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People often ask, “How are you adapting to life in the Netherlands?”  “Are you fluent in Dutch yet?” “Do you miss home?”

Life

Life is life no matter where you find yourself in the world. You still have work, friends, bills, responsibilities. It’s not an extended vacation. Life abroad is starting over and adapting to everything.  It was a fairly quick move for me, but it got better with time and I started to adjust to my new life.

Language

Dutch isn’t the easiest language, but any new language is going to be difficult. It is frustrating to want to learn the language, but just not learning fast enough. And yes, getting paperwork done from the bank, doctor, work etc, in Dutch is time-consuming since I am not used to reading or writing in Dutch all the time. So, no I am not fluent in Dutch, but I can help myself if I need to.

Home

Home is such a complicated term. Home is here. Home is where I built my new life. Home is where I grew up. It means many different things at once. I like to think that I never get homesick, but it’s not true. I miss bits of my old life. I miss being a part of something that mattered. I miss my friends and family. But at the same time, I am so focused on life here, that it doesn’t give a lot of time to get sad. Many don’t stay in touch which is both good and bad. I miss them, but it makes it easier to move on.

The Culture

The Culture in The Netherlands wasn’t too big of a shock for me. Before I came I knew the Culture was more open and liberal.

I love the Dutch people, they love their lives and they live it fully. The Dutch are very direct people they will tell you the truth and what they think about you. The directness was probably the hardest for me to accept. Sometimes I still get frustrated about it. But hey, the Dutch are happy people (very happy) and in truth, it is sometimes easier to hear a directness from people.

The Struggle

What you don’t see or hear about is the struggle to find work, figuring out how to get into University and most of all learning where to buy Vanilla essence. Yes, I get frustrated when I can’t find the brand that I want, or have to figure out how the Health Care works. But overall, the Netherlands has a good system in place, laws that protect residents but don’t impede on rights, and good people.

xoxo

Chante’