what are your opinions/ suggestions? Did you move from warmer or similar climate? How different is the lifestyle...have you made new friends easy? How is work?

I just received a very nice offer to work in rotterdam, with free apartment for a year, my gf is willing to come.

BUt, my job here just countered their offer to match! Im losing my mind here on what to do!

My goal is to travel, and I LOVE warm weather (san diego - greece - spain)

You lucky bastard, that one would be a no brainer for me, I would start packing.

Imagine living minutes away from Amsterdam by train. Yes it would be colder, yes there would be rain, I am not a big fan of Rotterdam (too many cars...) but you would be living in EUROPE! with relatively easy reach to Paris, Berlin, London, Belgium...

Considering how hard it would be for an American to get a job there, you are being handed a unique gift.

Best of luck.

I agree with everything previously stated. Plus, it's a one-year deal so if you don't like it, it will be over before too long. Go For It! Live The Dream!

you don't come to the Netherlands for the food or the weather :) I lived in the midwest, mid-south, and pacific northwest.

a few differences: you will probably encounter more bureaucracy than you are used to, some things will seem a lot more expensive (I find shoes, clothing and some food -- even if you're being paid in Euros), and service can be of an unfamiliarly low standard. some things will just take you longer to do because there isn't the appetite for 24x7 services here -- the inverse of this of course is that everybody has a balance between work and life.

though you'll have no problem using English, you may feel a bit of a language barrier, especially after the 'honeymoon' period wears off.

but if your employer is paying for you to do this by providing accommodation, etc. why wouldn't you grab the opportunity? great work and life experience, and subsidized no less.

though this is about Amsterdam, it does give you perspective from another expat:
http://www.postwarmedia.nl/amsterdam.html

and I would recommend reading "The Undutchables" -- though some of it can be a bit stereotypical, it can help you to digest your experience a bit or gird yourself against some of things that are likely to annoy you.

let's see any other good reasons? oh yeah, George W. Bush still has another year in office...granted, Harry Potter Balkenende is in charge here ;)

-paniked

Start packing!!! Never regret the things you did, only the things you didn't;-)

Living and working outside your own country is a great opportunity, if nothing else you will learn what you really like/not about home and it should strengthen your CV.

Start out expecting rubbish weather, rubbish food and rubbish service then things can only get better. Rotterdam is not pretty, especially with a building site for a station, but Delft and Den Haag are easily reached by train/car.

If your GF is willing then go for it.

Forget it! Don't go.

Give the employer my name and I'll move over there with your girlfriend!

;-)

...no really... Go! I passed up a chance years ago to attend University in The Netherlands and help my uncle with his business. I passed on it and have always wondered what things would be like now... as someone else said, Don't regret what you did but what you didn't do...


eric

I would have left yesterday!

I forgot to mention one thing that you will probably find incredibly annoying -- it's just about the only thing I'm homesick about ever -- washing machines take forever and a day!

seriously, my mother's 30-year old Sears washing machine does in 20 minutes what it takes my modern euro washing machine 2 fucking hours to do!

perhaps there is a good explanation for this, I don't know what it could be though.

-paniked

one thing really annoying too is the continuous presence of the police everywhere... The dutch are very very reasonable personn... they just follow the rules and if someone does not than they other will soon recall him... no wonder everybody drives 120 km/h on the speedway where in Belgium everybodu is at 150 or more...

If you use the bike where you cannot you get a 50 euros fine...

Yesterday i flew to london...in Schiphol i was call apart by the police because in 2003 i have not paid a 50 € fine for speeding... i missed my flight because of that...

If you walk and you cross the street at a red traffic light...someone will probably tells you that what your are doing is wrong and dangerous..

One week ago two british guys took the tram with a beer ..they were maybe a bit drunk but not much... a dutch guy came to the chauffeur to tell him that 2 personn were drunk and really agresive. The chauffeur stoped and ask them to leave...

That is also NL...but they are also lots of good thins here too

right, there is no Autobahn here.



they're called traffic laws. yes, it is strange that these seem to be vigorously enforced sometimes on cyclists, but that's life.



that's got nothing to do with the Dutch, that's just plain personal responsibility.



so what? you do that in certain cities in the States you will get a fine, it's called jaywalking and some places it's enforced. I've had worse than people telling me I'm "wrong"



if people were being aggressive on the tram, I'd want them off too. and if the driver actually stopped and asked them to get off, I'll bet it was with good reason. I've certainly seen plenty of shit, like people smoking joints in the morning, on the trams and the metro that people don't even bat an eye at sometimes.

well, in any case, I don't think your observations will put the original poster off...they're pretty irrelevant to his question.

-paniked

My aunt and uncle explained it this way... it's a Dutch washing machine so it is better than the American kind. ;-)

no really.. they were telling me about how that style of washing machine uses less water, is less rough on the clothes, uses less electricity, etc... All a line of "standard" Dutch "we are better" (yes - I'm Dutch!) BS as far as I'm concerned. I replaced my W/D a couple of years ago and it is a front loading, low water, easier on the clothes, uses less electricity and all the same BS... but I can do three loads of laundry in the time it takes me to do one at my Aunt and Uncles' place.

Thankfully all I have to do is carry something towards the w/d at their place and she comes running and won't let me do the laundry. She is a wonderful person!! Great cook too!

Later,
Eric
---
it's only been 6 months since I was there and all I can think about it getting back...

Paniked

I think the answer to your question may lie in the design of machine: top-loading (typical in US) vs. front-loading (common in Europe). The former submerge the clothes in water which gets them wet quicker and so cycles faster. Front-loaders use less water and so less detergent and power, supposedly also kinder on clothes and mechanically simpler. Filling with cold water, which must then be heated, will make the whole process longer.

In short, BR1965's aunt & uncle are right!

B61 (bored)

thanks, guys!

I suspect you're right -- though I also imagine a lot of it has to do with conditions in the past when the cost of resources (water, electricity, etc) made it sensible to focus on reducing those in exchange for the trade-off of longer cycle times.

I'm reminded of coming to Germany with my high school class and being reminded that we couldn't use the home telephone the way we might in the States. perhaps with the washing machines the economic pressures dictated efficiency everywhere except time. just as I swear the Dutch say 'met so-and-so' when the answer the phone: in the days of billing by the second/minute, taking time to say "Hello" was only costing more money for no benefit.

still I wish it didn't take so damn long to wash my clothes :) on the other hand, I plan more carefully...but if you miss that one sock out, it's screwed for a week at least ;)

-paniked

I would have gone in a heartbeat if offered to me.3 months ago i tried unsuccessfully to get myself fored from my job as a reason to just come over and do black work if i has to .I,m still working on the move as i,m writing.

I have no problem with the above mentioned rules.The freedom to see all the RLD ladies and the raves,especially the raves more than overcome those rules,for instance last month i flew over to the Big Island from Honolulu for an all night rave on nthe beach just to see the cops break it up 4 hrs after it started,glad it cost me only $80 for the trip instead of the $900+ it costs to get to Amsterdam.Still coming over either in Nov for the Qlimax party or if i can save up enogh i may go at the end of march and do whaT john and Yoko did in 1969 and spend a week in their suite at the Hilton with a lady-March 26 is the anniversary day in 1969

This is a really interesting discussion.

For starters, I'd say do it, if only because its an experience you'll never forget - not necessarily because it is the Netherlands, but because you spend a year outside the country.

In terms of some of the supposedly restrictive actions of the law, I personally see nothing wrong with the examples quoted. It doesn't take a whole lot of discipline to not speed, for example. If you really want to see restrictions in a "free country", try Singapore, where I spent several months a few years ago. But the funny thing is, none of those strict laws seemed to impinge on me. Just don't litter, jaywalk or chew gum, and you're fine (being flip about the gum..:) ). The upside of all that was a total absence of any type of crime, petty or otherwise which, in its own, way brings about a tremendous sense of freedom.

You say you love travel so....I'd say go!

Sam