I wrote this to a bloke who is contemplating in moving to Amsterdam from Perth
The best analogy i can think of about living in Amsterdam is like how that clocktower you see in every district. Amsterdam is like an engineered city with all the gears and bolts stuck together and in sync. Public transportation comes by the second, the urban planning is great and people take more responsibility in their behaviour compared to Aussies (eg. the only country without drinking age). It works independently and people rely upon it. It is utilitarian.
If you have a rellie in Holland, then they will be useful. Even if you have EU passport, i can honestly say if you are planning to come to Holland, take a Working Holiday Scheme visa from Dutch consulate in Australia which you only pay €30 for a resident permit up to 12 months. Then you can extend it if you wish.
If you are of a IT/Programming, then it’s probably easy to find a job if you only speak English. There are heaps of job agencies for English speaking expats. Most likely you will work for an international company (such as KPMG, Shell, Dutch Banks) in which it’s almost standardised to speak English. You will need to learn Dutch, and its one of the first thing an expat who is contemplating on living in the long-run, should do. The tax office or immigration department are all in Dutch and won’t send English letters to you, so that means your rellies will need to help!
As for the rent….according to the expats living here there’s the 30% rule. It is quite expensive to live here because of housing shortage (worse than Perth), so you may need to look around and get that rellie to assist you. Your full-time annual salery will always take into account the cost of living, so the chances are it will be between €50-€65k. If you would ever like to find a place, don’t live in the city. There are about 4.7 million tourists coming to this damn city and the city limit itself is only 6km wide. It gets more foreign tourists than NYC. And there are heaps of tourist traps such as very expensive restaurants, retails and all. The only time you would venture off to city is to go enjoy nightlife and if you work in the centre.
So it’s best to live in the paremeter of the city centre. Not just for rental cost, but that’s where real Dutch people live. You’ll feel more ‘alone’ living in the centre than perhaps living in the paremeter since you’ll be more lazy to go around thinking that everything is in close proximity to you. I live about 2km West of Centraal Station on the River Ij literally. i.e. the wharf on the River Ij.
As an Aussie living here, there are two issues which bother me:
The weather: Perhaps in Perth it’s like 300 days of sunshine. It’s the total opposite here. 300 days of cloudy or rain. It snows in some days of the Winter (it snowed last week in the middle of Spring). Dutch weather is very coastal and it relies heavily on the incoming fronts coming from the Sea. You will see a lot of young Dutch (like me) would wear hoddies (jumper with hood) when they go venture off outside. That hoodie is like our protection from down-pour. But honestly, i have gotten use to it in 6 months. Whenever you see a Dutch walking in the rain or on bike, you do feel compelled to be like them and ride on bike in rain as well!
Living independently: That’s where a lot of expats may fall through the cracks. You have to keep yourself busy and entertained or else you will feel lonely since it feels like you’re in a foreign country and the people don’t understand you (since you can’t speak Dutch). Even if most speak English, Dutch will always remain as a default language and they will speak English if you start speaking English or know that you’re a foreigner. Which is quite hard to learn Dutch, not just because of the linguistical level but not many people will help you out since they probably have short fuse in patience in trying to get the message across. You got to learn how to cook at home. It is unDutch to have breakfast in restaurant in the morning (since it’s rarely opens before noon anyhow).
There are expats here especially the Poms. You will find them in Pom pubs and Aussie pubs (Rembrambtplein) if you ever want to release some steam from work. Check out www.expatica.com It’s the online forum for expats living in Holland. Will help you heaps in jobs, housing, etc.
You may have heard that Amsterdammers are famous for being liberal minded. It means that personal responsibility is of the highest important for social order. For example, know how much you can drink, don’t show off ‘money’ because it’s rude, act normal and be modest. I guess this liberal behaviour stems from being ‘efficient’ and independent person instead of having a nanny state where privacy is curtailed as if we’re little kids needing a big leader to look after us.
There is a book i highly recommend you to read before setting foot here for establishment. The Low Sky and yeah, that’s my site recounting my life in Amsterdam.
Personally, i am very efficient person myself. Which is why i don’t have that patience for incompetence. I go study and get things done, i go to gym 4 times a week, i ride a bike knowing that i can get there more reliably, i make very short statement which are right to the point. In most cases i do act like a ‘Dutch’ even before i came here. If i don’t ride a bike, you would see me listening to my music with earphone to the city, since my uni i smack bang in the centre. Locals would know that i live here coz of that hoodie and i listen to music (and since it’s so un-touristy behaviour).
After one year when your Working Holiday Scheme expires, chances are you will feel homesick. That is what expats always feel when living abroad, and it’s natural. Whenever i feel home-sick, i keep on reminding myself that i would be stuck in traffic in Sydney or the Cityrail train won’t come on time and i’ll be waiting 30min for the next train to arrive. That’ll wake me up to reality.
