If it ain't Dutch - it ain't much

Hello everyone! We are Manca Markelj and Kaja Grobelnik and we were on Erasmus exchange in Leeuwarden, a small city in the North of the Netherlands. Our exchange took place in the first semester in the school year of 2014/2015. Since we both lived there in the same time, we decided to write a blog about our crazy experience together.

WHY ERASMUS IN LEEUWARDEN?

Well if we admit, we wanted to go to the Nederlands. We didn’t get much information about the study there so we choose a country that we liked the most.

Leeuwarden Centre

City Park

ABOUT THE FACULTY

The university we applied for is called Stenden University of Applied sciences. The school is international and you can find many different nationalities there, but mostly Dutch and Germans. Everyone can choose if they want to study in English or in Dutch language. The university is huge and modern. There is a room filled with apple computers that gave us an instant feeling we’re in a country that is ahead of time. There is also a thing one should know when study in the Nederlands. Their school system is not like ours. They start school in September and one semester is finished after 5 months, so in January. In one semester you choose 2 modules and within you have different classes. They also have a different style of studying. You do not have many lectures and you have to do everything by yourself. Everyday you get a lot of homework, which was really annoying since we were on exchange and wanted to do something else. They can put you in a 4th class but that does not matter, you still have to do the same amount of work as if you are their student from the begging.

We can conclude that the faculty was the only a bit negative experience during our stay, since we didn’t get much information about their school system.


STEREOTYPES, FIRST IMPRESSION, REALITY?

All Dutch people smoke weed. Probably a typical Dutch stereotype but it’s not true. Many of them haven’t even tried it yet.

The first thing you smell in Amsterdam is the smell of weed. Surprisingly true.

Dutch people are tall and have blue eyes. True. And they are also very slim; we think it’s because they ride a bike all the time.

They all ride a bike. Absolutely true. You can’t live there without a bike – it’s the first thing you have to buy at your arrival, not pots and pans. You can get cheap bikes since there are so many of them. Remember to buy a good lock! Manca’s first bike got stolen after 3 days, which happens often.

They wear wooden shoes. Hard to say, since you can see some people wearing them.


What we liked is that everyone can speak English, a young or an older person, no matter the age. They are very polite and always willing to help you with anything.

LOCAL CULTURE & HABITS

Stores are usually open till 6 p.m. and closed on Sundays. Lidl is the only supermarket open till 9 p.m. on a workday.

Dutch people are very patriotic. For example in a history book you can find many pages about good things they did and only a paragraph that describes their failure. The title of this blog post is actually a well-known and used phrase in the Nederlands.

They travel a lot. Holland is flat so basically they have to travel if they want to ski or have a nice holiday at the beach.

What we liked the most is how they don’t care about who you are or how you look/they don’t judge.

The biggest events in Holland are “Sinterklaas” and “Koningsdag”. “Sinterklaas” is the same as “Sveti Miklavž” in Slovenia, but they still celebrate it a little bit different. “Koningdag” or King’s day is a celebration for former Queen’s birthday. Now it’s a reason to get drunk and dress silly.

PLACES & ACTIVITIES

Leeuwarden is a small city in North of the Nederlands, there is not much to do. The school usually organizes activities. The best way to do something is to explore the city and it’s surrounding by bike. That’s how we found a nice park with windmills and a lake, where we spend our time and hang out with other Erasmus students.

CULINARY & STUDENT MEALS
Dutch people like junk food. “Kroket” is a typical fried dish that we didn’t really like. Pancakes there are not with Nutella but with cheese or bacon, or both with pineapple or rosins or whatever you want. Worth trying! They are crazy about cheese and we can tell it’s one of the best. Of course besides dishes you have to try the beer. “Hertog Jan” it is!

The school has one cafeteria where you can have a meal at a cheap price, at least cheaper than elsewhere. They have dishes like noodles, spaghetti or pancakes (with cheese of course).

ACCOMODATION

Yea… living in the student dorm can be a really funny thing that one must experience if going abroad as Erasmus. The University of Stenden has an agreement with a company called StudentStay. The company will contact you as soon as you apply to Stenden. It is an easy way to get accommodation. But somehow we got a feeling that they can take advantage since you are a foreign student who knows nothing about housing in Leeuwarden. We were living in a student dorm called Kanaalstraat. It was fun though, only foreign students lived there, so you can meet a lot of new people. But on the other hand, it was very expensive – 360€ per month, and definitely not worthy of the money. The rooms are shared (if you want to be alone in it is even more expensive (400€ +)). A shared bathroom with the whole floor, a shared kitchen with the whole floor… You can imagine that it could get very messy and the Student stay which was responsible for cleaning didn’t do much. But okay… we are all students and mostly we only want nice company, fun and parties every evening. And this is what Kanaalstraast definitely got us. Otherwise, if you are a “cleaning maniac” we suggest that if going to Leeuwarden, you pick something on your own. Apartments there can be really nice and if you are lucky even cheaper than student dorms. There are many Facebook groups where they offer you this kind of apartments.

And you can see how our dinners looked like:

NIGHT LIFE

Leeuwarden as a small city doesn’t have a lot of inhabitants. But it’s a student city so the nightlife is good over there. Not a lot of clubs though but those who are, are really good and mostly crowded – especially on days like Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. If you live in Kanaalstraat student dorm-there is also a big advantage that the city and the clubs are very close. You can walk there, because using a bike while going to club is not safe so DON’T DO THAT! Okay back to the clubs: There is a big, quite fancy club called RED, which is mostly full of young Dutch people, wildly dancing on TRAP and HOUSE music. Near this club is also a very big club called Shooters which is full of Erasmus and Dutch people dancing on Dutch music and Mariah Carey´s – All I want for Christmas is you. Close to those two clubs is a street with smaller pubs where can get very wild and crowded. Many times you have to wait in order to get inside but once you get in – is awesome!

For more alternative people there is a place called Gloppe which is a smaller club but with a nice atmosphere. Also there is Hemingway – a club for international students and with a nice international music and two smaller floors. And if you are not into club-going, the city is full of nice smaller pubs and coffee shops where people hang around. The city is also known for its music festivals that occur mostly during spring, but also in the fall. Dutch people really know how to party!

TRANSPORT
Bikes, bikes, bikes, bikes and once again… bikes! Sunny, windy, rainy, snowy, stormy… doesn’t matter – you ride a bike! While raining people get a rain coat and that’s it. They ride a bike in suits, with children, with animals, while doing big shopping in grocery stores. But as a foreign when going out of the grocery store, driving with two huge bags on your handlebar is also a fun experience. But okay, when it comes to going to other cities in the Netherlands, people usually use trains, which are very modern and on a good quality level but can be expensive – it depends on how far you want to go. Moreover, there is an international on-line site called Blabla car, where you can settle a car ride to the other city. It’s similar to our prevozi.org, but it’s even safer because you can see the profile and the comments of a driver. From Leeuwarden to Amsterdam this ride costs you 10 €, but the train is no less than 22€ one way. Also taxies there are really expensive so this was never an option for us. But let`s get back to our main ride – bike. While arriving to the Netherlands, you get one bike from a Facebook page called “garage sale” for about 50 – 100€ and this bike is yours till the end of living there. But don’t forget – buying a huge chain with which you can safely lock your bike is a must! Because stealing bikes is a hobby of many people over there. Where to park your ride? There are huge garages in front of every place where you can park your bike – but be careful, finding it between 3000 bikes can be really challenging!

Bikes in Amsterdam

COSTS

The Netherlands is expensive, that’s true. The accommodation and food costs can be very high if being compared to Slovenia. So buying food in Lidl and not eating out in a restaurant is something that people from Slovenia must do there in order to get through the month. Also, sometimes there are entrance fees for some clubs, and the drinks in there are also expensive – but it depends in which club you are. Many times, some pubs have happy hours where cocktails and other drinks can be really cheap and suddenly the place is full of international students. There are also some cards that you can get on which you can get a huge discount for different stuff – for example a discount on group for traveling with a train and many other services.

PROS and CONS

PROS – the Netherlands is a unique country, which has a beautiful landscape and endless plains. Bikes, parties, kindness of Dutch people, everyone speaking English, the openness for diversity, Erasmus family, flowers – all of this represents the Netherlands and living there.

CONS – Stenden University is not an easy faculty so one must be prepared to study and do homework. Living costs can also be inconvenient for Slovenian people.

And sadly… the weather especially during fall and winter we had almost no sun. There were 4 or 5 days in the month when there was a little bit of sun coming out from the clouds and you could see EVERYONE getting out from apartments and just chilling in the city park or siting in coffee shops. And there was also one con, which we found really annoying – there were those little trucks in every city with creepy dolls on it, playing circus music.

Overall impression – AWESOME, UNIQUE, FULL OF FRIENDLY PEOPLE EXPERIENCE.

Doeiiii!