Article by Molly (Thien Minh Begu)
1st-year student at Creative Business
Hello, I am Molly, 1-st year student at Creative Business. Every since I moved to the Netherlands, I’ve noticed the differences between my expectation about the Dutch culture and how it really is in reality. Today I’d like to share with you the few things that I believe very interesting and might be useful. Enjoy the read!
1. About the weather
People have always complained about how terrible the Dutch weather is, that it rains all the time and the wind is such a hater of bikers. It’s not wrong but the Dutch weather is much more than just heavily rainy and windy. The rain, indeed, happens a lot, but very quickly. You can experience sudden rains anytime during the day, but after only 5 to 10 minutes, the sky is gonna be bright right back. It has to said that the sunny weather in the Netherlands is beyond perfect, you will see sunshine and winds gently fondling, the sky is purely blue, and if you are creative, you can expect many shapes out of the white clouds floating above. Imagining yourself going on a picnic in such weather, I cannot think of any way better to spend a day.
2. Dutch people are rude
Before going to the Netherlands, I read a lot about the Dutch people to prepare myself and to integrate easier. “Dutch people are rude” seems to be an important point as it’s repeated on mostly every page. In fact, Dutch people are not rude, they are very direct. I met lots of people, classmates, professors, supermarket cashiers, landlords, etc and they are all super straight forward in communicating. I was a bit scared and uncomfortable at the beginning as I thought they hate me, or the things I did were wrong. However, when I get to know them better, I see that it’s not that they are rude and impolite, they just say right to the point what they are thinking in their head, the main messages they want to give, the way they want things to be done. They don’t care much about how you would think or try to flatter you. This is indeed a cultural shock, you’re gonna be surprised at first, but then when you are a part of the community, you will see how sweet and honest Dutch people are.
3. Dutch people are stingy
Have you ever heard about the term “Going Dutch”? It refers to a concept that Dutch people are cheap. However, this is just bias and misconception. The Netherlands is a developed country, people having quite high life quality, but they are financially careful. People living in the Netherlands don’t spend money when it’s unnecessary, they want to make the best use of the resources. For example, they will not buy something when entering a shop just because of the thought that it might be weird to go in, have a look and go out, they will spend money on what they actually need. In Dutch, there are two terms that can be used in this case: “zuinig” and “gierig”, which means “economical” and “stingy”, so now you see the differences.
4. Everything is scheduled
The Dutch are, in fact, very organized. They schedule specific plans and time slots for everything, from the important appointment such as with the bank or with the municipality to casual events like hanging out for a picnic, coming over dinner, or making a call. Don’t be so surprised if one day you just call a friend and ask if they want to hang out and hear their response as “Sounds good! We can meet from 2 pm until 4 pm because I’m busy before and after that!”. It might seem inconvenient at the beginning, but when you’re familiar with it, you will see scheduling is actually very helpful, there will be no worries about being rush or afraid some plans can be overlapped.
5. Wearing clogs, living in windmills and flat field of tulips,
This may not be a very popular expectation, but some still have. Before coming here, I was so surprised as I thought people actually wear wooden shoes (so-called clogs), living in windmills in a field of tulips. This expectation is far wrong to reality. Dutch people don’t wear clogs, they don’t live in the windmills and they are not on the tulips field all the time. Normal life is what you can expect, with people wearing simple yet very fashionable clothes and living in beautiful houses with their self-grown garden. There are still breathtaking tulips fields and windmill, but they are outside the city and people don’t live there. If you wish to see the Netherlands as aesthetic as in paintings, you will still be satisfied. The country is incredibly charming in every corner, houses are covered with flowers as if they are in the fairy tales and wall drawings on the street are definitely an endless interest.