10 Reasons Why I Love the Netherlands (As an American)

From Dutch directness to the world's happiest kids—here are ten things I love about living in the Netherlands.

🙋‍♂️About me: I'm originally from California and have lived in the Netherlands for 4 years (Amsterdam & Maastricht).

🔸 If you live in the Netherlands, I'd love to hear your story and interview you about your experiences.

⏰ CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:21 Doe Normaal (Be normal)
02:44 Dutch Directness
04:50 Work-life Balance
07:27 Beautiful Country
09:37 “Church space”
10:20 Bike Culture
11:40 Public Transportation
12:25 Amazing English
13:32 Safety
14:46 Easy to Travel
15:36 Conclusion

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😁 WHO AM I?
I'm David, a Californian living in Amsterdam. I make videos about life in the Netherlands, hiking/traveling, and the Camino de Santiago.

#lifeinthenetherlands #livinginthenetherlands #thenetherlands

[hidavidwen]

What do you like about the Netherlands? 🧡🇳🇱

[Memecoinwizard]

More than anything we Dutch people love hearing from others how awesome our country is. Kudos to you 😊

[A_Casual_NPC]

One thing I feel you missed about being homeless in the Netherlands is that, compared to many other countries) us that they're treated as actual human beings and for better or worse get the help they're able or want to get.

I was homeless for just over a year when I was 19. I had depression and a massive addiction. Within 2 weeks of losing my old student room, I had a room in a homeless shelter, yes an actual room to myself. I got fed 3 times a day, could go and leave whenever I wanted and there was even a room where things like needles where handed out and people could use drugs under the supervision of a trained nurse. There always was a team nearby to help me with things like keeping my room clean to filing taxes and applying for rehab. I still feel I was the one who pulled myself out of homelessness, but could never have done that without the care the Netherlands offers to their homeless population.

[rikdanko]

Being dutch you tend to forget the good things of your country, and focus on everything that is bad or wrong. Your video opened my eyes again on the good stuff and made me proud of my country and my people again. Thank you!

[paulvanhooijdonk]

As for working overtime in the Netherlands: Most of us are ok to work extra hours if it is really needed and if it is effective (like close to an important deadline), but not when it would be a 'regular' excercise, that would just be considered as 'bad planning' and 'not my problem'.

[martijnkeisers]

As a Dutch person you almost made me blush.
We ourselves seem to forget sometimes what a great country we live in. Thank you!

[madscimaddog]

I spent 4 years in Sweden, and many of the things you describe are also true there. (I am American as well.) Nearly everyone speaks English, minimal choice of consumer products (which is just fine), work-life balance, ease of travel, lots of bikes, over-achieving is not considered a virtue, etc. I was so sad to come back to the US, and the culture shock was severe.

[mahler]

Hi David, the Dutch also speak English (and other languages) so well, because all tv programs and movies in foreign languages are subtitled in Dutch, while the UK, USA, Germany, France f.i. all dub their movies. That helps the learning a lot.

[annekekramer]

"Doe normaal" is the short version of "Doe maar normaal, dan doe je al gek genoeg", meaning "When you act normal you are already crazy enough", meaning pretty much what you explain in the video :-)

[Controleyo]

Left The Netherlands 7 years ago to live in Thailand. I love to live in Thailand but when I saw your video, it almost made me cry, missing my home country. Thank you ❤

[kacperm]

One of the best things in the Netherlands is the energy of the people. A couple years ago when I lived in this country I couldn't even talk in english due to my low level of speaking and comprehension. And I still felt very comfortable, peaceful and happy amongst the people - like a cat :D They radiate positive energy. And I felt like "more myself" than in my own country because their mentality, positive attitude, not-judging was contagious and reflected on me. I really can't wait to return to this beautiful country.

[christophdenner]

I'm Austrian and I love the Netherlands. I visit Amsterdam at least once every year, this year I visited also Rotterdam. The people are friendly, open, I like their energy and the architecture is so incredibly charming. However, Amsterdam can be a bit of an overload due to massive overtourism. During lockdown, I started learning Dutch (which is not very difficult for a German native speaker) and I'm frequently getting my news from Dutch newspapers now. I consider looking for a job in the Netherlands and moving there.

[dylandicks]

Recently moved to the Netherlands from South Africa. I am utterly inlove with the Netherlands. Sure, vad weather and all, but everything here is 100x better than in my home country.

I love that even if it rains, people still walks their dogs, ride their bicycle and go to the gyms. It is amazing.

[Haeruna]

I feel like in the Netherlands when someone (or I) ask what someone does for a job its more to know about the things we can talk about, even if you answer with a job that is usually looked down upon in other countries, like Truck Driver for example, they won't judge you and instead ask if its hard, whether you like it, why you started doing it etc. instead of acting like its such a bad job to have.

[hantek]

Well said, nice video! I lived in another country (Turkey) for 24 years and after that I moved to the NL. The nicest thing I noticed is how friendly and kind people are. For example saying hi to the bus driver, thanking the cashier in a shop, wishing the waiter a good day in a restaurant, greeting people passing by while walking on the street etc. I was really not used to this kind of behaviour and I was positively surprised.

[FernandoFerreira-ivew]

I am Dutch (from the Caribbean part of the Netherlands) and while doing my MBA in Pittsburgh I had a B average which was the requirement, but than my dean told me that I was an underachiever and I asked why? He told me to go for the A's, which I did, straight A's for the rest of the MBA program. Back home when applying for jobs no one ever asked to see my grades, you graduated that was always enough.

[metalboy]

I am a Dutch person from the North Eastern side of the Netherlands and i hope you also come to visite our side of the Netherlands where we have beautiful nature. People in the North East are even more of the "Doe maar normaal" than the rest of the country. I really would recommend you would visit Friesland, Drenthe and Groningen for its beautiful sights.

[Shade.]

I am Dutch (I grew up in Maastricht actually) but currently living abroad. What I've experienced is that, as someone with social anxiety and crippling insecurity, the Dutch directness is liberating indeed: I don't have to worry so much about what people might think of me or my work (which of course tends to drift off into the worst case scenario based on my own insecurities), because they'll just tell me to my face and I'll know exactly where I stand.
I greatly prefer the clarity and actionable improvement points negative feedback gives me, over the endless pondering and doubt.

[yowo]

I agree so much about the directness/egalitarian society part. I'm a university student and during a lecture a professor was talking about some of his own research and a student raised his hand and asked some very critical questions about the procedures, the interpretation of results and the relevancy of his research to the course we were taking. The professor was totally cool about it, tried to answer his questions as best as he could but also was upfront about things he would need to check over again. In the end he also thanked the student for the questions as he said it was good to be critical and evaluative of your own research. Really nice and eyeopening experience during the lecture, it made me respect the professor (and the student as well) a lot more.

[jamieepf]

I feel like the being honest part in the Netherlands is that we find honest communication so important! We would rather have someone tell everything that's on their mind than keeping secrets. Honesty is such a great way to learn and grow from each other. I love how direct we are haha!