{"id":100459,"date":"2019-07-10T17:02:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T15:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=100459"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:23","slug":"in-a-weird-way-dutch-people-are-more-open-and-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/07\/10\/in-a-weird-way-dutch-people-are-more-open-and-real\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018In a weird way, Dutch people are more open and real\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an international student, you have a lot to take in when you move to Rotterdam. Not only do you move to a new country, you start a new study as well, and you don\u2019t know anyone else. How do international students acclimate to the Dutch culture, and how do they make new friends? To find out, EM is taking internationals to Dutch tourist destinations this summer.<\/p>\n

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Dutch culture<\/h2>
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The twenty-year-old IBA student Helena Aires de Campos, moved to Rotterdam in September 2018. Together, we visited a typical Dutch place, namely the New Church in Delft (this is where the royal family is buried after their demise). Helena is originally from Portugal, a country with a lot of churches. She pointed out how different the architecture of the New Church was from the churches in Southern Europe, and how she liked the abundant glass stained windows.<\/p>\n

When Helena moved to Rotterdam, she found herself in a completely different culture. \u201cI like the Lisbon culture, but on the other side I also like the Dutch culture. In a weird way, the Dutch people are more open and real: they will tell the truth and aren\u2019t fake. It is also completely acceptable not to speak Dutch. In Portugal, not even attempting to speak Portuguese would be seen as an offence, since you are not trying to integrate with the culture. Here, no one minds, they are still nice to you.\u201d Helena feels elements of both cultures comforting. \u201cEven if you are born in a certain culture, that culture isn\u2019t always the best for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The food in the Dutch culture is another aspect that took some getting used to. Helena both likes the Dutch cuisine, and finds it confusing. \u201cI absolutely love bitterballen<\/em>, I\u2019ve eaten a lot of them. Oliebollen\u00a0<\/em>are also really good, I gained so many pounds during the Christmas period\u201d, she laughs. \u201cSome things that really confuse me though are sparkling ice tea and hagelslag<\/em>. I had never heard of sparkling ice tea before I got here, and hagelslag<\/em> (chocolate sprinkles) are just such a weird concept to me, where did that come from?\u201d<\/p>\n

Making new friends<\/h2>

Even though Helena didn\u2019t go to the introduction events of the university, she made a lot of new friends in Rotterdam. The means of social media also helped with that according to her. \u201cInstead of going to freshmen weekend, I posted a message in the IBA WhatsApp group if anyone wanted to hang out. Together with some other students who weren\u2019t going to freshmen weekend, I went to Rotterdam centre to explore the city a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next to exploring Rotterdam, Helena hasn\u2019t really seen a lot of the Netherlands so far. \u201cI only went to Amsterdam, which was when my family came to visit me, not even because I wanted to see the Netherlands for myself.\u201d Therefore, when Helena and I went to visit the New Church, I could explain her a bit about the history of the Dutch royal family, while she could point out architectural facts about the church. A good match to spend the afternoon together.<\/p>\n

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Although Helena has made a lot of new friends, almost none of them are Dutch. \u201cIt\u2019s not that I don\u2019t like Dutch people, it\u2019s more that it is hard to connect in Dutch groups. When there are no other people around, they obviously speak Dutch, while with my international friends, we always speak English. But next to the Dutch weather, there is nothing that I don\u2019t like about the Netherlands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helena definitely recommends studying in Rotterdam to other international students. \u201cRotterdam is a nice city for students and the university also helps you to make friends, for instance through the mentoring programme. So far, this has been one of the best years of my life. You keep meeting new, open, interesting and intelligent people and places, Rotterdam really is a nice place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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