hey everyone welcome back to my Channel today I'll be talking about some of the
aspects that first gave me culture shock when moving to the Netherlands
coming from California I'm accustomed to very topography like mountain ranges and valleys
hey I didn't even have to listen to what she's gonna say when she started talking about Cali
mountains I'm like okay um Netherlands is dead flat I mean that thing's black right so yeah
that's definitely something right there I think maybe if she actually explored America a little
bit more though she probably wouldn't have that issue because Carolina South Carolina man like
you know we all the way down here in the south of Florida probably too so I think but definitely
California is different bro when it comes to comparing that to the Lego life I can definitely
understand her point right out of the game by how flat the country is right however it wasn't until
I landed in triple airport and I learned that we were four meters below sea level the realization
hit me that much harder especially when I got into the car and I saw the The Horizon stretch out for
miles that was pretty shocking for me but after some time living here I came to realize this was
a pretty irrational fear especially when I learned that the Dutch are excellent at Water Management
and have great engineering skills and this allowed me to learn better about flood barriers Dunes
dikes and the canals that the Dutch have been working on for centuries so at this point in time
it doesn't freak me out but at first it did let's move on to Dutch birthday parties so the first
time I experienced one I was really confused and slightly embarrassed for myself at Dutch birthday
parties it's standard to say congratulations or felici tiert to the celebrant and to every guest
present honestly after some time going to parties you get used to it you come in you say Felicity so
yeah it was a bit awkward for me at first but now it's just second nature however it wasn't
the congratulations that made me embarrassed for myself it was the infamous birthday circles
basically all the guests did in a chair formed in a circle and the circle doesn't have to be
perfect and it doesn't matter where the party is hosted be it a garden in a venue or whatever
the point is that you go around the circle and you congratulate everyone you take a seat you
get some cake and the whole experience can be with complete strangers that you've never met it can be
incredibly fun but I will be completely candid with you it can also be traumatizing because
before I experience my first Dutch birthday party of course I did research beforehand I talked to
my Dutch friends about it to get there see uh uh I love that I love what you just said she
did researches beforehand and she spoke with her Dutch friends guys it's really important
no matter what country you're moving to or visiting or whatever you got to do some
research about the country and you just have to socialize with people from the country I hate to
inform you that it's really dumb if you move to a country or visit a country and you know nothing
about the country and for crying out loud don't just stick to researches researchers sometimes
are not that accurate it's best to have somebody who's Hands-On who's experienced it beforehand
to actually give you a nice guide throughout whatever you're trying to learn about culture
or the country itself just take your time man and you'll have a great time if you actually
do that one important thing just to learn about what you're going to be doing or what you need
to know before you enter you know what I'm trying to say just get done either way you'll be article
input and I'm telling you there's no way that you can prepare for this at least this was my
experience like everything that I read about took place but actually being there presently
physically in person there's no way I could prepare for it there just wasn't so this brings
me to the next topic which is every first Monday of the month a warning alarm goes off around noon
time and this is a warning alarm for any emergency or natural disaster this is what it sounds like
the first time I experienced this was truly terrifying I was at home fast asleep because I
pulled an all-nighter doing my school thesis and as soon as the alarm went off I jerked out of my
sleep I ran downstairs nothing was happening people were going about their day I went back
inside and then it hit me and I realized oh today is the first Monday of the month so this
is probably the practice alarm how how did I not put this on my calendar whenever my International
Friends come to visit the Netherlands one of the first questions they come to ask me is Hannah why
do the Dutch keep their blinds open what I've heard from Dutch people I'm close to is that
open curtains means you have nothing to hide so essentially this stems from Calvinism where good
honest decent people had nothing yeah nothing to hide I've grown to keep my curtains open we all
know that the Netherlands is not the sunniest of countries it rains a lot it can be gloomy and I
just want to let in as much sunlight as possible moving on to Cargo bikes and buck feeds so let me
take a step back a cargo bike is essentially what it sounds like it kind of looks like a wheelbarrow
it's very popular in the Netherlands and you use it to transport Goods I was really shocked by what
was being transported it wasn't just groceries or things of that nature it was furniture and
appliances and that was quite shocking for me only because okay so hear me out only because
my biking skills had not been that great here and having moved to Amsterdam there's a lot
of tourists there's a lot of locals and it can feel a bit intimidating uh biking and adhering
to all these different bike rules that I was never accustomed to so when I saw people with these bug
feeds and they had this huge amount of things I thought to myself wow that I don't know if that's
something I could ever do last but certainly not least is the Dutch directness from my personal
experience Dutch people are not shy to voice their opinions and for a lot of foreigners this can take
some time to get used to especially depending on what culture you come from so so an example I can
give is if you ask you know hey what do you think of my outfit do you think it looks nice what you
should expect a a pretty straight on response obviously this doesn't mean all every single
Dutch person would you know bluntly tell you how they feel but from my experience yes if you ask
a question you should be somewhat prepared for the truth so if you don't want to know don't ask
I think that cultural shock is a normal part of visiting or moving to a new country and I think
the longer that you stay in a place you'll be able to adapt to your surroundings the traditions and
the culture and sometimes it takes time and let's not forget that the experience can be different
for each and every different person so while sometimes I can find the Dutch directness quite
endearing I have a few International Friends that don't necessarily think the same and that's okay
so my advice is if you travel or visit a new country to come with an open mind to
be flexible and to do your research learn about the Traditions learn about the customs and yeah
do your best I can't I can't I can't but agree with what she's saying because obviously research
important very important but um you gotta have an open mind towards um you know what you're
going to experience while socializing with um these people like if you're not a social person
well good for you right because I think anywhere in this world that I go I likely have a little
um you know form of interactions with a lot of people because I'm just not the
social bird who's gonna just be all excited I'll talk to you but I'm not going to have
a super long conversation with you just randomly out of the Wild Woods right but
um a lot of us we just like to talk random stuff right so we just got to do what we got
to do to you know prepare ourselves for that like I personally am 100 for this straightforward vibe
that the Netherlands promises that the Dutch folks uh say they do or um visitors say that Dutch folks
do I'm all for it I loved it because it I did like she said why would you ask a question and
um if you if you're not expecting a certain type of answer well don't ask it bro because if you
cannot take the truth don't ask it's just that simple right but uh we put ourselves in a lot of
situations sometimes and then we blame the person uh on the other end so uh yeah that's kind of
wacky but um yeah Dutch folks keep being you and all the folks going to the Netherlands to visit or
to live hey man just do what you got to do and uh uh get to know the country and uh you'll be fine
like this girl said leave the voice guys I gotta get out of here man uh on to the next one peace