Erasmus Experience in Amsterdam, Netherlands by Oton

Why did you choose to go to Amsterdam, Netherlands?

Alway I had sympathy towards Benelux and Scandinavian countries because of their liberal adittute and their working habits. I grew up in conservativ Balkan country where majority of people are close minded. That is why I always wanted to develop my career in west/north part of Europe. I applied to some Internship tenders and at the end I ended up here in Amsterdam :)

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

I recived 1530E for 3 months long internship. I recived 80% in advance and other 20% I should get when I come back to Croatia and send to Erasmus office report of my internship with all signatures needed.

What is the student lifestyle like in Amsterdam?

Well I am working for one start up compay as a Legal assistant Intern so I can't answer on this question as someone who had experience with classic student exchange program. But according to my experience I can say that in Amsterdam there are a lot of students from all over the world. Interesting fact is that Netherlands has the agreement with their ex cocolonies aboout education. People from those countries has the right to study in Netherlend with the same condition as Dutch citizens. That is the reason why you can find a lot of students from St. Martin, Curacao, Atuba etc. I am mentioning this because for me as a person from Croatia it is exotic and super cool to talk, hang out and just hear life stories from that persons.

Would you recommend the city and the University of Amsterdam to other students?

Everytime to everyone! Come here and have a time of your life! :)

What is the food like?

Here it is popular to eat a bread and carbs a lot in general. Some classic Dutch meal would be bread with something on top or just potatos with ketchup or something similar to that. I was born and raised in Croatia on combination of Mediteran/continental cusin. I am telling you that because for me their native food wasn't so attractive. But also from the other side I enjoy in Dutch native food because I like to try new types of food. And also every day I am preparing at home what I like :)

Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Amsterdam?

It is big problem to find accommodation in Amsterdam. There are a lot of people from all over the world that wants to live and work in Amsterdam. Life standard is here really good so it is understandeble. First two weeks I was living in Den Haag and traveling to the work every day by a train. After two weeks one of my co-workers offered me to live with him in Amsterdam so I decided to move here. I would like give a advice to everyone to book hostel here for 3-4 days because it is much easier to find accommodation from here than from Facebook groups because people here are more likely to rent a room to someone who they can meet in person.

How much does it cost to live in Amsterdam?

Accommodation and rent is really expensive here. Prices in supermarket are good, I would say that they are even cheaper from Croatia(becuase they dont have big taxes on the food). But if you are going to eat in some restoraunt specially in city centar expect high prices!

Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available at the University?

Working languange in my company is English so I didn't have need to learn Dutch. Also Dutch people has high level of English languange in general. I was really suprised few times when I heared English level of older people as well.

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to Amsterdam from your city?

Without second of thinking I would say bicycle. Public transpotation is expensive here and also during the night you are limited with your movement. After midnight night buses go every one hour and only on special locations.Also one ride in night bus cost 5 euros. Here it is popular to go literally everywhere with a bike and it dosen't matter is it hot, cold, summer or winter.

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in Amsterdam?

I would recommend to go to Leidseplein. It is par full of bars and night clubs and also it is close to Dam square(main square). There you can find everything from bars, coffeeshops, places to eat etc.
I would personally recommend Hilstreet bluse. It is cool place in city center where during 19-21 h you have happy hour where ou can take half of drafted beer for 3 Euros what is really good price for Amsterdam city center. It is full with young people from all over the world so for sure you will not be bored there if you are.

And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Amsterdam?

As I said it already it is really expensive to eat in resaurants. Usually when I would eat something outside of my home it would be kebab(5Eur) or Turkish pizza(1.5-3Eur). We usually go to city centar(across Hillstreet bluse) where one girl from work has an apartmant and there we would cook something to eat before we would go out. Cool fact is that girl is from Italy/Sicily so we had oportunity to eat and enjoy in authentic Italian food :)

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

Netherlad is famous for beautiful landscape and liberal culture so there are a lot of things that you can visit. You can visit all kind of museums from Van Gogh museum to all kind of sex and drugs museums. For sure you can find something for you! :)

Is there any other advice that you could give to students going to Amsterdam in the future?

Don't freak out if you don't find accommodation in advance. Come here, book hostel for few days and search accommodation from here it is much easier. Also I would recommend to buy a bike first day when you come here. It is going to make your life much easier. Also go out of your comfort zone and have fun guys!! :)