Brits Abroad: A Guide to Being a Brit in The Netherlands

Let me just start by saying that moving to The Netherlands to study is, by far, one of the best decisions I have ever made. Coming from a very international background, I always knew that I wanted to move abroad when I graduated high school; the same as my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother before me. Studying International Communications in a school as diverse as the Hanze is an amazing opportunity to meet people from all over the world and all different walks of life, and I have genuinely never felt like I belong more than I do here. But if you really wanted to hear all of this you can find whole pages of testimonials on the Hanze website, and when do you know me to gush out positivity? So therefore today I’m going to ramble on about the weirdest things you would never expect about being a Brit in The Netherlands:

No matter how interesting you are, your accent is always the most exciting thing about you…

Bein a norfen gal like maself, my accent has never been something to be desired before now. Yet somehow here the slur of over-pronounced diphthongs mixed with a confusing amount of glottal stops* creates an accent weirdly adored by the Dutch. Getting complimented on it by drunk revellers in the city centre is one thing, but I genuinely cannot count the amount of times grown-ups have come up to me in cafes, shops and even on the street to talk to me simply about the way I speak!

If you don’t already, you need to watch Geordie Shore.

And I’ll explain why. Great Britain is a country known internationally for its respected cultural institutions; the BBC, the Royal Ballet, Shakespeare to name but a few. Or so I thought. However apparently in a student town such as Groningen, British culture is essentially purely the MTV show portraying a group of orange-skinned, embarrassingly wild party goers from the North East of England. Almost always when you tell an under 30 of your British origin you will be questioned on your feelings towards Gaz and Charlotte, so if you’re planning to move here you really should do your research.

You’re going to know a lot of Germans. And you’re going to love them.

Every Brit knows the Dutch are a cool breed of people, and I was told this fact countless times before I arrived. However what I was never expecting was the instant and real connection I would have with my awesome group of German friends. My whole body cringes every time I recollect the incident where I, blinded by my frustration with the language and the completely unfair stereotype we attach to the culture, ranted to my German teacher for a good ten minutes about the lack of importance that learning German had; “I’ll never need German”, “I most certainly will not work in Germany”, “Are you serious? No, I won’t have German mates”. Sorry thirteen-year-old me, but you were, along with your interest in scrunchies and mood rings, completely off base with that one.

All in all, moving to another country is never what you see in the movies. And that’s what makes it so great.

Until next time,

Celia

*the sound we use instead of the ‘t’ in words- google it, it’s really interesting!