Navigating the Netherlands

Hi all, Adam here, life in the Netherlands isn’t quite what I expected before coming. In the 2 months that I’ve here there’s been 100 different challenges that I’ve had to overcome from living in a hotel for a month to moving into a house infested with mice and while none of these have been easy to deal with and at certain points i was tempted to call it quits and just fly home I can easily say that I’m glad I persevered, because while there have been many downs there’s been twice as many ups. While staying in a hotel that long wasn’t as fun as you might think, it did have its advantages such as its proximity to the city. The hotel Marianhage wasn’t even a 5 minute walk from the city meaning that I got to explore a new part of it every day such as the huge parks and the amazing night life it offered. While not being able to cook my own food within the hotel was a huge hindrance it did give me the opportunity to try a new restaurant almost every day, things that I otherwise never would have tried.

The house that I moved into may have had mice but laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation helped me to deal with that and there was no better bonding experience than 3 of us getting each other anytime we wanted to go to the basement to wash our clothes.

The college itself has been great, I love all of my modules and the lecturers have been nothing but helpful. It’s the perfect course for those who are more interested in the marketing and business aspects of the food industry. I live almost an hour away from the college which can be annoying but there’s no shortage of entertainment at the train station.

While all of this might sound negative, I honestly don’t think I would change anything that has happened so far, adapting and making the best of every situation thrown at me has been a learning curve that ill never forget and some of the things I’ve learned here I’ll remember for life. Although for any future student reading this I definitely recommended getting accommodation through the college. Until next time, Adam