Honest Review: Living in The Netherlands (As A South African) | Living Abroad Diaries

hello everyone and welcome back to the channel my name is marai I am a 25-year-old South African attorney who moved to the Netherlands at the beginning of this year today's video is one I have been looking forward to for quite a while today I'm going to be giving a brutally honest review of life living in the Netherlands please note that we've only lived here for about 4 months so I don't think this is like a final review this is more like a initial Impressions review and I've divided my thoughts into two main segments the first one is the good and the second one is the challenges also I just want to preface this video with the fact that these are of course just my own personal opinions and experiences coming from South Africa to the Netherlands so please bear in mind that I have moved from a third world country to a first world country so that is obviously what the majority of my experiences will be based on um and also if you feel differently from me please don't be shy to share it in the comments so without further Ado we're going to get right into it let's go so first up the good the good for me is all about quality of life and quality of life has three main component components you have your physical you have your mental and your Social and honestly so far my expectations on all three aspects have been made and exceeded physically the Netherlands is a place where physical activity is incorporated into everyday aspects for example I walk to the grocery store I take a small run to my rock climbing gym because everything is very accessible and flat so it's not too tough to get around I think it's a very healthy and important part of a lifestyle that you're able to move during your day and not just sedentary or or driving from point A to point B like I used to in South Africa so I think that's a big plus for us here I have spoken in more detail about this in my while we move to the Netherlands video so please don't be shy to check that one out after this I'd also say that it seems like the general lifestyle here is a lot more healthy than in South Africa I haven't really met a person around my age who doesn't go to the gym or doesn't partake in some type of team sport so it's a really nice and refreshing change that everybody is pretty interested in invested in their health and well-being I also want to add a really big component for me which is both physical as well as mental is the safety that I've experienced here in the four months that I've lived here I haven't felt unsafe even once which is unfortunately a really star contrast to how my days were spent in South Africa I can't remember a day that I have lived in South Africa where I wasn't worried about my safety and concerned for my well-being I've noticed that since not having to worry about my safety so often I have had so much personal space opened up in my mind I just have time now to think about other more uplifting and building things I honestly feel like my personality has maybe even changed in that regard it's made me a warmer person to strangers a little bit more trusting a little bit more friendly and more likely to engage with new people whereas in the past if someone comes around you kind of just want to keep to your own and get to your destination as quickly as possible and that's been so amazing and I smile about that every single day hello everyone this is future editing me I've been going through the footage and I feel like I've not done it justice I want to tell you a story of what happened to me while I was working in Cape Town as you know I am an attorney and part of my job encompassed having to go to High Court a lot on one particular day I went out walking and I wasn't as focused as I usually would be because I had just received my wedding photos and this was about a month into my working in Cape Town and I actually got assaulted they tried to rip my graduation gift necklace off of my neck while I was standing in the middle of the day 30 m from the entrance to my firm and I managed to get it and managed to escape the situation but ever since that happened I just felt so unsafe walking around and working in that area it took up so much energy and space in my mind every day that I walk alone here is kind of like a really really positive experience for me probably if I'm being really honest the best part of the move here for me also on the mental component I was really fortunate to do this move with a really amazing supportive and communicative husband and partner and I think that makes a really big difference in in terms of how you experience life here it's been quite important to have someone there who's just a confidant and someone who's understanding exactly what you're going through and is supporting you in the ways that you need there is a saying in Dutch which I recently learned because I am in Dutch lessons at the moment um but it goes something like FAL the smart is Hal fear the smart which translates to Shared misery is half misery and I definitely think having a partner in crime when it comes to something like this makes it a lot more fun and light-hearted the third and final component of quality of life is social and if I'm being really honest this was probably the component that I was most worried about coming here and not knowing anyone having to make new friends from scratch moving to a foreign country you are kind of aware beforehand of the fact that making new friendships is probably going to be very slow in the beginning and I also had some people point out in other videos that knowing one or two South Africans who live here isn't necessarily going to be enough to meet that social expectation or need that you have and I just want to say that I am so pleasantly surprised by how wrong I was I feel like being an expert automatically makes you part of a community that comprises of the best aspects of humanity and I'm not just talking about South Africans I'm kind of talking about anybody who is an exper there's a sense of camaraderie and understanding and banding together because you're in the situation together but people are so friendly and we've already started to make some great new friends so I'm very thankful in that regard but I will also say South Africans are a different breed we really just stick together in a way that I hadn't anticipated or expected I'm I did not think upon my moving here that I would be friends with more South Africans than Dutch people but that seems to be the case I've been so busy making new friends reconnecting with old ones um getting to know acquaintances it feels like my social calendar hasn't really dropped in terms of its busyness since moving this side because everyone is so Keen to make friends and to have things to do so yeah I definitely s made friends they're just not as Dutch as I'd hope to be I will say though that I do intend on infiltrating the Dutch I've kind of noticed and I can also really understand understand this that if you don't speak Dutch then it's going to be a little bit harder to crack a Friendship Circle I mean if I think back to South Africa if you're in a group of Africans speaking people it's kind of it's not that it's inconvenient but it is a little bit more easy to speak with someone who's also Africans as opposed to everyone in the group having to switch over to English so I think that's probably a barrier to friendships and that is why I'm enrolled in a class so the next fact I'm going to discuss is how small and how easy it is to get around the Netherlands first of all for those of you who don't know the Netherlands is a pretty small country you can basically travel from the one side to the other in I think around 3 hours which is really quick and and what that means for us living here is you really get the opportunity to get to know your entire country without having to sit in a car for 10 hours or without having to board a flight domestically um and it's been really nice for us going out and tasting different spots in the Netherlands over the weekends which is completely possible even just for the day because everything is so conveniently close each city has its own unique and distinct personality and charm and it's really nice to get to know the different Vibes furthermore everything is pretty access able especially if you have a o chip card which is a card that you use to board the train in the Netherlands and especially if you have a subscription for the weekend free package which means that you basically get to go where you want in the Netherlands for free over the weekends my personal favorite spot that I've stopped at so far was definitely denha I went to vote there for our South African um national election and we went to Shena I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly but the beach right by denh and I was so impressed by it it was so nice and warm and it didn't really feel like the Netherlands so that was a really amazing experience up next we have the challenges I think in life it's unrealistic to expect something to be purely good or purely bad so of course with a change like this there are going to be components that are more like challenges the first challenge that really stands out for my husband and I is definitely our access to Nature coming from South Africa which I think is very well known for its picturesque mountains and beaches and wine farms and just trails to run over the weekend I think the biggest shock has probably been the lack of those resources and also to get used to the flatness back in South Africa on every available weekend my husband and I would be out in the Mountain hiking a new route or running a new Trail and almost every day that the weather was warm enough we would be in the ocean and in summer that would be every day and in the winter that would be probably every third or fourth day but I will say that the beautiful parks and the rivers flowing through them are definitely a consolation prize but that is probably the physical thing that has been the hardest to adjust to the Second Challenge which I don't think is a surprise is the fact that you are far from family and friends and I know I said earlier that I've made a lot of new friends here but I think sometimes you are lonely for a specific type of people only and that is usually like your closest friends and your closest family and of course not being able to be near them especially when things happen like for example death in the family which we recently had it's unfortunately pretty tough to be so far away I will also say that I am really close with my family and missing Milestones like birthdays or seeing my nephews grow up it's quite sad but consolation prize again at least we now have things like FaceTime and video call and WhatsApp which make you feel a lot more connected and I still feel like I know what's going on in everyone's lives even though I'm sitting 5,000 km away the last thing I'll also say on that is the move here kind of creates a vacuum in which you exist where nobody who's still living in South Africa can really relate to you or understand what you're going through and that kind of creates distance in a very unexpected way I didn't think that would happen that's also been an interesting thing to navigate trying to stay relatable to the people living there when you're going through very different problems over there there are complaining about water being off for 8 hours on end or not having power for 4 hours on end and this side We complain about how bad the weather is or the lack of nature which I think are two completely different planets to be living on staying relatable and just trying to find connection points has been really important but also quite challenging I will say third is taxes and listen I don't really think I should be complaining because coming from South Africa where you pay 45% tax on income and don't see anything for it is really demoralizing so at least here when you pay tax you can actually see where it goes like the Netherlands always has power none of their roads as far as I have seen have potholes and yeah basically everything is working the way that it should but I will say that one challenge for us has been how expensive it is to own a car we've considered getting one but it is so expensive to have a car especially a car that isn't an EC car which we don't want I feel like they add extra tax on that someone please correct me in the comments I think you'll definitely know more we've postponed that until we feel like it's absolutely necessary and we've remained on the track trains I think that is the netherlands' tactic they purposefully want to deter people from getting their own cars and rather making use of the public transportation so I guess it's a pro and a con because I'm really grateful for the public transportation that there is but we were quite surprised by how expensive those taxes were the final challenge can hardly be a surprise to anyone either and that is the weather I will say that in general because I was so thoroughly warned about how horrible the weather is here that I wasn't too disappointed when I got here but I will still say that the weather as a whole is a challenge to get used to because it's not like it really ever rains outrageous downpours for days on end it's just constantly waet that's the best way to describe it there's always this little drizzle hanging out and I think that gets taken used to especially when you come from a country that is really privileged in getting Sunshine but let's also face it northern Europe isn't known for its picturesque weather and I knew this when I was signing up for the move so it's hardly something that I complain about um it's just more something that takes I'm getting used to you can actually feel the deficiency in vitamin D and we are taking supplements for it in conclusion I think it's really important to note that in this world where you have really little control about a lot that goes on one of the few things that you are always an absolute control over is yourself and the things that you think you may not be able to change the situation that you are in but you are able to change how you react to it so I think it's really important before you make a move like this to have a very serious conversation about the type of person you want to be toward yourself and the types of things you're going to choose to focus on if you come into something like this already being miserable already saying it's going to be awful then you can hardly be surprised if it isn't a massive success and on the contrast if you come into it just being hopeful and positive and finding small joys in every day it's likely to be a bigger success and good things are more likely to come across your way and also don't be shy to see a therapist if you want someone to give you tools on how to improve the way that you talk to yourself or the way that you perceive life and I can honestly say in final comments that the past couple of months have really been some of the best months of my entire life and I don't want you to romanticize my life there have been serious setbacks during this move disappointments and even heartbreak as I mentioned death in the family power is all up here and it's all up to you on what you choose to make of it all right so that's the end of this video if you're still here you might as well like And subscribe down below to join this really cool family of super friendly people and I hope you have a lovely day and I'll see you in the next one bye [Music]

Channel: Marté Barnard

Views: 8,223

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Id: o0xh2Smx9-g

Length: 12min 58sec (778 seconds)

Published: Sun May 26 2024