Reaction To 10 Reasons Why I Love the Netherlands (As an American)

today I'm going to be watching this video it's called 10 reasons why I love the Netherlands as an American so it's nice to see people's experience coming from another country to live in the Netherlands see what they love about it as I mentioned I'm from the UK I've lived in different countries in Asia I there's a lot of things I love about these countries I've lived in China Thailand Malaysia and there's a lot of variation in those countries a lot of things I love but I watched one of his videos before I like the way he presents it's just interesting to see his opinion and you can tell me what you think about them or his reasons as a Dutch person I never thought I'd say this but I do like Dutch directness from one of the happiest countries in the world to more bicycles than people to the work life balance to not having to compare myself all the time to the beauty of this country from canals to windmills to gyms inside of churches here are 10 reasons why I love the Netherlands do normal or act normal this is a Dutch philosophy a phrase that I really appreciate because it's really about standing in versus standing out it's about not bragging it's about conforming and this is such a big contrast as compared to us culture where I'm from where it's really about being unique being the best that you can be and that can actually be a formula for unhappiness now it's not to say that the Dutch don't achieve they don't want greatness they do but they don't brag about it for example when I went to University here to do my Master's when I got my exam grades I got a seven out of 10 and I was quite disappointed because well a seven out of a 10 for me meant a c it it was not good enough then I learned that seven was actually a pretty good score and then the Dutch classmates told me that they got a six out of a 10 and they were quite happy because well they had just passed and it was good enough and it goes to show that here the mindset is that you can be just enough and still live a great quality of life and there's probably a good reason why Dutch kids are the happiest kids in the world because well especially in education systems when you don't have super high expectations that can actually be a great thing when it comes to happiness and here's the really important thing that I do want to say about do normal is that I find myself a lot happier in this country because I find myself comparing myself less and less as compared to the US the us it's almost like this big competition comparison game of trying to be the best and people seem to judge you based on where you went to school what job you have what company you worked for and the first question people ask you at a dinner party is what do you do and people do ask that question here and they do care but people don't seem to judge you based on what you do where you went to school and I think that's a big factor when we think about happiness when you're not comparing yourself as much you become a lot happier now you also see this in society the Prime Minister rides his bike to work also this Society it's very egalitarian meaning that I can call my professor by his first name that was a shock for me and so this philosophy of do normal act normal it's something that I really really appreciate Dutch people are some of the yeah I really like that that's not something I've ever heard of before that there's a specific term do normal this mentality is that something that's well known in the Netherlands is that something that's instilled into children from Young whether it's from the parents from schooling I definitely relate to that a lot I love that mentality I'm very like introvert I'm not someone who likes to boast about anything I do or anything I like to just do the best for myself I'm not trying to compare to anybody else just to I want to be the best for myself in everything I do and I love that the Dutch have that mentality and yeah it really it's just as he said it's it brings a greater happiness but also just a better quality of life everybody just feels like normal which is a much better way to be you don't have to compare compare yourself to others H which I think is a big cause of like issues with mental health these days that's a a big cause so to see the Dutch have this mentality I really appreciate and definitely relate to that the most direct people in the world and I've come to love it well because I tend to be a very indirect person when it comes to communication and ever since moving here I've learned to be more direct and it feels good it feels good to be able to say what I think to say what I feel now a lot of people tend to confuse directness with rudess but they're two completely different things now it goes back to the fact that back in the days Calvinism used to be a big part of Dutch culture and that religion taught people to be very honest and so directness is really about being honest it's about saying what you think and what really helps in this culture is that there's not a lot of hierarchy and it's more egalitarian so you can say what you think to a boss to a CEO to a professor to an authority figure whereas in other cultes you have to be very careful what you say to someone else especially a boss and especially when it comes to negative feedback and so if you even look a bit deeper into Aaron Meyer's culture map she's done many years of research into cultural differences you can see that Dutch people are some of the most low context communicators this means communication is very direct simple and precise as compared to higher context cultures where communication is more Nuance more contextual you have to read between the lines for certain cultures there's another scale called the direct negative feedback scale and you can see that Dutch people are very okay with even giving direct negative feedback and I do think this is where Dutch people get that bad reputation of being rude because Dutch people are very okay giving positive feedback and also very okay giving negative feedback as well and that might be a shock for many people but again I do like the fact that you don't have to beat around the bush you can say what you think you can save a lot of time and especially for an overthinker like me it helps me Resolve many challenges about what someone else might be thinking so yeah that one is interesting just to talk about that chart for a little moment it's interesting to me that Indonesia in the Netherlands were so far apart on each of these that considering the ne Indonesia used to be a a a Dutch uh Colony you would have thought maybe some of that mentality would have been able to permeate the nation and still be there but it's completely the opposite but with regards to that I really the directness the the ability to have that egalitarian situation is so important for growth for Innovation to be able to question people whether they're above you below you to get that uh to get those conversations out in the open it's the only way you can get over problems and innovate when you see countries who don't have that that's why I think that uh you don't see a lot of innovation on those countries on the other side and yeah I think that's such a great thing that should be implemented it's obviously a very cultural thing they talks about it coming from Calvinism and I wonder at the moment is there still a big support for organized religion in the Netherlands and if not I think it's good that they've still been able to take the good points from religion about having that mentality uh but not the the bad things that come with religion sometime I really love the work life balance in this country as compared to the US where I'm from where Frank speaking people work longer hours now if work life balance is of importance to you which I believe it is the Netherlands is one of the best countries to live in when it comes to work life balance very very few people work long hours in this country I remember when I first arrived to this country I was connected to a friend's friend who transferred from deoe Consulting in Chicago to deoe Consulting in Amsterdam and I asked her hey what's it like to work in this country as compared to the US and she told me that she was shocked in her first week because at 5:00 p.m. the office was empty it was clear people left at 5:00 p.m. Consultants you would never see that happen in Consulting in the US I was also shocked in my first week here as well because frankly people were leaving at 4:5 p.m. but the thing is people are very efficient and effective here people don't feel the need to stay longer than necessary the other shock that I had was that people actually use up all their vacation days here and people have a guaranteed minimum of vacation days in this country well in Europe it's 20 days in the Netherlands and people take the full 20 25 days however many you get sure def as compared to the US I had 5 weeks of vacation in one company but I never fully used the full five weeks because well that's not part of the culture people feel like they have too much work to do or that they can't take the full vacation days and that's very different here people laughed at me my colleagues because I didn't take the full 25 days I frankly did not know how to take vacation in my first year in this country but now I wish I had six seven weeks because well that's part of the work life balance in this country the other thing that I really appreciate is the fact that when you talk about mental illness and burnout this is the most one of the most friendly burnout friendly countries in the world because if you suffer from burnout which is recognized as a mental illness here then you can take sick leave and the company will pay 70% of your salary up to 2 years so people are okay telling people that hey I was burnt out at a job I never heard anything about burnout in the US so that's a big difference the last thing that comes to mind is that a lot of people here work part-time in fact I think the Netherlands is the country with the most part-time workers in the world and especially women here as well hey there's work life balance and I really like this kind country because of that fact what a yeah that's so important again one of the reasons I have these channels and I make videos like this is actually I live in in Malaysia at the moment but we have plans to move somewhere else so this is kind of research for me watching videos finding out about the cultures of different countries in this case the Netherlands work life balance is so important like that's something that's important to me again living in Asia there's no work life balance people work for hours after the they're contracted end time just to show face to management and it's actually a negative thing it actually ends up being that people don't work as hard during their normal hours they'll go for coffee they'll walk about they'll go for cigarettes they won't work as hard for me I don't buy into that I have my contracted hours from the start until the finish I work as hard and efficiently as possible and it means that I get all my workload done anyway but other people kind of spread their workload out to work after just to kind of show face for management I don't think that's an efficient way to work so I don't do that H but good to see the Netherlands has this important work work life balance being important to them a beautiful country to live in from the windmills to the canals to the bicycles to the Steep stairs to the narrow houses there's something unique about this country especially if you come from a place like the US where it's a lot bigger the history and architecture a lot more modern and the cities are bigger and more like metropolises is because living in this country feels like you're living in a very big small town even a place like Amsterdam for me seems like a big small town I remember when I first moved here I lived in this Dutch Canal House and that was such a unique experience because it was 400 years old and even walking up and down the stairs you could see that those stairs there were dips in those stairs because people had walked on those steps for over 100 years and it's not just Amsterdam Amsterdam is beautiful but this country is full of hidden gems that most people don't know about utra is like the Amsterdam without tourists the he I like going to the ha because it's a big International city with a beach rdam has the modern architecture Del is actually my favorite small town because well it's very small cute and it's known for Del blue Del Pottery actually I moved to this country because of myri where I spent one year studying and I remember watching this YouTube video of mustri and I fell in love with it it seemed like a fairy tale and when I lived there I would go and cycle into the countryside one minute I'd be in the Netherlands the next I'd be in Belgium the next I'd be in the French speaking part of Belgium and something that comes to mind is in the winter time yes the weather sucks but sometimes the canals will freeze if it gets really cold and that is such a special experience where you see people ice skating on the canals and you could actually walk on the canals yourself as well and it just seems like you're in this walking painting you see all this old architecture around smiling faces such a special experience so the Netherlands a very small country but there's so much to see do and speaking of architecture did you know that 20% of all churches in this country have been converted into non-religious uses such as Apartments gyms booksto is what a cool way to make use of churches that are no longer in use when I lived in my strict I actually went to a gym inside of a church and I remember running on the treadmill lifting weights and looking around looking up and thinking to myself wow I'm lifting weights inside of a church who would have expected that but that was a really cool experience and the Dutch have this very Innovative sense of making use of space in this country because it's not the biggest country in the world so you really have to creative and how you use space in this country did you know I think that's just a good way to pay respect to these old buildings that have this beautiful architecture rather than tearing them down and putting like a modern apartments turning it into different things is such a a great use of that space and it really is beautiful tell me what your favorite example of that is that you've been to or that you've seen know that in the Netherlands there are 17 million people and 23 million bicycles it's built for cycling I mean the country is flat For Better or For Worse but that's great for cycling and it doesn't take a doctor to tell you that if you cycle more that's going to be better for your health as well I remember when I lived in La I would drive two blocks just to go to my local supermarket and now I can't imagine not having a bike I bike everywhere from the supermarket to work to shopping I used to go to the gym just to cycle but now I cycle every day it's also quite efficient in terms of systems you have subscription Services where you can rent a bike for a day for a week for a month for a year using swap feeds at every train station they have these uh OB feet stations where you can rent a bike for a day for about €4 and did you know that in the Netherlands 50% of all public transit trips start with a bicycle everything is connected this is sustainable Transportation the bike Lanes the roads the public transportation everything's connected so the bike Lanes feed people to go into public transportation and that's not only great for People's Health but that's also great for the environment as well and oh yeah public transportation it's a beautiful thing for the most part when it works but from my experience it works most of the time the options are endless from trams to Metro buses trains bicycle by foot and it's a really small country you can get anywhere within a day when I used to live in mrict I would do day trips to Amsterdam in the north and I would get there within 3 and 1/2 hours and many stores they sell these day passes for €20 and you can travel anywhere in the country within 24 hours and if you work for a company many companies will often pay your public transportation costs if you need to commute to the office so sustainable public transportation it works in this country for the most part almost every single Dutch person I know speaks perfect English and that's because the Netherlands is the country with the highest level of English where English is the second language and it makes it easy very easy for someone to come travel here to do business here to work here to study here to live here because the Dutch speak great almost perfect English and it makes sense because well the Netherlands is a small country but they have a long history of being business people trades people and if you want to do business with people from the world you need to be able to communicate and because the level of English here is so high it makes it easy for people to come work here to study here in fact I came here to do a master's English only in mrict and because it was an English only program I was able to meet people from around the world from around Europe and also in the workplace the same is true as well in many International companies English is the method of communication in the workplace and that attracts a lot of people it creates this very diverse International mix which I really appreciate as well when it comes so how easy is it for someone to get a job who's not from Netherlands like for me I mean after brexit I never voted for that of course which is a really annoying for me because I always wanted to like work in Europe and that just makes it that little bit or maybe a big bit more difficult but for instance me being from the UK how easy would it be to get a job in the Netherlands how would you go about that H is there a demand for people to come from other countries to work there is safety the Netherlands is one of the safest countries to live in the world the crime right here is quite low and that's something I really appreciate the fact that I can go out Daytime Nighttime and feel safe women tell me this as well and even if I go to say a bad neighborhood in this country it doesn't even feel that bad or unsafe I've never felt unsafe in this country as compared to if I go into a bad neighborhood in the US I definitely do feel tense and a bit unsafe there are many factors one factor is that say something like guns are not allowed in the Netherlands whereas they are allowed in the US the other thing is the homeless population in the US I'm always shocked when I go back to a place like San Francisco and I see homeless people everywhere downtown many of these people have mental problems as well which is sad and when you have mental people walking around the streets uncontrolled for that can also be dangerous now when it comes to crime in the Netherlands your bike will probably get stolen but that's about it petty theft and I'll take that any day over say the crime say in other countries and that's something I really appreciate about this country and for those of you yeah tell me if you agree with that I did ask that on a previous video uh what about things like pickpocketing things like that you know like countries like Spain and France seem to have a reputation for that Netherlands doesn't but is it an issue what parts of the ne Netherlands have most clim in your opinion you who aren't from Europe and if you come from a place like the US one really cool thing about being in the Netherlands is that you are in the center of Europe and you can travel very easily I know for many it's not a surprise especially if you live in Europe but when you come from a place like California where you're driving 6 seven hours and you're still in the same state here in this country when you drive 6 7even hours you could be in two different countries and what I do love is being able to take a train from Central Station in Amsterdam and being in central Paris and Central London in four or five hours that's very unique and also being able to take these budget Airlines and getting from one country to another country within a few hours that's something that is very unique and amazing about living in the Netherlands there you have it 10 reasons why I love this country yeah that is a big thing that's enticing for me about the Netherlands is it's just central location as I mentioned I live in Malaysia which is very Central in Asia so it allows me to travel around Asia quite easily I love to travel to different countries Netherlands is even more Central and has more countries that much closer again somewhere like M streak can travel to Belgium than Germany so quickly as well so it's really nice uh where do you like to visit in Europe outside of the Netherlands and do you travel a lot but tell me what you think about these things and what other reasons are there to love the Netherlands thanks

Channel: Mert Ned

Views: 4,431

Keywords: 10 Reasons Why I Love the Netherlands (As an American) reaction, reaction to 10 Reasons Why I Love the Netherlands (As an American), 10 Reasons Why I Love the Netherlands reaction, reaction to 10 Reasons Why I Love the Netherlands, netherlands culture reaction, reaction to netherlands culture, Reasons Why I Love the Netherlands reaction, reaction to Reasons Why I Love the Netherlands

Id: fqRbv2fekzg

Length: 21min 36sec (1296 seconds)

Published: Thu May 16 2024