International Amsterdam
As a foreigner living in Amsterdam, you’ll have no trouble whatsoever finding your way around and be part of the Amsterdam scene in no time. There are many different nationalities that call Amsterdam “home”, and as a result our beautiful city is a great place to be for Dutchies and non-Dutchies alike.
Ever since colonial times, our little country was once one of the world powers and has since then always been very internationally oriented. Even now, many international companies are based in Amsterdam due to its central location within Europe. Together with emigrants from former colonies, this makes Amsterdam an interesting and fun melting pot of all kinds of different cultures. Amsterdam is actually on the very top of the global list of cities with the most nationalities, with people from 177 countries living here!
With a history such as that of Amsterdam, together with the many tourists, life in Amsterdam is very much geared to an international crowd. Pretty much everyone speaks English as a second language, there are many cultural events that are in English only, movies are subtitled rather than dubbed, restaurants have menus in two languages, and in the trams and metros you will often find information in English too. Hence, you will probably find it hard to try and learn Dutch, as everyone simply responds in English if they hear your heavily accented efforts!
Of course you have all heard of tulips, windmills, cheese, wooden clogs, weed, red light district, drop, Heineken, bikes, Van Gogh and the canals. And it is great fun to explore all the famous sights that Amsterdam has to offer. But sooner or later you will want to delve just a little deeper into modern Dutch culture and become an “Amsterdammer” yourself, even if it is just temporary. Go where the locals go, do what the locals do, eat where the locals eat and party like the locals party.
And as you may understand, the best way to do this is to make some friends among the locals. They are in your class of course, but what about taking a course at “Crea”, the cultural organization of the University and Hogeschool of Amsterdam (UvA and HvA). Crea is incredibly affordable and offers many different things that are great for meeting likeminded people. Another way to become part of the Dutch culture is to get a temporary job. It’s totally possible, even if you only speak English, and is a great way to make some friends away from school. Go out of the city sometimes and see what other parts of the Netherlands have to offer can give some good insights to Dutch culture too. ISN Amsterdam has different daytrips to let you make the most of your time in the Netherlands.