So after two long days of house hunting, Lindsey and I finally decided on a place. Since the Dutch like to negotiate the terms (price, furnishings) when settling on a housing agreement, we’ve asked for a lower price and additional furniture prior to signing a lease. We should hear back tomorrow if our terms are accepted. Currently having problems with the picture upload, but I’ll post some stuff soon when I get it. In the meanwhile, view the link to the place.
Den Haag
Well I’ve been in The Hague for about 48 hours now and thought I’d share my first impressions. Overall I’m having a great time getting used to the new city and plotting my eventual move over in January. Definitely staying busy at work and looking forward to Lindsey’s arrival and my first weekend here. Thought I’d share my first impressions on the 5 following categories:
Transport: Public transportation has worked out very well. Since I’ve been here have taken trains, trams, buses, and cars. Still haven’t ridden a bike yet as the bike shop in Amsterdam was all sold out of bikes when I stopped by. I’m taking my time and will probably buy a bike this weekend.
Weather: The weather’s been as everyone expected it. Today I saw cloudy, sunny, rainy, windy, and snowy all separated by a few hours timespan.
Language: Many people I’ve run into have spoken English. There have been a few, however, that don’t speak it. I had first thought I’d forgo learning the language, but now I’m thinking I’ll put in a bit of time to learn some key phrases at a minimum. I’m anticipating the hardest part about Dutch will be the pronunciation. I still can’t properly pronounce Kneuterdijk - the name of the bus stop I’ve used a number of times.
American impressions: Lots of American influences over here. From fast food restaurants (KFC, Burger King, McD’s) to cigarettes (Marlboro) to technology (Apple), they’ve got plenty of American influences. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like it seems like America around every corner, just nice to know that some of the little things I’m used to can be had here. Definitely see a KFC trip coming up soon…
Thanks for reading! I’ll probably only post 1 or 2 more times while I’m over here just because I’ve stayed fairly busy with work. I’ll also need a little warm up time to get used to being consistent…
Den Haag