This is basically my third week in the The Netherlands, and I couldn't wait to share my thoughts with some of my readers and close friends, this post is written in English because some of the potential public of this particular entry are mostly English speakers. I will just summarise in a short list the most relevant aspects that I find particularly interesting about the Dutch culture, even though I still have a lot to learn and live here.
Relaxed culture: You would think that the behaviour of the people in a first world country like the Netherlands would be very strict and completely organised, but it turns out to be quite the opposite. People in the Dutch culture have a very relaxed way of doing things and organising their schedules.
People here don't usually put much attention on the way they dress just because they focus on comfort rather than in the looks which is something great in my opinion. Social life is a very important part of their culture and that's why they organise parties and social events all the time, and they have study associations for pretty much every activity, usually these types of organisations involve meetings with beer and food every week. Fridays are usually quite days because party has already started since Thursday, also, Monday life starts later than in the other week days. Even our introduction week (which is intended to show us the dutch way of living) had plenty of activities with parties and beer, although the academic content was always at hand.
The use of marijuana is legal so it is very common to see people getting high in the streets, and most people smoke marijuana with some regularity. It is not seen as a bad thing because the culture here has become very liberal in that sense.
Public transportation: So the first thing I have to mention is obviously: Bikes!!. The cycling roads are so nice that it is just stupid not to own a bike and move around with it, so there are millions of bikes in this place and pretty much every road has a parallel cycling road, also, you can find places to store your bike in most buildings and train stations. In fact, people riding their bikes are the priority so that car drivers will always wait for you to cross the road if you are riding yours.
But, besides the bicycles, the public transportation in the Netherlands is very nice and organised and efficient. The busses and trains are usually on time (at least in this time of the year) and they are very modern and fast, moving at velocities of more than 120 km/h.
There is something quite fascinating at least for me, you actually have the chance of not paying for a ride in the train, because some stations don't have entry or exit gates so you can come in and go out as you please, but the Dutch culture is so advanced in this topic that (for the most part) people always pay for the use of the transportation systems even when they have to do the annoying check in and check out at your final destination. I think that is very fascinating because they are aware that they are using a transportation system that works well and that represents a cost for the government to which they belong. By looking at how civilised they are, one realises that the ones who don't pay for their tickets are the people that don't let a nation advance and sadly our latinamerican culture is full of those people.
The landscape: The landscape is beautiful in any sense, there are canals everywhere and the cities and towns have been build within those water systems so you always see nice boats in the middle of the cities. The European-styled constructions are beautiful and preserve the colonial style with a nice touch of modernity. You see nice windmills all over the place and the beaches that I've visited so far are absolutely stunning.
Leiden University: The University campus is spread all over the city of Leiden and it has become the core of the development and infrastructure of the whole town, the buildings are very modern and the faculties are spread in huge areas where every department has a nice to develop the academic activities.
The physics and astronomy departments are very big and the environment is great for a passionate person like me. The walls have astronomy pictures and there are memorials and quotes from great scientists that have been part of Leiden University at some point in time like Einstein, Lorentz, etc. Even the names of the buildings (Oort, Huygens) remind you of the greatness that this amazing place has witnessed.
The height: Dutch people are extremely tall! They are in average the tallest population in the whole world so it is very hard to get used to being short by them. In my home country I was slightly above the average of height but here I see taller people everywhere.
In Colombia, when I was supposed to meet a secretary for any paperwork or academic procedure I would probably meet an old short lady, but here every time I have to do something like that I find a young secretary who is probably taller than me and who speaks three or more languages.
Sports: So far, I am surprised about the way they play sports here because they are not very obsessed and competitive as I was expecting. In general, they tend to practice sports in a relaxed way with the main goal of being fit and keep a healthy life. As far as I've seen, (at least in the University) the competition in sports does not have the same priority as some other activities and it's not the main goal of the people who subscribe to the sports centrum. I suppose that the ones who practice sports at the professional level must be very disciplined but so far most people I've met are very relaxed.
Speaking about that, it is also surprising that most dutch students are usually very slim and don't really care too much about being full of muscle as in the western culture where we actually hit the gym more often.
One last thing, they say they are not very good anymore at football, I don't understand why they say that given the fact that they always top in the world cup competitions.
Freedom of religion: This is also a very fascinating fact about the Dutch culture, because they have been the pioneering nation getting rid of the religious attachments and giving their people the chance to think for themselves. I am sure this is one of the reasons why this nation is so great, they have moved on from those dark ages when religion was the law and realised that the correct way to grow as a nation was to give huge priorities to education.
I like the fact that I've met a lot of people and most of them share the same views as I do in this topic. Most of my new friends are atheists and agnostics with great academic backgrounds which makes the conversations way more interesting and free of useless fanaticism.
They just don't care: And finally, I must say that one of the most fascinating things about the Ducth culture is that they don't really care about pretty much anything, but what do I mean by that? They don't care about other people's interests, they respect other's point of view even if they don't agree with it, they don't judge others by the way they dress or the make up they use, they don't whisper about someone's tattoos, hair colour or sexual preferences, THEY JUST DON'T CARE which I think is great.
I think that is one of the things we need to learn in latinamerica, because our culture judges too much and cares too much about other's decision, the Dutch culture has grown to a point where they have realised that focusing on those small matters in completely irrelevant and it's just a waste of time to do so.
Relaxed culture: You would think that the behaviour of the people in a first world country like the Netherlands would be very strict and completely organised, but it turns out to be quite the opposite. People in the Dutch culture have a very relaxed way of doing things and organising their schedules.
People here don't usually put much attention on the way they dress just because they focus on comfort rather than in the looks which is something great in my opinion. Social life is a very important part of their culture and that's why they organise parties and social events all the time, and they have study associations for pretty much every activity, usually these types of organisations involve meetings with beer and food every week. Fridays are usually quite days because party has already started since Thursday, also, Monday life starts later than in the other week days. Even our introduction week (which is intended to show us the dutch way of living) had plenty of activities with parties and beer, although the academic content was always at hand.
The use of marijuana is legal so it is very common to see people getting high in the streets, and most people smoke marijuana with some regularity. It is not seen as a bad thing because the culture here has become very liberal in that sense.
Public transportation: So the first thing I have to mention is obviously: Bikes!!. The cycling roads are so nice that it is just stupid not to own a bike and move around with it, so there are millions of bikes in this place and pretty much every road has a parallel cycling road, also, you can find places to store your bike in most buildings and train stations. In fact, people riding their bikes are the priority so that car drivers will always wait for you to cross the road if you are riding yours.
Bike garage, Enthovenplein building, Den Haag
But, besides the bicycles, the public transportation in the Netherlands is very nice and organised and efficient. The busses and trains are usually on time (at least in this time of the year) and they are very modern and fast, moving at velocities of more than 120 km/h.
There is something quite fascinating at least for me, you actually have the chance of not paying for a ride in the train, because some stations don't have entry or exit gates so you can come in and go out as you please, but the Dutch culture is so advanced in this topic that (for the most part) people always pay for the use of the transportation systems even when they have to do the annoying check in and check out at your final destination. I think that is very fascinating because they are aware that they are using a transportation system that works well and that represents a cost for the government to which they belong. By looking at how civilised they are, one realises that the ones who don't pay for their tickets are the people that don't let a nation advance and sadly our latinamerican culture is full of those people.
The landscape: The landscape is beautiful in any sense, there are canals everywhere and the cities and towns have been build within those water systems so you always see nice boats in the middle of the cities. The European-styled constructions are beautiful and preserve the colonial style with a nice touch of modernity. You see nice windmills all over the place and the beaches that I've visited so far are absolutely stunning.
Leiden University: The University campus is spread all over the city of Leiden and it has become the core of the development and infrastructure of the whole town, the buildings are very modern and the faculties are spread in huge areas where every department has a nice to develop the academic activities.
The physics and astronomy departments are very big and the environment is great for a passionate person like me. The walls have astronomy pictures and there are memorials and quotes from great scientists that have been part of Leiden University at some point in time like Einstein, Lorentz, etc. Even the names of the buildings (Oort, Huygens) remind you of the greatness that this amazing place has witnessed.
The height: Dutch people are extremely tall! They are in average the tallest population in the whole world so it is very hard to get used to being short by them. In my home country I was slightly above the average of height but here I see taller people everywhere.
In Colombia, when I was supposed to meet a secretary for any paperwork or academic procedure I would probably meet an old short lady, but here every time I have to do something like that I find a young secretary who is probably taller than me and who speaks three or more languages.
Sports: So far, I am surprised about the way they play sports here because they are not very obsessed and competitive as I was expecting. In general, they tend to practice sports in a relaxed way with the main goal of being fit and keep a healthy life. As far as I've seen, (at least in the University) the competition in sports does not have the same priority as some other activities and it's not the main goal of the people who subscribe to the sports centrum. I suppose that the ones who practice sports at the professional level must be very disciplined but so far most people I've met are very relaxed.
Speaking about that, it is also surprising that most dutch students are usually very slim and don't really care too much about being full of muscle as in the western culture where we actually hit the gym more often.
One last thing, they say they are not very good anymore at football, I don't understand why they say that given the fact that they always top in the world cup competitions.
Freedom of religion: This is also a very fascinating fact about the Dutch culture, because they have been the pioneering nation getting rid of the religious attachments and giving their people the chance to think for themselves. I am sure this is one of the reasons why this nation is so great, they have moved on from those dark ages when religion was the law and realised that the correct way to grow as a nation was to give huge priorities to education.
I like the fact that I've met a lot of people and most of them share the same views as I do in this topic. Most of my new friends are atheists and agnostics with great academic backgrounds which makes the conversations way more interesting and free of useless fanaticism.
They just don't care: And finally, I must say that one of the most fascinating things about the Ducth culture is that they don't really care about pretty much anything, but what do I mean by that? They don't care about other people's interests, they respect other's point of view even if they don't agree with it, they don't judge others by the way they dress or the make up they use, they don't whisper about someone's tattoos, hair colour or sexual preferences, THEY JUST DON'T CARE which I think is great.
I think that is one of the things we need to learn in latinamerica, because our culture judges too much and cares too much about other's decision, the Dutch culture has grown to a point where they have realised that focusing on those small matters in completely irrelevant and it's just a waste of time to do so.
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