Trivia van Nederland

Today I arrived in Amsterdam Schipol Airport, to begin my one-year journey for master program in The Hague University of Applied Sciences (De Haagse Hogeschool). 🙂

Interesting thing I observe today :

1. Contrary to my presumption about caucasian, Dutch people are very nice, especially the older generation.

2. Food is so expensive. Burger King’s Whopper with fries and soft drink is Eur 7.50/kg, rice is Eur 1.75 /kg, a canned Sprite is also Eur 1.75/can.

3. The city’s so quiet. I live in Den Haag, the third biggest city in Netherlands yet everything looks super empty. Granted, I’m in suburbs and it’s not really rush hour, but I don’t know, the whole city really could pass as some Zombie town.

4. The cars and motorcycles always let pedestrians crosses the street first, you don’t even have to try to stop them. They’ll stop whenever they see you on a zebra-cross.

5. Almost every shop is closed on 6.00 PM. Including fast food chain restaurant like McDonald’s ( I don’t know about if the same applies in Amsterdam tho..). Restaurant, Bars, etc still open till around 22.00 or midnight.

6. You have to bring your own bag for shopping at supermarket AND you have to make a deposit just to get a trolley (probably to make sure it’s safely returned)

7. Indonesia and Netherlands have the exact same electrical outlet. So your gadget will work right away when you’re traveling here.

8. You can drink the water straight from the tap.

9. Usually room for bathroom and WC are separated.

10. At this time of the year (August 30th), the sun sets at around 21.00.. The temperature is around 19 degrees (Probably like Puncak)

(My apartment building, Waldorpstraat 47)

 All in all, it’s been a fun first day. 🙂