Interior designer Aileen Martinia is 35 and comes from Indonesia. She’s been in the Netherlands for 14 years and dreams of retiring to a beach on Bali. How did you end up in the Netherlands? Young, innocent love. In the end, the relationship did not work, but I love it so much living here, I stayed. How do you describe yourself – an expat, lovepat, immigrant, international, etc – and why? A bit of everything; it is all about the... More >

Benjamin Arthur, 42, is a British corporate and wedding photographer who has lived in the Netherlands for 3.5 years. He and his familiy will soon move into their own house in Amstelveen. How did you end up in the Netherlands? My wife was offered a job to work for a boutique executive search firm specialising in filling marketing positions. At the time we both thought Amsterdam would be a great adventure. Happily, we weren’t wrong and now we can’t imagine... More >

Sofia Saxlund, 24, is from Uruguay and works as a design intern. She lives in Zaandam and has been in the Netherlands since April. How did you end up in the Netherlands? We did a trip around Europe with many of my friends from Uruguay. We were 28 friends travelling together, taking up almost entire buses and train carriages. I knew right from the start I was going to stay here as soon as the trip was over. I wasn’t... More >

Charlie MacGregor, 38, is Scottish and came to the Netherlands 11 years ago. He is the founder and CEO of The Student Hotel group. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I moved from London to Amsterdam after coming here for lunch with my girlfriend. We both fell in love with the city within 20 minutes. Six weeks later we moved here together. I rented an amazing flat on the Singel from a local guy who had a really... More >

Kristina Wilms is 27 and from Germany. She came to Amsterdam after winning a European competition to devise a start-up – which she now leads. How did you end up in the Netherlands? The whole story began in October 2013 when I won a ticket for the BeNeLux StartupBus. I didn’t know anything about it at the time, but the StartupBus is a competition involving five buses travelling through Europe loaded with techies who compete against each other to devise... More >

Deborah Valentine works for herself as a project manager and copywriter and is current executive director of ACCESS. She has been in the Netherlands, this time round, for 10.5 years. We ask her the 10 traditional questions about her Dutch life. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I met and married a Dutch diplomat when I was in Brazil with UNICEF. How do you describe yourself – an expat, lovepat, immigrant, international etc – and why? I am... More >

British accountant Stephen Huyton has lived in the Netherlands for 20 years and is former chairman of Britsoc, the British Society of Amsterdam. We ask him 10 questions about his life in the Netherlands. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I was invited to be the first finance director of the company – Thermopatch, where I still work. The goal was to prepare it for a stock market launch in London or New York, or a sale to... More >

Canadian Noah Millman teaches at Leiden University and would use his last 24 hours in the Netherlands to visit the Efteling amusement park. How did you end up in the Netherlands? In late 2006 I was looking for a highly rated master’s programme in my field and several universities in The Netherlands caught my attention. I applied, and here I am. How do you describe yourself – an expat, lovepat, immigrant, international etc – and why? Somewhere between immigrant and... More >

Journalist Malgorzata Bos-Karczewska is fascinated by the Delta Works and feels more Dutch than Polish at times. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I met my Dutch husband in communist times in my hometown of Gdansk. We were both economic students. He came in 1978 on a student trip because he was very interested in what was going on behind the Iron Curtain – something which was pretty rare at the time. We got married in Gdansk a... More >

Student and Romanian national Antonia Raileanu loves fish, would like to visit the Apenheul and was a candidate in the 2014 local elections. How did you end up in the Netherlands? In 2010 I decided to continue my studies and pursue a Master’s degree in the Netherlands because I know the Dutch system is one of the best education systems in Europe. I applied to several Dutch universities and on my first trip to the Netherlands I ended up getting... More >

British Amsterdammer Vicky Hampton loves Osseworst and is definitely not an expat. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I studied here on an Erasmus exchange programme back in 2001/2002. I fell in love with Amsterdam and didn’t want to leave… At the time, I did the sensible thing and returned to the UK to finish my degree, after which I ended up in London with every other graduate for a couple of years. But at a certain moment,... More >