Members of the international community answer 10 key questions about their lives in the Netherlands
‘The sea is too cold and not blue, but the beach clubs are fantastic’ Dutch national cricket team coach Ryan Campbell moved to the Netherlands five years ago and is convinced the coming season is going to be the biggest ever in the history of Dutch cricket. Ryan, from Perth in Australia, says he would like to sit down for a beer and natter with the king, but will never, ever enjoy raw herring. How did you end up in the Netherlands? After I retired from professional cricket and had spent a few years... More >
‘I plan to be here until I’m dead and buried. This is home’ Greg (60) and Johanna (51) emigrated to the Netherlands from the US nearly two decades apart and now live in Leiden. They had a long distance relationship for nearly 10 years, until Johanna decided to move here permanently. They appreciate the Dutch work life balance and recommend tourists visit Rotterdam. How did you end up in the Netherlands? Greg: I came here with a one year contract in 2000, then it was extended and extended. Then I bought a house... More >
‘The Irish could do with being 30% more Dutch, the Dutch 20% more Irish’ Irishman Rory Brosnan came to Amsterdam for love. After working as a freelance copywriter and running a private tour business, he founded Remote Pals, an online organisation that hosts team-building sessions online. Rory says the Beemster is the best place to see tulips and is quite happy to be considered an immigrant. How did you end up in the Netherlands? In 2014 I moved here for a relationship. We’ve since broken up, but life here is too good to leave.... More >
‘It took me 10 years to learn Dutch – but language is only a small part of communicating’ Abi Daruvalla fled to Amsterdam from the UK more than 40 years ago and worked for many years as a journalist/foreign correspondent and as a trainer with the Dutch World Service and Free Press Unlimited. She had a crush on Ruud Gullit for 30 years, loves asparagus and has no plans to leave the Netherlands, ever. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I was born and grew up in England but as my parents were Indian immigrants, I... More >
‘I still can’t get used to how loudly Dutch people talk’ Kristóf Hajós (45) is a singer-songwriter and lead singer of The Unbending Trees. He left his native Hungary for Amsterdam three years ago after Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party tightened its grip on power in the 2018 general election. He cycles everywhere, drinks karnemelk for lunch and loves the tranquillity of the Dutch countryside. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I moved here in September 2018. I’d been coming here two or three times a month on business, so... More >
‘Amsterdam is not a city made for high heels, that’s for sure.’ Moroccan-born Karim Adduchi (33) is an award-winning artist and fashion designer who moved to Barcelona as a child and then relocated to Amsterdam in 2011 to take up a place at art school. Since then, Karim has opened Amsterdam Fashion Week, featured in Forbes 30 under 30 for Europe and the Middle East, and presented his ready-to-wear collection on the runways of Paris Fashion Week. A co-founder of The World Makers Foundation, his work draws on his mixed religious and... More >
‘People go swimming in the sea even if it is snowing or raining’ Originally from Lille, France, Greg Dubus relocated from Wisconsin to the Netherlands over a decade ago. He now works as both a business information risk manager and an artist. How did you end up in the Netherlands? Before I moved to the Netherlands, I was living in the USA with my wife. We lived in Wisconsin, a state which is very cold. It’s under snow, maybe, six months of the year. If you like fishing and hunting, it’s the perfect... More >
‘When the sun comes out, even when it’s 0 degrees, everyone goes outside’ Gary Brown grew up in a small town in Britain before relocating to London and eventually Amsterdam. He and his partner now run Tails of the City, a popular pet care service, he likes the way the Dutch dress casually and has never seen a fight here in seven years. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I moved here in June 2014. I was offered a promotion with my former employer. At the time, I had just come... More >
‘I remember every bit of fleeing Afghanistan. It never leaves you’ Niloufar Rahim (34), a general practitioner from Arnhem, fled her childhood home in Kabul in 1997 to escape the Taliban and seek asylum in the Netherlands. She is the chair of Dutch-Afghan organisation KEIHAN and an ambassador for IOM, Connecting Diaspora for Development. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I fled Afghanistan as a refugee with my parents when I was 10. We fled because of the Taliban regime. I remember every bit of it. It never leaves... More >
‘I would like to take one month off and just chill in Maastricht’ Evelyn A. Ankumah left her native Ghana for a cultural exchange programme in the Netherlands when she was a teenager. Now founding executive director of human rights group Africa Legal Aid (AFLA), she loves cheese and Maastricht and is working on a series of books based on her observations and experiences of discrimination, called Hague Girls. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I first came here when I was 17. I came on a cultural exchange programme called... More >
‘The Dutch have more freedom in how they speak with their mentor or boss’ Gabriele Gobbi relocated from Rome to attend university in The Hague four years ago and is still here. He currently works as an intern at the Elemental Water Foundation, an organisation devoted to fighting water scarcity around the world. How did you end up in the Netherlands? After graduating from the Deutsche Schule Rom, the German School of Rome, I was searching for a political science bachelor’s programme and a city or an environment where I could grow academically and... More >
‘Here, I don’t have to bring my work home, and if I’m sick, I’m sick’ Courtney Schellekens works as both a project leader at the University of Groningen and as a freelance photographer who documents conflict and post-conflict environments. Originally from Boston, she loves the sensible work-life balance found in the Netherlands but Dutch nachos? Not so much. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I used to be married to a Dutch guy. We moved here from Boston when he got a job at the University of Groningen back in 2009. I’ve been... More >
‘The Netherlands, this whole place is a big social experiment’ Alison Fisher is a Scottish-Canadian who moved to the Netherlands in the ‘90s to work as an editor. She lives in Amsterdam, loves the bike tunnel through the Rijksmuseum, and continues to work as both a translator and a life coach. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I planned when I left university to work my way all around the world. First, I’d look for a job, then I’d go to a country, live there for a few... More >
‘The Dutch do not bow down to circumstance. Amsterdam is built on a swamp’ Miguel Luis was born in the Philippines and lived in California before he made his way to Amsterdam to expand his career in film and entertainment. He’s the director of several short films and is the creator of So Cards, an innovative card game. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I never really expected to go to Amsterdam, but I’d always wanted to move to Europe at some point. In 2016, I sort of started plotting things out.... More >
‘My fiancée Geertje, she’s my favourite Dutch thing’ James Munt grew up on the Isle of Wight and originally came to the Netherlands for a long weekend to buy a boat. Now 16 years later, he’s still here. He loves to surf on the North Sea, says hello to his neighbours, and would like to meet Lurch from the Addams Family. How did you end up in the Netherlands? It was back when I was 23. How many years ago was that? It was 16 years ago now.... More >
‘The idea of black and white schools blew my mind’ Dutch-Pakistani Iffat Rose-Gill (40) is a gender equality activist and the founder of The Code to Change, an organisation improving women’s access to the digital economy. She is surprised by the ongoing integration issues here, but loves the Netherlands’ multiculturalism and the fact that even her local market stocks a taste of home. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I moved to Amsterdam in 2011 to join my husband, who was from the Netherlands. Due to my work... More >
‘I appreciate the way the Dutch remember those who died in WWII’ Malcom Mason, 82, used to visit Amsterdam on leave from the RAF in the 1960s. Now living in Nunspeet, he retired this year as chairman of the Amsterdam branch of the Royal Air Force Association after 40 years involvement with the club. He learned Dutch from Linguaphone records, has adopted the scruffy Dutch way of dressing and says he would be gobsmacked if he was told he had to go back to Britain. How did you end up in the... More >
‘Umbrellas are pointless in the Netherlands. I’m a rain-suit type of girl’ Sporty equal rights advocate Mérida Miller (32) swapped the US east coast for Amsterdam in 2017. She is the founder of Project Fearless, an after-school programme for girls that breaks stereotypes and builds confidence through activities such as boxing, skateboarding and artivism. She’s partial to a stroopwafel, but it has to be stale; and she loves tulips, but is suspicious of Keukenhof’s immaculate grounds. How did you end up in the Netherlands? It was a little bit of love and... More >
‘I saw an old couple on a bicycle and I thought, ‘this is romantic, this is so Dutch’ Nanda Milbreta is originally from Riga in Latvia. After spending a summer working in Disneyland Paris, she relocated to the Netherlands. She works as a poet, illustrator, and musician, would like to meet saxophonist Candy Dulfer and would say farewell to the Netherlands with a 24 hour party. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I came here to study at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. When I came here I already had two Bachelor degrees,... More >
‘Van Gogh’s life was a tragedy. I’d like to go back in time and console him’ Originally from the United Kingdom, Steve White travelled all around the world and lived in Tokyo for several years before he eventually moved to the Netherlands with his family. He currently works as an artist in Almere and longs to spend an entire day visiting his favourite spots in Amsterdam after convincing all its tourists to go biking in the Dutch countryside. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I met my future wife, who’s Dutch, in England back... More >
