What was your BIGGEST SURPRISE... on arriving in the NETHERLANDS? Reaction! 

The medical professionals are trying to prevent dependency on painkillers and resistance to anti-biotics by persuading patients to not look for a quick fix, but accept that you need some time to heal and your body can do it on its own.

Haha I wanna share my bank account number with everyone in case they feel generous 🤣.

Giving people a bank account number is very normal. People can't do harm, just knowing your bank account number. It is very secure. As long as you don't give them your pin-code or password. People need your account number to transfer money to you. (unless you send them a 'tikkie' ofcourse, that is even more convenient. A bank account number is not considered private information and is often needed to send you money.

- The shops close at 6 because the owners got to eat and have time off too. Lots of shops are independent businesses, not chains. Otherwise that would not work and we wouldn't have so much specialized shops. - The smell surprises me, it used be bad in the country side but these days they inject it into the ground and use far less. I only smell it when the farmer is busy with it. - Wait until she sees a bridge for ships. There is little space, so it would make no sense to make the road go around the whole airport. - The primary job of the first line doctor is to make a solid diagnosis, not sell pills. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't have come, it was wise to come in case you would have needed immediate treatment. - If I go to a restaurant I don't want to be interrupted by a waiter all the time. In a fancy restaurant they will pay attention and be at your before you were about to flag them, but they will limit the number of times they ask if everything is all right. Guests leave when they are ready to, so it's rude to hurry them by bringing the bill. - It's seen as rude to waste someone's time by being late, or by making promises you won't keep. - Dutch people tend to like equality, especially the bosses like to be 'one of the guys', until the salary is paid that is.

About the dining experience. The US has a very different approach to dining out than the Netherlands. In the Netherlands it is all about you having a pleasant experience with whomever you are having dinner with, which can sometimes take up a few hours. Our waiters are also not reliant on tips. Trust me if you tip 'the American way', you'll get some happy servers but they don't need it to make a living. It is an extra. As a Dutchie who spend quite some months living in the US, I honestly got so fed up with the constant harassing (felt like that to me) of the waiting staff, I ended up bringing a sign that said I'd tip them 150% if they left me alone to eat in peace and only refill my drink when it was empty. Made some people rather happy with that mentality.

In a restaurant or café you don't get the bill unless you ask for it. When I was abroad and the waiter brought me my bill without me asking, I was really offended. I felt he wanted me to leave. Later I learned it's just a cultural difference. Also when a waiter asks 'is everything al right?' once, I consider that good service. If he asks three or more times I consider it annoying.

Once an American comedian was invited to perform at the Dutch carnival. He fantasized about gorgeous sexy women in bikini, and what he got were fat guys in frog costumes, who hadn't seen a shower in days. Don't be fooled, the Dutch carnival is nothing like the ones in Venice, Rio or New Orleans. As for the windmills, there are parts where they aren't as common. Every time I see one, I still go "Hey, there's a windmill!"

I'm a GP assistent and people get there antibiotic. But only if they really need it. A common cold don't need antibiotic. We don't give them as much because of the problem of antibiotic resistant. Because that would be a big problem. So that is why nobody get antibiotic if they have a cold.

Respect doesn't come with age or standing. It comes from respectable behavior.

When Schiphol expanded (again) they couldn't move some of the roadways that were there, so they had to taxi (on a bridge) across the roadways to one of the airstrips on the other side. Keep in mind, they have to process 70 million people a year, so that comes with some quirks.

The reason why American waitresses/servers are very hands on is because they rely on tips to make a decent buck an hour. In the Netherlands servers get a decent pay already, well in comparison to US servers anyway, and don't rely on tips that much. Not tipping in the US means you had a bad service, not tipping in the Netherlands isn't frowned upon. It's also very common in the Netherlands tips are collected into one pot and after the day is over everyone gets an equal share.

Going for a drink with your teacher is a thing here in college or universities. When I studied to be a history teacher we went out for drinks at a nice terras a few times. But then again the history group is quite small, and were all adults. So why not To add to that, we don’t have a tipping culture here, we pay our servers normal wages (there is also a fixed legal minimum wage) also we don’t go out to eat as regularly as else where so we like to take our time and catch up, having waitstaff constantly interrupting would be considered rude actually if we need something we’ll let you know. I guess it’s another part of our independence

Yep in Brabant(southof the Netherlands) they have a carnival in February and they have a party for 5days drinking beerand having fun and you are everybody’s friend 🇳🇱🍺🍻😁

Funny to see how people react on this normal things for me. I'm glad and thankfull that i were born here.

Bridge for airplanes is near schiphol airport. The highway next to sxhiphol goes under and the planes taxi over the bridge to the runway. Farmsmell is only in the parts of holland where there is a lot of farming. Most shops close sound 6 pm. Most supermarkets close around 8 or 9 pm. Restaurants etc close later of course

Well the bank account number thing is just if we expect a payment from someone. We send a 'tikkie' and give the person our account number so they can transfer the amount😊🤣. And no not the restaurants 😊. Just the clothing shops etc. Supermarkets are open till late as well.

Do not come early, do not come late... When I have a visitor at 12:00, I put on my trousers at 11:55 a fresh shirt at 11:56, my shoes at 11:59, walk down the stairs and open the front door. The visitor has to be on my garden path...

12:23.. hell yeah better get there on time..! XD

Lol the 'airplane bridge' is the Schiphol Tunnel , it goes under one of the taxi ways (for planes) which is really cool when a big plane is taxïng(?).

Bridges for ships are even weirder. Btw, we also have rivers flowing 5m above the the surrounding country side because so much peat was dug out to provide heat for the Jenever (gin) distilleries.

Yep.. the A4 Highway runs basically straight though schiphol airport, so there's a couple of bridges for planes to cross the highway, one runway actually runs across the highway, so there's a tunnel there, for the highway obviously.. :)

Big parts of the Netherlands, mostly small towns and the farmlands around them actually do smell like a dung heap. I have always associated the smell of manure with coming home from a long trip so I'm very fond of it.

We got in total 1200 old windmills here in the Netherlands. Good luck with the pictures. That's a lot. Iff we come to all the windmills in the Netherlands... We got in total 2,750 units on land and 3,750 wind turbines at sea.

13:20 Shops close mainly around 6PM. after that grocery stores are still open till around 9 pm and in the larger cities you have the night shops. Restaurants, bars etc are open like everywhere in the world.

The language school these people are attending is in the very rural northern part of the Netherlands. I grew up there but later left to live in a city. It took me years to loose the habit of saying "hi" to random people when I met them, biking or hiking. Actually, I still say 'hi' more often than real city folk. Sometimes people look at me like: 'do I know you?' But overall it's better to be kind than to be rude.

Punctuality is one the most important things here yes. Shops close around 8 pm.

The airplane bridges are at Schiphol airport. Some of the runways are on the other side of the highway and so the planes cross over bridges over the highway to get to those runways.

It is fun to wave and say hi to strangers, because we have much international students and expats, ik like that, learning new things everyday! And if they don't wave back... Zuurpruim

In the farmer parts of the Netherlands were there is a lot of grasslands an cows and all. It can smell like that, but not all the time. It smells like that because the farmers use the cow or pig shit, to fertilize the land.

11:40. there are soooo many.... but hell yeah it's possible, it would take some time but ofc.!! i'd say you should start in this little village called "kinderdijk"

I love the video’s. You should watch ‘america first, the netherlands second’ video! Its hillarious, just mocking Trump🤣

It's a bridge across the highway. It's one of the landing strips of our main airport Schiphol. There are pedestrian lanes. Don't walk in the bike lane. Supermarkets close at 9 or 10 pm

Just small and mostly non-essential shops close early. Most supermarkets are open from 8:00 until 20:00 or up to 22:00. Restaurants are usually open until 23:00. (Last orders usually are an hour or half an hour earlier). Cafes and bars are open until well into the night.

Drunk dutch will be like clingy and like you're my best friend forever and such, we'll also be jokers

What's secret about a bank account number? It's just a number, no one can do anything with it. You need extra codes anyway, THOSE are the ones you don't give to another person. But the account number, no problem.

6.45 The most of us shower every day,and when it's hot twice a day!

There are over a thousand windmills here. But they be spread all over the country. The size of Maine. So that gonna take a while.

Yes bridges for airplanes. Over the A4 near Schiphol there are two overturns for airplanes. The land or takeoff strip is on the other side of the freeway.

4:18 I remember this one teacher that invited me and some other students to his home in Amsterdam for a little get-together. We drank twelve year old whisky, smoked some joints, kept on sleeping there at night and went on our way the next day, after a good breakfast. No one thought that was odd.

watch the grand prix and see crazy dutch fans ... you will love it we all here went ballistic

De dag voordat het gaat regenen, gaan de boeren hun mest uit rijden over de weilanden. Als ik terug kwam van vakantie, toen ik een jaar of 7 was. Zei ik altijd "wij zijn THUIS". Greetings from Spakenburg The Netherlands Gerben T.

we don't use credit cards , our banking system works a bit different. if someone has a creditcard, it is a "second account". Money like from work isn't deposited straight to a credit card here generally. look up Dutch carnaval.. like this one ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7RZGWNeY5oI.html Cow manure smell isn't everywhere.. but farmers here generally have animals AND like corn, so they use the manure on the fields.. it takes a few days to dissapear.. Yes once a month the alarms go off everywhere , it's a system test.. first monday of every month at noon.

Every first monday of the month they air alarm goes off just as a trail, recently they messed it up in a few regions of the netherlands and they did the alarm on while no one was expecting it. Suprisingly the respond was low and the people who did hear it didn’t actually know what to do. Maybe that is also because the government doesnt really teaches people what to do when the alarm goes off.

Pretty normal to get a drink with your teacher here. And also you call them by their First name

Had a lot of drunk days with our teachers. Best 3 years of my schoolcareer!!! Still in contact with 3 old teachers and a couple of old buddies, we should hang out again sometime soon.

Hahahahhaahh, bridges for planes🤣 More like a highway tunnel going under a landing strip. She has probably spend her holiday at Schiphol🤣 Bless

Our bigger supermarkets are open till 22.00 hours, so that’s good. And by the way, we don’t use the AM and PM notification when we write down the time. We write it like I just did, like 22:00 uur and if spoken, we just say ‘open till 10’

don't be late, don't be early, be on time!

First, the lady who complained about the smell had probably never been near farm land before (city folks). There is nothing wrong with some honest smell of cow dung. Second, near the main airport there is indeed a freeway that partly goes under an overpass where airplanes pass from one side to the other. This is because one of the runways has been built a significant distance from the terminal. The runway was there first by the way, the freeway came later. And third, one of the reasons why bacteria become more and more resistant to antibiotics is because in some countries, you know the ones, antibiotics are handed out like candy for the littlest of boo-boo's or for viral infections.

The girl about the airplane bridge was probally referring to the plane viaduct over the highway at Schiphol airport. Yep Dutch are always on time

About the bridges for airplanes. They are not bridges, but runways, underwhich is a highway or other kind of road. Schiphol is an enormous airport in a tiny country, so we adjust the infrastructure, so you can land airplanes over highways. Same is done for waterways, so called aquaducts: connections between body of waters, or just canals over a highway.

At Schiphol airport there is a bridge for a plane to cross the highway to get to the runway. Quite fun if you are lucky enough to actualy be there when a plane drives across. No free refills here 🤗 restaurants are supposed to be a relaxed experience, no rush to get the bill.

Restaurants and supermarkets are open longer, but local shops are closing at 17:30 or 18:00 and yes what you guys call military time we use standard and just call it 24h system

The bridge for airplanes are over the highway near Schiphol. They taxi then from the landing to the gate. Kind regards Roelof.

If you want to take a picture of alot of windmills, you should visit Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam, there are a few dozen there and all of them are afaik still operational. I know a few spots where you can enter them and basically see how they work. The whole top can rotate towards the wind, and this technology is hundreds of years old. just move the top half of the building using wooden cogs and stuff. Most of them where used to pump water out of the polders, but also to mill grain and dyes

In the Netherlans there is a Hop- on Hop-off bus tour.With city sightseeing bus stops. You see:Central station. Market hall. Museum park. Kop v Zuid cruise terminal. Erasmus bridge. The spido boat. The euromast spicetower. You come in the bus on centaal station. ( stop A) The end stop D euromast.

About the planes. In Amsterdam you have a road above the highway where the planes land. So when your driving on the highway you can see a plane driving by above you. very impressive

I say hi all day long, lol. Even saying hi to people I don't even know. We have forest nearby and when I walk the dogs and I see another person there, we say hi.

I drank beer with some of my university teachers on multiple occasions. Mostly at the end of an excursion to an event or something like that. We'd end the day with a ''borrel'', which translates to ''a drink''.

7:25 There are bridges over the highway A4 and highway A5 at Schiphol Airport. The planes are taxiing over the bridges. 13:02 Supermarkets are open till 8 pm or later. I am working in a supermarket what closed at 10 pm.

The shops usually close around 5 or so because those people should be able to go home and have dinner as well. Weekends are different of coarse and grocery stores and restaurants have their own closing times later in the evening. But regular stores like clothing, toy, other etc close earlier because they're not necessities and bc quality work shifts/environment are important. Happy, rested and properly paid employees make a store run smoothly.

About punctuality; a short time ago the platform information screen in Eindhoven Central Station mentioned that my train had a delay of 30 seconds … Still regret that I didn’t take a picture of that …

Bridge over the highway near the airport so the plane crosses above your head :-)

I went babysitting my teacher's kids, lol. Most of us had a good relation with the teachers. In cold winters we'd go skating.

About time and being on time being important; we are decedent's of traders and merchants. This is also the reason we became very direct, tend to talk to everyone like they are our equal and always have to get our own 2 cents in

Its also forbitten to drive your bike when you're drunk in the Netherlands. People do it, but it is not allowed

Ah the plane bridge. Airport is divided by a high way. So they created an overpass the planes can use to taxi to one of the runways that are further back. It's cool sight when you see a 747 cross it while on the highway.

7:34 'bridges for planes' .. let's call it a highway tunnel under a runway of Schiphol airport 😅 ; the smelly country side: I guess in the US ( or other countries ) there is a wider periferie between the suburbs and the country side, so you don't end up that easy among cattle. In Holland residential neighbourhoods, farmland and recreational (small) forest alternate each other , so ( esp. by bike) you pass farms more casual ...

I dont know why, but i like this guys reaction videos about the Dutchies!

The shops that close at 5:30 or 6 are more like clothing shops cause supermarkets and restaurants are longer open than that and I know cause I'm a dutchie

IT,s called Carnaval or Vastelaovend. People dressed up and party for 5/6 days drinking allot of beer and alcohol😁

In the Netherlands if you are walking on a bikelane ,Walk on the opposite lane , Now you have traffic coming towards you and you dont need to watch ur back, be in the way,or be surprised for incoming cyclist from behind, They will ring their bell just for you to know their incoming and you dont have to jump aside.

Smoked some weed with my Teacher, in school time😅😂😂.. mr. Knauf, English teacher always with a colorful bowtie..

Retail is closed at 1800, except on late night shopping, once a week. The supermarket, hardware stores are often open until 2100/2200 hours Restaurants until 2200/2300 hours the shops where you can buy chips and snacks until the night for some. for a gas station, there are always a few that are open 24/7.

local retail closes round 1800, supermarkets round 2200 restaurants coffeeshops and so 01.00 , bars clubs 04.00

6:10 is BS, you only smell farm smells if you are near fields after they fertilized the lands. Otherwise, it smells surprisingly fresh, even in the middle of summer, even Amsterdam and other bigger cities smell fresh. I’ve been in countries where hot summer days bring out the sewer scents. Grocery stores are open until 8-9-10, depending where you are. Other independent shops close at 6, but chains like Ikea, hardware stores close around 8 or 9. Except for now, the past weeks every non essential shop has to close at 6, grocery stores at 8. As of tomorrow, everything that’s non-essential indeed closes at 5. The saying hi part, if you go for a walk somewhere quiet, and someone crosses your path, you say hi, or good morning etc. You’ll be looked at weirdly, if you do that in busier areas and stand there saying hi to everyone that walks by. Speaking for myself, when I’m walking past someone, and our eyes meet , I occasionally chat a little more beyond hi, like “such nice weather we’re having”, if I’m in a particular good mood. I’ve had people commenting on my ice cream I was eating, sitting on a bench. “Ohhh, that looks tasty!”. At least looking at myself, I’m open to share fun exchanges, saying something pleasant, smiling at people if our eyes meet, depending on the situation. Again, not so much in crowded city centers, I’m not a weirdo. The party in the South is Carnaval, similar to Marci Gras, Carnaval in Brazil and Venice Italy. For 5 days, those of us that celebrate, aged 0 til 80+ put on silly costumes, paint our faces and go to see parades of other people in costumes, walking or on floats in the afternoon. And then immediately after hop in a bar or cafe to have a good time and drink. For kids and teens often parties are organized. As a kid, one of the best parts is getting dressed up and face painted, and go to school like that on the Friday before and start partying there. There’s a little difference between how they celebrate in Brabant and in Limburg, where I’m from. To me, our carnaval is more colorful in the sense that we paint our faces. Something they don’t do as much in Brabant. It’s a feast to mark the start of Lent. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_in_the_Netherlands

6:30 Clearly some people never lived close to or by farms. Once a year (in spring) the farmers here drive out the manure (the cows pooped all winter long into a pit) and spread it all over their lands. And then when the wind is blowing your direction you can smell that yes. (For a day maibe 2) But that's one time a year. (Correct me here if I'm wrong farmers) But I love it. It does not smell bad and I rather smell that than some kind of chemical plant or city smog. 7:49 yes when you drive on the A4 motorway close to Amsterdam it goes under the airport Schiphol and you can see airplains passing. Part of Schiphol got extended to the other side of the motorway. It's a small country so if you can not move the motorway and the airport can't expand to any other direction... Well then just build it over the motorway or highway. (Can't remember which one to use motor or high) Oh wait we are in The Netherlands so here it's probably high. 😅 10:05 There are more and more bacteria in the world that are resistant or immune to antibiotics. Because loads of people never finish their antibiotica and keep some weak bacteria still in their body. That way the bacteria slowly get used to the antibiotica. Which can cause loads of trouble in the long run. That's why docters here do not give tjem away just like that. They have to see or conclude that it is something caused by bacteria. Otherwise you are not getting any antibiotics.

- Drinking with your teachers: That depends on your school. At highschool you obviously aren't gonna be buddies with your teachers, in college/university it depends on your school really. I did a graphical/multi media education. We called our teachers by their first name (in highschool it was by their surname) and you could have great talks with them and laugh with them. You would still respect them. I also had a trip to another school for a year and at that college it was very different, you had to call them by their surname and you were treated as a highschool student again it drove me nuts (and the fact that they had zero knowledge of what they teached). So it really depends on your school how well you can get along with your teachers. - The smell, euh don't know were they been but you don't generally smell the fertilizers unless they just put it on the fields. So unless they were in some small town surrounded by farmlands, they shouldn't really have smelled it. - The dinning experience, well most people prefer it that way. You come to have a dinner with someone or some people. You want to talk with them and not get interrupted the whole time. I was amazed when I was in New York with how often they would ask "you want a refill?" to my friends who had a cola. As soon as their glass was nearly done, they would come over, but after 3 drinks it was made clear you had to leave again..meanwhile i was still sipping my beer...also never understood the free refils of soda and then telling people to piss off after 15 or so minutes cause you ain't paying...then let us buy are drinks and leave us be, gjeees, we come to have a nice drink..not drink as much as you can in 15 minutes and move off again. - The bikes comming from every direction, yeah that is a problem in Amsterdam, cause of all the tourists who go on bikes and don't know where to go and what they can drive on. Or as said, you are standing on the bikelane, against mostly tourists do that. Can't blame them as it must be weird for them but still it's the tourists xD

The woman from ireland had a very good point. Maybe you can look into the so called 'carnaval'. It really is crazy!

12:30 we Dutchies are planners.. we make appointments for everything.. its Just something we do.

I know people who have been ticketed for drunk driving on a bicycle. If it's REAlLY obvious and the cops see it, you will be stopped and fined.

The "teachers are your friends" thing is totally not in primary and secondary school. It's mostly in college and university, because those are really places where you chose to pay for your studies instead of being forced to be educated as in primary and secondary school

Paracetamol is a painkiller that is effective against pain headaches and fevers that is why it is so common because its very handy

Frikandel speciaal, .... cut the frikandel a little bit more than halfway over the whole length before frying, after frying the frikandel stays open. Then put a nice white stipe of mayonnaise first than a red stripe of ketchup or curry (heinz) and then to finish sprinkle it with chopped onions . Eet smakelijk best served with patat oorlog.😊

fields are often inbetween towns and when the farmers dump the cowshit there yes you can smell it but its only a few days each year and close the window and you dont smell it any more

The bridges for planes thing is only around the airport where the highway runs under the runway

In Holland the intire country does not smell like cow. In some perods of the year like in spring when they start to cultivate vegetables they use a product made of cow poop to fertilize and that can smell but not for long and not for days or months. There is only one bridge that crosses a hihway to lead the landed planes to the airport and its awesome to see them crossing. When you are in a restaurant you do not want to be bothered by the waiter all the time feeling presssured to order more then you need. So the majoraty waits untill you signal them Well in the big cities. In other places when the waiter walks by and they have eye contact with you they smile and ask you if everything id lis what you wished for/espected or if you need something else so its not the same evrywhere. Doctors in Holland are there to cure you not to make the farmecuticals rich so the medicins that are needed by people who really need them to cure are not wasted on people who also can be helpt with paracetamol or ibuprofen. Medins also can demage you more if you do not really need them an can make you an adddict. In other countrys people only believe a doctor when they give them medicins otherwise they do not feel taken seriuosly. Foreigners who are not used to bikelanes and this ammount of bikes usely walk there were the bikes are while there is enough space on the curves to walk. In their minds its allways the fault of the bikes when they in fact are doing wrong. The thin and high steps are only found in very old houses in Amsterdam and maybe some in Rotterdam but for the rest of them they have normal mountable sizes. Normal shops close at 18.00 o clock, supermarkets these days close later. Latests at 22.00 hor but in some places you can go to a nightshop and petrolstations also sell a lot of much used products so there is allways a sulotion or ask friendly if a neighbour would like to help you out if you need a role of toiletpaper or a cup of sugar for example. We shop wath we need and think in advance what will be not there anymore soon. There are also services you can call who bring your grocerys to the house.

They do have great customer service, the difference is that they don't come and bother you asking you if you need something every 5 minutes. They sit you down, ask you if you want something to drink, bring you your drinks, then maybe ask you if you are ready to order or just walk away and wait for you to let them know you are ready to order, they take your order, bring your food and then you have to tell them you want the bill or more drinks, they will let you sit there for as long as you want. They aren't trying to kick you out so that they can use the table for someone else. They are friendly and good at their job, you just need to let them know when you want something, they won't come and ask you if you need something. That's the difference.

The friendly, greeting Dutch. In Urban North a South Holland No. Rural cities, sometimes. Rural villages and towns, often.

I was shocked when some people said the busses and trains are always on time. I don't know a single Dutch person who would agree with you on that. Sure probably more than 90% of the time they're on time but man do we like to bitch about them when they're late

Every first monday of the month on 13:00 they test the sirens for a couple of minutes

5:10 carnaval indeed like in south american countries.. its a week long of being drunk being in wierd costumes and you know... s3x drugs and rock 'n roll..!! whoeeeeehoeeee.!!!!

She did not mean bridges for planes i think she meant a tunnel beneath the airfield and things like that if you drive close to schiphol airplanes are like 30 meters above you so it is gigantic

I think it's an old video. The shops do not close at 6 pm Supermarkets open until 8 or 9 pm. But we also have stores in major cities that are open 24 hours. The plane over a bridge hahaha. At Schiphol Airport there is a tunnel with a road running underneath. The planes drive over it to taxi to the arrival and departure halls.

Bridges for airplanes? 😂 She means the viaducts at Schiphol International Airport. From what I can see on Google Maps there are 3 taxiways and 1 runway crossing the A4 highway.

Yes always on time! except for my son so sometimes I think he is made by aliens.

Also almost next to every bike lane there is something called a stoep, where people walk instead of bike

5:40.. naah dude.. just make sure to be up front stage.. nobody is going to carrie your big @ss XD bring a triangle ladder to stand on or something hahahah

I live in a rural area and sometimes you smell the fertilization of the fields but mostly you smell nothing unless you are next to a cow field, even sheep don't smell that bad if you are standing next to area. maybe these people were near a manurepit? Those are nasty. I find people are a bit taller and blonder near the top of the country than where I live near belgium but I'm looking upto anyone anyway because my mom was born in indonesia and while mixed with dutch she got their short genes. I was already happy I got taller than she did but looking up is normal to me. I once heard an american exclaim loudly when entering the train in Amsterdam that "why is everyone so F'n tall here!" and well sadly he himself was also part of the stereotype that americans are short, squat and overweight. They don't greet you everywhere in the Netherlands but I do find everyone is friendly, you can always end up in a conversation somewhere. Being on time is polite, making appointments. Stores that are closed on sunday or after 5 on a saturday, 6 on a weekday. We are not yet a 24/7 society and i think that's fine. I don't like things being open on a sunday and making their workers go to work. Just get your stuff beforehand. But we also have way more freetime than the U.S.

At a company I used to work, we had a X-mas celebration every year. One year we went bowling and I was in the team with the CEO (I was a simple process operator). We had some good beers together and a lot of fun. Especially fun of the CEO, because he sucked at bowling and we were happy to let him know. This man had MBA and two other university degrees, he was so smart that he started to act stupid again 🤣 I always used to go to a coffeeshop in The Hague, Le Mistral. Above the shop there was an old lady living, like 80 years old or so. Every Sunday morning she went down to the coffeeshop to have actually a coffee. I had the most wonderful conversations with this lady, while smoking my bud 🥰