Sunail's Dutch Surprise!

On this week's post, we wanted to focus on surprises that students may encounter while studying abroad. Whether it's the differences in culture, religion, or food, there is sure to be a time of adjustment when moving to a new country. SUNY Cortland student, Sunail Luthra, is currently abroad in Leiden, Netherlands, and he offered a great insight into the surprises he has encountered in the Netherlands so far!

Sunail Luthra

SUNY Cortland, Junior
Social Philosohpy Major

Originally from Hickville, NY

What about the culture in Leiden has really stuck out to you as a visiting student? Why? 

So, so far I have been living in the Netherlands for almost three months. Leiden University is actually split between two different cities in the Netherlands, The Hague and Leiden. The two, although they are 15-minute train ride apart, are so different. I was placed in The Hague, which is small urban city, similar to New York City. Instead of the NYC Subway, The Hague has trams all throughout the city, which is basically an above ground rail road. The entire city has tracks throughout the roads and canals in between sides.

That being said, the emphasis on public and environmentally friendly transportation has particularly stuck out to me. The most common way of transportation, around here, has been the bicycle. Everyone rides a bike; it is not uncommon. One of the first things the orientation program has you do is look for a bike. All roads on the streets have specifically designated bicycle routes in between the side walk and the road (remember, the roads have tram tracks). So you can tell, by this description, that private cars are not common, and public or environmentally friendly transportation, are. As for Leiden, it is mainly a suburban city filled with students, more than 120,000 citizens. Biking is even more common there, with there being no tram situation, and barely any roads for driving. So culture wise, I would definitely say there is a large emphasis on environmentally friendly and public transportation.

Is Dutch culture extremely different from American Culture? Is it similar? How?

The population is extremely diverse. I cannot stress this enough. The entire university has students from all over the world. From Italy to South Africa and Australia. One of my best friends here, Kai, was born and raised in Capetown, South Africa, after his parents finished working at Princeton. Also, just another example, last week I bought a bike from a Syrian refugee, who had just finished his masters here in engineering. I have met people literally from everywhere, which is definitely not the case in every part of the United States. While American culture emphasizes hard-work and long hours, strict regulations, and sometimes (especially in our current political moment) non-liberal movements, Netherlands is completely the opposite. Relaxed work days, extremely liberal policies (no guns allowed), and just an overall chill environment, the Netherlands has given me a new cultural perspective.

 

What is religion like in the Netherlands? Is it similar to America, or New York?

Religion is also diverse in the Netherlands. You will see temples and churches for a variety of religions throughout the towns. A few weeks ago, I celebrated Diwali with about twenty Hindu students in my dorm. Diwali is the festival of lights, and one of the biggest holidays for the Hindu population, so it was awesome to celebrate with them. There seem to be many more religions practiced here than in  Cortland, but probably similar to New York City.

Have you noticed differences in Dutch and American attitudes or practices? 

Locals seem different in a few ways compared to Americans. Just about everyone smokes cigarettes here (I do not), so that was a little different coming from a smoking-free campus. Other than that, locals are also a lot slimmer, perhaps because they bike everywhere all day. Moreover, similarly to most countries in the EU, locals emphasize on dressing nice. You will not see anyone showing up to class in sweatpants. Locals usually have their own cliques, and sometimes do not really chat much with internationals. So they treat us differently, however because there are so many international students, it is still easy to make connections. Usually, whenever anyone finds out I am from the United States (I have not met many US citizens), I mainly get asked about Trump and how I feel about him.

Has the food surprised you? Have you found that you have tried cuisine you never thought you'd try in America? 

The food has surprised me, because everything here is much more fresh. People usually buy groceries every 2 - 3 days and just cook what they buy, rather than buying for two weeks at a time. Moreover, fish is very popular in Holland as fish is one of the most exported goods. I am not the biggest fan of fish, but I’ll keep you updated if I try it, because everyone says the most popular fish, herring, is a must-try. Also, a lot of people are vegetarian. This actually led to me to attempt to go vegetarian myself, which I ended up doing for about 2 months, before starting to eat meat again. Animal rights are heavily emphasized, so perhaps that is why you see a lot more vegetarians and even animal crossings between big cities.

Overall living in the Netherlands has been an amazing experience. The country is extremely advanced, with minimal crime rates and unemployment. People love to live here, and I can totally see why.