5 Things to Know About Holland

I’ve arrived in the Netherlands! The land of wooden shoes, cheese markets, and colorful tulips. After a stressful year and even more stressful the last couple of months, lots of preparation, packing (trying to fit everything I own in 2 suitcases, was a bit of a challenge, but I managed.) I’m finally here, and I’m excited to share my top 5 things to know about Holland.

1. Days are long in the summer and short in the winter.
When I was here in December, I noticed that the sun wouldn’t rise until about 8 am and it would set until around 6 pm. The days are short in the winter, so this is very limiting to what you can do throughout the day. On the other hand in the summer, dawn breaks at around 4:30 am and doesn’t set until 10:30 in the evening. It’s a little confusing at first. You’ll look through the window and assume it’s still early but then you look at the time and it shows 9 pm at night. Once you get used to it, it’s actually very nice to have long summer days, don’t you think?

2. Constantly changing weather.
Yes, I’ve never seen weather that changes so much during the day. It will be cloudy one second and sunny the next. it may get windy (especially around the beach) so it feels a lot colder than it actually is. The rain in this country is most definitely on its own schedule, showing up whenever it wants like some sort of uninvited guest, but you learn to deal with it.

3. Stuff Dutch people like.
If you want to go more in detail about what Dutch people like, you might want to visit Stuff Dutch People Like, it has everything that you’ll want to know about the Dutch people. Did you know that more people bike than drive? You’ll be surprised by the number of bicycles you see everywhere. At least I was. Also, did you know that Dutch women are the happiest in the world? Or that Dutch people are the tallest in the world!

4. Tulips do not originate from the Netherlands.
Holland is known for its tulips (my favorite flower btw :)) but I recently found out that tulips were imported from Turkey in the 16th century.

5. Almost everyone speaks English.
You don’t speak Dutch? No problem, because most people in the Netherlands speak English as a second language. This makes it even easier for people coming from other countries.

---

Disclosure: If you buy something through my links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. I only feature things I truly love here. Thanks for your support.