One-Year Anniversary Post
This weekend marks my one-year anniversary since I made the trans-Atlantic move from New York City to the Netherlands. I’ve grown tremendously over the past few months — both personally and professionally — in ways I did not expect prior to the move. So rather than donning a sexy nurse Halloween costume, I’d like to take a few minutes to reflect on my journey so far as an American expat in Amsterdam.
The growing process wasn’t always linear. There were plenty of times when I questioned my decision to move, and as a Californian native, I couldn’t initially bear the new normal of grey skies and constant rain. To make matters worse, I had arrived at a time when the pandemic was still raging across Europe, which led to enforced lockdowns and curfews that prevented me from meeting new friends and exploring Dutch city life to its full potential.
Though I lived through constant loneliness and self-doubt during these initial months of hardship, I look back with no regrets. I’m proud of the resilience I have built as I persistently chased after the components I needed to make my European dream come to fruition. As frightened (and sometimes insecure) as I was of the challenges and uncertainties ahead, I convinced myself that giving up would not be an option on the table. While working as an au pair for the first six months, I networked both online and in-person and equipped myself with foundational knowledge to navigate the job and housing market in Amsterdam. A month and a half into my job search, I landed a contract with a small Dutch startup as their Digital Content Creator, where I further sharpened my content production skills by rewriting their entire corporate website, refining their company message and voice, and enabling sales with a plethora of new marketing materials. Because I knew the previous tenant renting my current room after meeting him on a Flixbus to Paris last November, I was able to quickly lock down my housing contract a day after I signed the contract for my new job. I also plunged myself into an intensive three-month online Dutch course, which has since given me the necessary speaking skills to get by when ordering at restaurants or asking for directions.
Fall foliage in Amsterdam’s city centre early October.
After regaining my young working professional life back in May, I paced myself slowly as I worked on stacking the building blocks of my new chapter. Outside of work, I focused on making new friends while taking advantage of the incredible summer weather. I discovered a wide range of events this vibrant city hosted during the warmer months of the year: Amsterdam Pride, Het Amsterdamse Terrassen Festival, flea markets in Noord, ADE, Museum Nacht, to name a few. I fell in love with the biking culture and gezellig nights spent at Café Hans where my friends and I gathered to (unconditionally) support Ajax FC during the early stages of its Champions League campaign. Since moving to a more compact city with lower traffic noise and abundant access to nature, my stress levels have dropped significantly. Going shopping at the Noordermarkt farmers market has become my weekly Saturday morning ritual. I also picked up a women’s beginner boxing course and am now obsessed with throwing uppercuts to rid my body’s toxins after work. Most importantly, I managed to forge sincere friendships with both expats and locals, who have brought a fresh burst of technicolor to my perspectives on life, health, relationships, careers, culture, and more. Have I possibly also evolved to become more direct and honest like the Dutch? Well, I’ll let you decide the next time you and I connect.
Amsterdam may not be as flashy as New York or as posh as Paris, but it has the youthful spirit and coziness that you would otherwise have trouble finding in larger cosmopolitan cities. People are approachable, grocery shopping is an actual pleasure, and safety is a given at any time of the day. I live 20 minutes away from the airport and can jet off to any European country in three hours or less. Furthermore, the work-life balance here is a gift sent from heaven in comparison to corporate America. So, yes. I think it’s safe to say I’ve made the right decision to move here.
In hindsight, the actions I took to get to where I am today are far easier said than done. Social media shields people from seeing the most difficult moments of being an expat. The truth is, moving somewhere new requires more painstaking amounts of patience and effort than most people realise. The reality of the adjustment is nowhere near glamorous, especially when it comes to paperwork, language and cultural barriers, and frequent periods of solitude. The repeating act of putting myself out there has been at times even exhausting. Often my anxiety gets the better of me. When it does, I usually end up hiding in bed with Netflix to curb my cravings for new connections. But when I do meet a new friend from boxing class, discover a new local bruine kroeg, or learn a new local hack, it’s the most rewarding and wholesome feeling. Thus, placing myself outside my comfort zone is the new normal. It’s how I’ve been growing and how I will continue to grow as I spend more time abroad.
As we inch toward the holiday season, I want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to everyone who has helped me become more settled in the Netherlands, be it (but not limited to) my friends, coworkers, neighbours, and local baristas and bartenders. Your open-mindedness and compassion these past few months have become a debt I strive to repay one day.
Here’s to Year One and many more in Amsterdam.
Proost op het eerste jaar en nog veel meer in Amsterdam.
xo,
Vivian
