1.“It’s a chill school system, so studying here must be easy”
This one tends to take people by surprise the most.
The Dutch education system gives you a lot of freedom – but that comes with a lot of responsibility. There’s less handholding, fewer reminders, and a stronger expectation that you manage your own learning and your own time. Courses often revolve around self-study, group work, and applying concepts rather than memorising them. Deadlines are strict, and falling behind isn’t something you can easily recover from in the last minute. The other students may be more laid-back than what you’re used to, but that’s mostly because the Dutch have perfected the art of stress management.
2. “I thought there would be windmills everywhere”
Windmills are a-plenty in various parts of the Netherlands, but they’re mostly offshore and unreachable for the general populace. You can sometimes find old windmills around Dutch cities, but they’re mostly there for decoration and aren’t actually used anymore to grind grain.
Don’t get me wrong, there are windmills. Just… not that many.
3. “The weather can’t be that bad”
This is where you get tested as a human being.
Dutch weather isn’t very extreme. It’s persistent, and all the respect towards the weather gods for trying so hard. Rain doesn’t usually pour dramatically throughout a couple of minutes; instead, it inconveniences you for hours. And wind doesn’t announce itself. It simply exists, directly in your face, no matter which direction you’re cycling.
Usually, my routine right before leaving the house consists of:
- Checking the weather app
- Seeing that it’s going to be cloudy/sunny
- Deciding to wear a leather jacket
- Thinking it’s going to be fine
- It’s not fine
At some point, you’ll stop asking if it will rain and start asking, “how much do I care?”
4. “Everyone speaks English, so I don’t need Dutch”
A paradoxical statement. It’s both true and misleading, just like saying you can survive only on instant noodles. Yes, you very much can, but at what point do you need to be where you heat up that third instant noodle of the day and tell yourself, “this sucks”?
A lot of programmes in Dutch universities are taught in English. Lectures, assignments, and exams are all in English. No problem there. But step outside the classroom, into the city centre, where people are bustling about, ordering food at the market, speaking to servers at restaurants, navigating through? People can switch to English, but conversations drift into Dutch. Job listings quietly require it. And suddenly, you find yourself wishing that you’d learned Dutch.
You’ll definitely survive without Dutch. It’s just that you might occasionally exist outside of the loop.
5. “Professors are strict and distant”
Well, this always depends on the person, of course. Oftentimes, though, professors here are surprisingly approachable.
You can call lecturers by their first name. You can question ideas during lectures. You can yap around with your professors during tutorials, but they probably won’t appreciate that too much. But this also means that they expect you to take initiative.
6. “Once you’re in, you’re basically done”
Getting accepted is just the start, and Dutch universities don’t ask for a lot to get admitted. Meet the minimum requirements, and by Dutch law, you’re in – everyone has the same, fair chance of trying.
Unfortunately, university is hard – there’s no two ways about it. Staying in is definitely harder than getting in, and getting out of university – graduating, in other words – must truly be earned.
7. “Group work means less work”
In theory: shared workload. In practice: shared everything.
Group projects are the norm, not the exception, and every student across the world who has ever done a university group project absolutely detests them. Sure, some of them have been fun and definitely cool and interesting, but all the bureaucracy involved, all the planned meetings and deadlines and general confusion as to what to do… definitely not my favourite part about studying.
It’s useful, and it’s realistic. But it’s also not always easy.
