Foreigner’s mini-guide to Amsterdam
Since I haven’t blogged in quite some time I have decided that it’s time to revive this place, at least a little bit. Considering that there are quite some people that are interested in studying in here (and abroad in general) I thought that I could provide some useful info about living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. So here we go.
Weather
Make no mistake, it’s going to be cloudy. The bad part is that you’re not going to see the sun that much (at least not in the autumn), the good part is that when it rains it doesn’t last that much. Also most of the times it rained it seems to have happened when I was indoor (only once or twice did I have to go out while it was raining). Anyway you’ll use http://buienradar.nl pretty often to check if it will rain.
Temperature-wise, the temperatures are still pretty high (but still generally lower compared to those in Romania), but the good thing is that the temperatures are pretty even throughout the day. That means that you won’t freeze in the morning and get really hot in the afternoon.
Bikes
When you first get here, and especially if you’re going to go through the city centre you’re going to hate all the bikers. They’re just too many, they seem to ignore pedestrians, they’re coming from all directions and they don’t seem to care about any rules. That feeling will stick around until you get your own bike (when you’ll start hating the people on scooters 
). Biking is definitely one of the coolest things about living in the Netherlands, especially for a number of reasons:
- Excellent bike infrastructure. This means that you can travel by bike between any two chosen points, using a special bike lane in 99% of the time. The bike lanes are either marked on the side of the road (true for the smaller roads) or are separate from the roadway (most of the times). This includes bike parking places everywhere, which means you can park your bike pretty safely. (As a matter of fact we have a bike shed, an indoor bike garage where I live, which is great as it protects your bike and keeps it safe as well).
- Flat country. The differences in elevation are really small so it’s pretty easy to bike.
- Good biking culture. Most of the car drivers are bikers as well, which is why you’re pretty protected as a biker. As a matter of fact you’ll see drivers giving you way when they shouldn’t have or when you’ve done something stupid (instead of getting out and beating you, strange people, I know).
- Relatively high density and small distances. Although I live at the edge of Amsterdam, I’m only 8km away from the Central station (which means half an hour by bike)
- Expensive public transport(at least for foreigners, see next section)
All these factors make it that you’ll probably go everywhere by bike. And in case you’re wondering you can bike in the rain, you just need to either: a) don’t care (if it’s not raining that hard, and it usually doesn’t) or b) just use an umbrella or a raincoat. In case you are wondering, in case you’ve ever biked before you can easily do 60-70 km in a day. I’ve done 55 km in a day(from where I live to Zaanse Schans) without any problems.
Getting a good cheap bike can be a problem though. There are a few alternatives here, which I will list:
- A new bike from Decathlon that will cost you about 130€. It won’t have any gears.
- A more or mostly less good looking bike from Waterlooplien for 60-90€(or even more).
- A second hand bike from http://www.marktplaats.nl/. This is the option I recommend as there are high chances to find a good cheap second bike here.
I don’t suggest buying a bike off the street, it’s illegal, probably stolen and you may get a 150€ fine. Of course the marktplaats bikes have a possibility to be stolen but I think that the chances of someone selling stolen stuff over there is smaller. Still if the bike has a registration number engraved on it you can check it first with AFAC(the Amsterdam authority for stolen/picked up bikes) .
Public transport
Public transport in Amsterdam is expensive. The least expensive way to travel is to get a OV-Chipkaart (one time fee of 7.5€ at the time of this post) and to put money on it. This way it will cost you 0.8€ for starting the trip and 0.1€ for each km you make. Anonymous Chipkaarts can be purchased in most tram/metro stations using (only) a credit card (foreign ones work as well) and can be used in other cities as well (Utrecht for sure for example). One alternative is a one hour ticket for 2.6 € (not always available) or one/multiple day tickets (only worth if your are a tourist only). You can get more info from http://gvb.nl and you can plan your trip using public transport by using http://9292ov.nl. Both sites have English versions. Travelling without a ticket is not possible in most of the cases. The non-foreign students here have free public transport either in the weekend or during the week time (they get to choose).
Anyway if you’re travelling here and you use a OV-Chipkaart, there’s an important note to make. When travelling you need to check-in and check-out of the vehicle (put your card in front of the reader). There are some stations that are used both by metros and by trams. If you are going to use the metro, check-in or check-out in the station. You will not be able to check-in in the metro. If you’re travelling with the tram check-in and check-out in the metro. Do not mix them up as it will not work and you will lose money! (if you’re curious the chipkaart balance can go to about minus 4€)
Railway transport is not very cheap as well, a round-trip from Amsterdam Centraal to Utrecht Centraal costs 13.5 € for example. If you’re going to travel a lot by train you can get a discount card that costs 55€ and gives you a 40% discount on all trips that are not during the rush hour (later than 9am during the weekdays). More details and exact ticket prices on http://ns.nl .
Language barrier
The general opinion is not a myth, most of the people here know how to speak English, so you won’t have any problems from that point of view. Still expect to get a large number of mail to be in Dutch, rarely from the university but most of the times from the municipality or bank – for example ING does not have an English for its website, internet banking or ATMs 
… big disappointment. Google translate will be your best friend in such cases.
Another great news is that Dutch TV is not dubbed, so it’s not useless .
Food
The cost of eating mainly depends on your willingness to cook for yourself:
- From what I have heard fancy(er) restaurants are pretty expensive.
- Fast food products are a little bit more expensive than in Romania at least – for example a large Big Mac menu is 6 € (at least in the case of Mc Donald’s the taste is exactly the same).
- The cafeteria at the VU offers a course(aka a plate of food) for 4.5€.
- Cooking for yourself is obviously the best option. With a little bit of care and research you will probably spend less than you spent back home. Why do I say that? Well, the larger supermarkets here (Albert Heijn, Super de Boer, Dirk) have discounts all the time, and they usually change once a week. The offers are really good compared to the normal price, so you’ll want to keep an eye on them. The supermarkets also have a large variety of semi-prepared foods which you can buy. They’re a little bit more expensive of course.
Other good stuff
Something else that is nice here is that it’s a pretty clean city, there’s plenty of vegetation and the grass is nicely trimmed almost everywhere which gives a pleasant feeling. There are also a lot of animals such as ducks and different types of birds in the parks and even rabbits.
Conclusion
These were the most important aspects regarding living in Amsterdam that I could think of now (the post is big enough anyway), if you have any feedback use the comments and maybe I’ll add more info
