Stuart Bilinghurst - Expat in The Netherlands
Mr. Stuart Bilinghurst is a British expat living in The Netherlands. We’ve had the chance to talk to Mr. Bilinghurst about his life as a Game Designer in Amsterdam, and he has shared a few of his experiences in Amsterdam and how he came to live there.
Mr. Bilinghurst grew up in London and moved to Amsterdam in 2001. Initially, he only planned to stay for 6 months, but ultimately decided to stay longer. Being an expat for 15 years, Mr. Bilinghurst has had his share of ups and downs, but the biggest challenge for him was the language barrier, even though most Dutch people can speak English, he still finds it difficult to communicate with the locals properly. Mr. Bilinghurst says “The biggest challenge has been the language. It’s not always easy to know what is going on when you can’t understand everything that is being said. Luckily a lot of Dutch people can speak English but that can sometimes be a double edged sword as it makes it a little too easy not learn the language. My Dutch is good but not as good as it should be after living here for 15 years.”
Learn more about Mr. Bilinghurst’s experiences as an expat in Amsterdam through her full interview below.
Q: Where are you originally from?
A: I grew up in South East London.
Q: Where are you living now?
A: I moved to The Netherlands in the summer of 2001… by accident. I had no plans to move to Holland. I didn’t even have any plans to leave London at the time but after a year of being out of college and still trying to find a job I came across a cryptic job advertisement that intrigued me. It had no address, no phone number. All it had was an email address. It was very mysterious but I thought I would apply anyway even though I was aware that it could lead to some kind of fake office interview/black market organ harvesting situation.
When a reply arrived a few days later there were two surprises. (1) At no point did they enquire about the condition of my internal organs and (2) they were offering to pay for my flight to the interview location in Amsterdam.
Q: How long have you been living in The Netherlands?
A: I was originally only moving to The Netherlands for 6 months. It’s now been 15 years. I became settled pretty quickly. The biggest challenge has been the language. It’s not always easy to know what is going on when you can’t understand everything that is being said. Luckily a lot of Dutch people can speak English but that can sometimes be a double edged sword as it makes it a little too easy not learn the language. My Dutch is good but not as good as it should be after living here for 15 years.
Q: Would you say that formalities like getting visas or work permits and international health insurance was particularly difficult in The Netherlands? What was your experience with these?
A: It was pretty easy for me. I’m from England which is part of the EU so I didn’t have to go through a lot of the formalities like getting visas and work permits. I was allow to just show up and start working. I had to sort out getting a tax number but that was very straight forward.
Q: Are you living alone or with your family?
A: For the first eight years I was living alone because of this I was mainly viewing Dutch culture as an outsider, sort of understanding it but never really taking part in it. Then I met the Dutch lady who later became my wife and I suddenly became a lot more involved in Dutch culture through her. I got a better understanding of the Dutch and it made a lot of things easier to understand (not that they were really difficult before).
Q: Was it easy making friends and meeting people? Do you mainly socialize with other expats in The Netherlands? How did you manage to find a social circle in The Netherlands?
A: In the beginning I mainly socialized and made friends with other expats. It was not intentional. It just seem to happy that way, probably because a lot of expats hang out in the same places. When I met my wife I met a lot more Dutch friends through her, although the majority of my friends are still other expats.
Q: What are the best things to do in the area? Anything to recommend to future expats?
A: Getting involved in some kind of activity or course is a great way to meet people. I met most of my friends in Amsterdam while doing an English speaking improvisation comedy course. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet a lot of great people.
Q: How does the cost of living in The Netherlands compared to your home?
A: In Amsterdam you’ll end up paying tourist prices in a lot of places but if you know where to go (or go outside of Amsterdam) things are not too expensive. If you go up North the cost of living becomes a lot cheaper, especially compared to London.
Q: How do you find the local culture and people in The Netherlands?
A: I find the locals very friendly (even the ones I am not married to). Some people sometimes describe the Dutch as blunt and sometimes this can be true. However, I just think this just makes them more honest and that can be very refreshing. I like the Dutch a lot.
Q: What do you think are the positive and negative sides of living in The Netherlands?
A: I really like the pace of life here. I also really like being able to cycle around the city. You would never be able to do that in London without ending up under a truck. Before I moved to the Netherlands I had not been on a bike since I was 13. Now it is a part of my everyday life. I just miss having some hills to speed down but on the positive side there are no hills for me to struggle up so it all evens out I guess.
Q: Do you miss home and family sometimes?
A: I miss my family and friends in London sometimes. Luckily it’s only a short distance away so I go back to visit a few times a year. My parents come over to visit us here quite often as well.
Q: Do you have plans to move to a different country or back home in the future?
A: I have no plans to move back at the moment. I’m very settled and we’ve started a family. In fact, I think I am slowly becoming Dutch.
Q: What has been the hardest aspect to your expat experience so far?
A: It was hard at first. It took me a while to find my footing in this country but once I got through that I discovered how much fun it could be to live in The Netherlands.
Q: What tips can you give other expats living in that country?
A: I’ll never forget the advice a friend once gave me; “Give it a chance.” I’d only been in the country for three days and was feeling very home sick. We were on the phone and I was telling him how I was thinking about giving up and coming home. It was his advice that made me stay and start enjoying life in Holland. Although to be fair the words he actually used was, “Don’t be a twat. You’ve only been there for three days. You can always come back later you idiot.”
Other advice I would give is avoid Dutch circle parties, get yourself a bike and really do give it a chance... you idiot.
Q: Do you have favourite websites or blogs about The Netherlands?
A: I write a blog about my adventures in The Netherlands as an accident prone Englishman. I share all the crazy adventures that happen to me and some of my observations of the Dutch culture. IT’s called Invading Holland.