What living in the Netherlands is like

This is an English blog for my penpals and other foreign people who are interested in what living in the Netherlands is like. For the record: Our counrty is called the Netherlands, We do have two places called South Holland and North Holland. I do live in South Holland but it's a province which is like what a county is in the United States of America. I never say I live in Holland because I live in The Netherlands. If you like to learn more or don't understand it I would refer to this short but funny video.

Now more about my life in the Netherlands. The yellow pins on the map are my home, vacation home and the house I grew up in. I grew up in the very lovely city called Utrecht. It is in the centre of the Netherlands and is also the centre of transportation. The city looks like Amsterdam but is a lot cozier. The city is known for canals, architecture, it's university, rich history and culture. They also have places you can smoke weed and meet prostitutes. So if you're planning a trip to the Netherlands I think you should visit Utrecht instead of Amsterdam. I grew up in a quiet neighbourhood with a lot of upper middle class families living there.

At the moment I live in a village called Ridderkerk. It is right next to the big city Rotterdam. Rotterdam is different from the other big cities in the Netherlands since it was bombarded during the Second World War. It makes Rotterdam more various in architecture. Rotterdam is known for the largest cargo port in Europe, modern art and modern achritecture. Luckily it also stil has some older buildings standing and some cute harbors left. Ridderkerk is a Christian village founded in the 13th century. The area used to be surrounded by greenhouses but the living area is increasing fastly so the number of greenhouses decreased. I live in the city centre where the shops and restaurants are at the end of my street.

I also own a vacation home at Ameland. Ameland is part of the Wadden and is therefor a Wadden Island. It is right next to the beach and North Sea. Ameland's groundes are sand hills and there are many beautiful forests. I love watching the sunset at the beach or go for a walk through the forest. On this page of my blog you can find some pictures I took at Ameland. But some pictures are taken in Rotterdam.