How it all started
Have you ever thought about how you want to change something in your life? Maybe have another hair color, completely change your style or maybe even move to another country? Well I have, and this is how I accidentally decided to live in the Netherlands.
It’s weird how one tiny decision can change your life upside down. I was a simple girl, with small dreams – traveling and enjoying my life to the fullest. Nothing suggested that one day I might do these things from another country. In 2017 I started at my university, where I met this girl, who eventually became my friend. A friend who opened my eyes and showed me that there is so much more outside Latvia. Long story short – We grew to know each other more and became really close. At the end of the year, when we were both empty and tired, she came up with this crazy idea. – let’s go seek some adventure in The Netherlands.
What? The Netherlands? Where is that? What are we going to do and most of all, how are we going to afford it?
I will be honest, this idea was so tempting but I knew nothing about this country. But she was already way ahead of me: “we will work there, meet new people and see how it goes. We can always come back” she said.
The decision to move
That’s when my research started. First of all, where is this country? How do I find a job? There are so many job agencies that provide accommodations and work. luckily for us, my friends cousin found an agency for us. All we had to do, was to choose a date when we were coming and find a way to get there. We then set the date, the 22nd of June, and told our families. Fortunately everyone was super supportive, but also a little scared.
Two girls heading into the big world all alone. Yes, we were scared ourselves too.
We didn’t know where we were going to live, if we were going to be alone or maybe with 5 other women in one room. Are we going to work in a greenhouse? A strawberry field? Maybe in a fish factory? We read all kinds of horror stories on internet about bad agencies or unbearable jobs, so we went there mentally prepared for the worst.
The journey
The 21st of June, early in the morning, we met at the bus station and said our last goodbyes to our families. The journey was about to begin.
I’ll be honest, a 24 hour bus ride is not fun, I would rather choose an airplane. Since this was our first time going to The Netherlands, we chose a means of transport that was going to take us straight to recruitment agency’s main office.
We arrived at our destination a day later, and our recruiter was already waiting for us. Here starts the boringly exciting part, where we finally found out where we were going to work. It’s not always like this, most agencies post their available vacancies online. That way people can know where they are going to work.
We were prepared for all kinds of jobs, but surprise surprise, we got one of the best where foreigners can work without a degree or Dutch language – order picker at a warehouse. When that was settled, our recruiter took us to our new home. Again, we thought we were going to have to share our living space with other people, but there came the next surprise, we got our own studio apartment. Nothing too fancy, just a small apartment with one bedroom, a small living room combined with the kitchen, a bathroom and a balcony, enough for the two of us.
At that day, we actually had only 2 hours to settle in, because we were put on the planning for work. Well okay then, work is work, and we quickly went to the closest store to buy some food and got ready for our first day. We got night shifts at work, therefore extra money for nightly hours. Not too bad. Taking that we both are heavy sleepers and hate to wake up early, this was perfect for us. Our job was very easy, take a list, check the location, quantity and pick up the item. Super easy.
Lessons learned & advice
The next morning was early wake up for us, because we still needed to get our BSN (burgerservicenummer, the citizen service number) and open our bank accounts. BSN is a unique number is needed for everyone who wants to work in The Netherlands. It is used for many Dutch government institutions – obligatory for Dutch healthcare insurance, hospitals, schools and more.
If you don’t have enough money to afford your own apartment straight away, this is a great way to live cheap and save up for your own place. In this country registration is very important, it can give you lots of benefits. Some of them are an easier tax return process or getting a general practitioner (GP).
Renting your own place will help you in the future – better job opportunities and overall, you won’t have to depend on your agency anymore. There are many cases of people who lose their jobs, they also get kicked out of their accommodation. And no one would like to be in that kind of a situation.
Before you move, my recommendation would be – take somebody along with you. Not all moving stories are as lucky as ours, but being together with someone, might be easier and make you feel safer if things don’t go as planned. Moreover, take extra money with you, not only for food, but also for plane tickets, just in case nothing works out and you want to return to your home country.
Why I stayed?
For me work wasn’t the thing that made me want to move. Yes, I am a big fan of nature, which is weird because in The Netherlands there’s city next to the city, but what I loved about this country was the people, how welcoming and sweet they are.
Also, what I admire about them is how honest they can be, they don’t keep things to themselves, they talk about it and they tell everything that’s on their mind. For some cultures it might be impolite and rude, but for them it’s normal.
There is one thing I can tell you – if you want to move abroad and have some adventures, then this country might be it.
I still love Latvia and wouldn’t mind living there when I’m old, having a small countryside house with a small garden where I could grow potatoes, but for now, I call this place my home.
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