Becky92

Hey Cat
Nice to her you are also moving to be with your boyfriend. I have been here since december 2012 and I am getting on fine have made some friends have done a Dutch course and on Wednesday I am starting a conversation Dutch course. It was the best thing I ever did to be honest coming here to be with my bf. I did find it stressful at first with sorting papers out to be here legally but once that is sorted it gets easier. Also sometimes it was annoying when I didn't know any Dutch as people would look like I am ignorant. So basically my advice is that if you are planning to stay here then I would register yourself here and I would start a Dutch course as soon as you can because these two things alone help you to feel at home here.

Good luck!!!

sezmo84

Hi Becky,
Where abouts in the UK are you from? I think it must be very hard for you at the moment. It certainly was for me. I have been here for 9 months and Im still finding it difficult. Im not sure how confident you are yet, but one thing that has made a bit of difference to me was volenteering. If you were to search for schools in your area that also teach english lessons I am sure they would be happy to help. I got a little bit of work (tho not very good pay) as a teaching assistent as they are very keen to have native speakers. The thing about it was that it took some pressure from speaking dutch as they want you to only speak english.

Its a shame I dont live closer. There seems to be lots of people that are in areas with few expats.... I wonder if people would be interested in all meeting together someone in the middle? Just an idea.

Good Luck and if you ever need to have a moan (facebook, skype etc) to someone who understands feel free to contact me.
P.S sorry for the long thread...started as a quick 'hello'

Zwollywood

Hi folks you might also want to check out this site http://www.meetup.com/Enschede-International-Friends/ . The majority of the meet ups are in Amsterdam but there are some near you guys and you also have the option of starting one up yourself - good luck! Liz

RealAmericaninHolland

Hey this is all cool to read. I've been living in Holland for 7 years and this is my first time on an ex-pat site , :-) ... of course I already had a few circles of friends but it's always cool to make more! I pickup new ones normally just around, but ya still I'm an American culturally at heart so there's little real blend. My church has a lot of Americans so it helps, only right now I'm without a car and too far I think.

yvo1987

Hi

So, I'm all new to both forums and Holland! I moved from the UK to live with my Dutch boyfriend on the 6th July and am really struggling. I know it's only been a short amount of time but it doesn't seem to be getting better....my Dutch isn't great so no one will employ me yet and I can't start school until Sept.

Like Becky said in the first post, my boyfriend is being amazing too but I feel alone here, I want to have my own friends as his speak poor English so communication...plus you always want your own set of friends!

I wonder if anyone can give me any advice or anything as going home is really playing on my mind.

Thanks guys

Yvonne

StevieLW

Hi Yvonne,

Moving is always stressful, moving countries I'd say 10 times. I found it difficult going from having a regular job and set of friends to only having my boyfriend and no job, however I had to tell myself that this was expected and things would change.

I tried to immerse myself in living here, read everything on the shelves in the supermarket, try to read the newspapers even though I had no clue what they said. Try some free online language places (livemocha for example).

There are also a number of expat facebook groups - Expats in Netherlands, living with a dutchie, Young Expats in Netherlands, etc etc. these really help to find people in similar situations.

Finding a job for me was hard, up here in the north of NL as I didn't speak great dutch. I still don't speak fluently, but speak enough to get by, luckily i work at an international business so english is spoken.

out of interest, how much did you visit before you moved here?

yvo1987

hiya

That's what I'm struggling with...I've never been unemployed for more than a month in the last 10 years so I'm starting to go a little stir crazy and having to be so dependant on my boyfriend as well. I'm a slight control freak and not having any control over being here yet, isn't fun. It's amazing what I took for granted in the UK.

How long have you lived here?

Before I moved here I spent roughly 4 weeks here on and off...my boyfriend and I used to take turns, he actually moved to the UK last August but because he s trained in Aviation he struggled to find a suitable job for him.

Yvonne

StevieLW

I've been here for 2 years now, and worked for 1 year 4 months.

I found it useful to browse the job listings on ineed.nl looking specifically for English or Native English.

Take the time to relax a bit, get to know your new house, new city, new shops. Enjoy the nasty heat thats coming our way!

RealAmericaninHolland

Heh, I can share what happened when I moved out here, as a man also was employed for 10 years till then and stuff. As an American I had to wait an extra 6 months for the work permit. Really I wasn't bored for even a moment because of my church and community groups online. The thing was I could work still 20 hours a day on all the websites I was governing. But it's a long story how that all developed. Mainly the lady was a cop so she comes home and wanted everything perfect or else! LOL best to tell all via skype or phone. Maybe I tell my story and can motivate or give some hope..

karij1980

I should visit here more often, this is exactly how I am feeling at the moment, I am so glad to know that I am not the only one who has thoughts, worries etc....

yvo1987

I'll check out that website and give it ago.

I can't take anymore heat, us English aren't made for 32 degree heat!

I'm glad I joined here too because I haven't felt as alone as I have since moving here.

RealAmericaninHolland

It's a daring adventure, good we all found it. I would have never thought English were moving out to the area of Enschede. I've been only living in the South of Holland (provincie zuid holland) and my dutch isn't that bad.

yvo1987

how long have you been here? I'm also in the southern part

cat9889

I move over in 11 days! It's so scary!

karij1980

Where are you moving from and to?