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Dutchswede - I saw a two-hour documentary about Amsterdam some years ago, and have wanted to go there ever since then. The people looked and behaved like they were so laid back and cool and nice to everybody. It said that if you are homeless and find a place (like an empty building or something) - that you are allowed to homestead there. And then, if you are still there after a period of time in months, that the government will give it to you to live in. Is that true? Can you please tell me what the requirements are for an American citizen to come there and live? Thank you, Dutchswede
That is what I thought aswell, moving to amsterdam. A country of solidarity and friendship. If you are sleeping on someones porch, they will for sure call the police. I slept on a park bench ones, ended up with a euro 80 fine, and the information from the police officers that it is illegal to be homeless. On top of it all I on daily basis I recieve on daily basis racist comments, even though I am 100% swedish, completely white now-a-days company owner. And don't tell your parents you do drugs or are gay, they will chuck you out of the house for sure. If you want to find freedom and love, don't go here.
Very true. Racism never ended in Holland, despite rumors to the contrary. You might as well be in Germany, which appears more tolerant these days.
To be fair to the Dutch, because noone followed their lead in the social experiment of tolerance so it made Amsterdam into a mecca for drugs which has downsides as well. I went twice in the 90s and it was a really aggressive place with the amount of drunks, street dealers and junkies from all over Europe and Africa (and that was just as a tourist, I'd guess that residents suffered a lot more) I completely agree with the tolerance, I lived in Rotterdam this year and it makes life so much easier how you can just go and buy a bag of weed from a shop instead of having to know people and go to meet them etc but they suffered because noone followed their lead. Having a tolerant drugs policy is a good thing, but being the only country in the western world with a tolerant drugs policy is not a good idea Also, the Dutch are very straight people and while they are incredibly friendly and helpful if it doesn't affect them, if you fuck with them they are very harsh. They really like everything 'just so'. They won't bend the rules or go out of their way at all I do think that people are unrealistic about the famous dutch tolerance though. It is a rich European country and it isn't so different from any of it's neighbours, they are very relaxed and friendly people but if you go to Holland planning to be a bum you will still be treated like a bum, bring some money to get a house and some plan to get a job to support yourself and it will be great, but if you turn up with no money and just get high and sleep rough then of course you will have problems, Amsterdam isn't a holiday camp, it's a city (incidentally there are a few good holiday camp places in Amsterdam for foreigners which might be a good way to find work/somewhere to live etc if you aren't rich)
oh and re:the OP That was the worst thing about Holland for me, the nightshops close at 1, even in the city centre and if you need something you have to ride your bike out to a 24hour garage. It's like england 15 years ago
Cloaking Device: You are completely right in your statemtent; I would agree, except saying that they give everybody a fair chance until they mess up. I think they suppose you are going to mess up, before they even meet you, and that is disturbing and not the way I thought liberality would be. Otherwise, you have reflected the same way as I have. The reason the liberal way of thinking is not pursued as it should be, is because this became the epicentra of the problems. Everything attracted here, and no other countries followed, backing up The Netherlans when it all kicked off. Yes, god bless 24-hour shops. Btw. Did you know it is illegal in Holland to be open between 22-06, with some exemptions with permit. Never 24-7 thou...
Yeah, i do agree that they can judge you before they even meet you. I don't think that that is a Dutch thing though, I've had that everywhere I've lived. The Dutch have more of an excuse than most though since at least half of the foreigners in their country are only there for drugs and/or prostitutes. I bet if you did a survey of tourists to the country you would have much more people who could name 5 types of weed than 5 Dutch painters... I was only there for 9 months so I don't understand the politics of the place at all but they do seem to have a worrying element of racists/populists/pricks in their government right now. I was seriously impressed in Holland (I'm English btw) by how you could ask people for things like directions or what something written in Dutch meant and they didnt just help you, they were clearly enjoying helping you. the Dutch people I knew all seemed really well educated and smart (not just rich white people either) so I have a lot of admiration for their country despite all of the bad... I know this is an incredibly negative viewpoint but I have started to think that all of Europe is like that. After the war there was an idealism and the people in power were listening to more progressive ideas because of the utter failure of right wing thinking, but now the people in the war are all dead and the fascist governments look weak so people have forgotten how dangerous capitalism is I'm sure it will come around again, there will be some catastrophe that destroys Europe and we will wake up again, but then after that we will forget about it again after a few years..... and so on until we manage to really destroy ourselves properly...
To stop sticking up for the Dutch, I didn't actually enjoy living there except the weed It was a bit like living in one of those rich suburbs in England, even when you go to things like raves it's all planned by the government. That has advantages and disadvantages....
