Greetings from the Netherlands!
It’s been almost exactly two months since I arrived to this flat country and a beautiful city called Utrecht. First few weeks I was completely lost here and felt like an outsider with no bicycle. Cycling is a very typical Dutch thing to do and even though I had read about the amounts of bikes in cities, the reality was “worse” than I’d imagined. In Finland I used to hate cycling but after getting my own bike here and exploring the city with it I’m now convinced that it’s the best way to travel short distances. So it seems I’ve taken my first step in turning into Dutch…
I came here for my exchange to study Minor Music Marketing in the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (Hogeschool Utrecht). Courses have been interesting but not as challenging as I was hoping for when reading reports about studying in this particular school. All the teachers in this minor are real professionals in the music industry and their English is very good, which has made learning in a new environment pretty easy. Also the way of teaching is quite similar with TAMK so I haven’t had any difficulties with courses and the amount of work is very reasonable. That’s nice since it guarantees that I have a lot of spare time here. Despite not being forced to study really hard, I feel that I’ve learned much and also passed all the courses this far with good grades. 
The biggest culture shock here has been a positive one: people in the Netherlands (at least in Utrecht, I’m not so convinced about the Amsterdam) are very helpful and friendly. If you’re wondering in the streets and look like you’re lost, there’s always someone coming to offer their help. People are smiling and more talkative to strangers than in Finland but also here the personal distance exists, so you’re not going to feel intimidated by strangers. Living in the Netherlands is easy also because nearly everyone here speaks good English and knowing basics of German also helps quite much with understanding Dutch, at least in written form..
In my free-time I have travelled inside the Netherlands with my flatmates. We have visited Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Leiden. Travelling inside the country is easy and cheap, because with the OV-chipkaart you can use all the domestic trains in the Netherlands as well as the public transport. I’ve also visited Italy for a weekend trip and I’m planning to visit also Paris.
Besides travelling I’ve attended many cool international house parties and also seen the nightlife of Utrecht, which I don’t really enjoy because of the music they are playing: electronic dance music and techno are very popular here and almost nobody listens to rock or heavy music… One of the things I miss from Finland!
I could write for hours about the beauty of the canals, interesting changes in weather, all the amazing new people I’ve met and so many other things. But since I’m trying very hard to keep this short, I guess I’ve already written enough.
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