Yep i am off to Holland to work at ECN (energy research centre of the netherlands) in October. Any advice?

Stay out of the cycle lanes when on foot.
And watch out for trams. They appear out of nowhere and move surprisingly fast.

Dam it Riven don't go my aould tulip. You'll stay in touch won't you ? We need energy news, well I do.

What are you going to research in particular? And as long as you're not too much of a homebird or if you have a sense of adventure then don't despair if you're a bit lonely for the first week or two.

I've only been to Amsterdam (and hear what AfricanDave is saying about the infrastructure) but I've played a few WWII video games based in the Netherlands and it seems the Dutch are wonderful people. I've also met tons of them travelling and when they tell you they believe that Dutch will be a dialect of English soon your ears prick up. Dutch itself, as opposed to English spoken ther,e they believe is a minor dialect in Europe now but I'm sure it's worth trying to learn the local languages anyway so I'd give you the advice of getting your hands on the local music and sticking it in your iPod.

I'm envious of you now so I am.

Holland really is a great country. There is something about the Dutch people that sets them apart from most of us.
I know one or two Dutch people and they really have the best attitudes. Although, you're not likely to meet very many Dutch people in Amsterdam.
I've been there, to Rotterdam and to a few other places in the country.
Amsterdam isn't that nice a place. The city is amazimg, has great infrastructure and beautfiul architecture, but it is very very seedy.
Rotterdam is ok, but I think all cities are the same.
What part of the country will you be going to?

The Netherlands is a very nice country. I've always found the people there to be very nice, particularly when you get outside Amsterdam. Amsterdam itself is a very nice city, especially if you stay away from the sleezy side of it. The Van Gough Museum is well worth a visit.

Buy yourself a nice bike

Well, some of us must have met a Dutch person who wasn't that friendly? ... but it wasn't me. Have a number of Dutch friends in London and have also met their families etc - all are just lovely people.

Every Dutch person I have ever met, either socially or in business, has had absolutely fluent English, so I don't suppose language will be much of an issue.

Ian Buruma has written quite interestingly on the Netherlands.

riven wrote:

Yep i am off to Holland to work at ECN (energy research centre of the netherlands) in October. Any advice?

What exciting work to be doing riven. Enjoy very much. Don't know if this is any use to you, but you can fly Waterford to Amsterdam now. I've never been there and was talking to someone this morning about going.

Stay in touch - it adds even more to the Machine Nation universality to have inter-national chats with posters from Ireland, the UK, Switzerland, France, the US and lord knows where. We will be fascinated to hear a perspective from the Netherlands.

One think I know about the Dutch is that their thinking is very much affected by the fact that their country is man made. For example, whereas most humans prefer pictures of landscapes and lakes, the Dutch usually pick a nice abstract. I'd be interested to get your impressions on that.

Good luck.

AfricanDave wrote:

Stay out of the cycle lanes when on foot.
And watch out for trams. They appear out of nowhere and move surprisingly fast.

Sort of like Hippos.

riven wrote:

Yep i am off to Holland to work at ECN (energy research centre of the netherlands) in October. Any advice?

Be careful you don;t become so advanced in one direction that you can never return to Ireland because there are no jobs of sufficiently high calibre available.

Be careful what you say to Dutch people. They are incredibly frank (tactless?). If you say that you do not like John Doe because he picks his nose, then they are likely to repeat that directly to John Doe. They assume you would say the same and so there is no harm done.

Bring your thick skin and don't get offended by their tactlessness. Take it as you would take a comment from a 10 year old, i.e., assume it was not meant to hurt or offend and the person knows no better.

The Dutch move pretty slowly in shops, at check-outs and in other public situations. Take a chill pill and let them at it.

Auditor #9 wrote:

What are you going to research in particular?

worth trying to learn the local languages anyway

Specifically I will be in a membrane group which is a unit inside an overal energy efficiency in industry group. It is a to market research company. Moving was always going to happen as Irish research is not up to scratch.
Will hope to take night courses in dutch and perhaps german as well.

johnfas wrote:

Amsterdam itself is a very nice city, especially if you stay away from
the sleezy side of it. The Van Gough Museum is well worth a visit.
Buy yourself a nice bike

I was briefly in amsterdam and much preferred the outer or quieter parts of the city. It was a bit tacky. Alkmaar were I was put up was were nice. Bike is a definate. I cycled here.

Zhou_Enlai wrote:

Be careful what you say to Dutch people. They
are incredibly frank (tactless?).

They are a blunt people sometimes. However that suits me. Being an engineer I want things to work and niceities are not top priority. Management material I aint. (Ps. i found the irish in certain situations can be very veiled especially in boos/subordinate relations)

riven wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

What are you going to research in particular?

worth trying to learn the local languages anyway

Specifically I will be in a membrane group which is a unit inside an overal energy efficiency in industry group. It is a to market research company. Moving was always going to happen as Irish research is not up to scratch.
Will hope to take night courses in dutch and perhaps german as well.

johnfas wrote:

Amsterdam itself is a very nice city, especially if you stay away from
the sleezy side of it. The Van Gough Museum is well worth a visit.
Buy yourself a nice bike

I was briefly in amsterdam and much preferred the outer or quieter parts of the city. It was a bit tacky. Alkmaar were I was put up was were nice. Bike is a definate. I cycled here.

Zhou_Enlai wrote:

Be careful what you say to Dutch people. They
are incredibly frank (tactless?).

They are a blunt people sometimes. However that suits me. Being an engineer I want things to work and niceities are not top priority. Management material I aint. (Ps. i found the irish in certain situations can be very veiled especially in boos/subordinate relations)

Best of luck riven. I hope we'll still be hearing from you. There's a little map linked to the portal that shows where people are posting from and its nice to see our little blobs all over the place.