Ten Years In The Netherlands

Ten Years In The Netherlands

Ten years ago I stepped off a British Airways flight and began my life in Holland. At the time I did not realize that this was what it was. Back then I thought it was just the beginning of the next six months of my life in Holland but I have been here for over a third of my life now.

And I am so happy that Holland has become my home. At the beginning I was not always thrilled about it and for a while when the honeymoon period was initially over I down right hated it. But luckily I stuck with it and discovered so much to love about the country. It’s still hard being away from my family and friends at times but I visit them when ever I can. I’ve also made new friends here who mean a lot to me and most importantly of all I met my wife who I love dearly (I told my self I would not cry).

I look forward to continuing my life in Holland and would like to thank everyone who has supported me for these past ten years. Thank you. You know who you are.

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

23 Responses

  1. Heather says:

    I think a circle party is in order! :)

  2. Invader Stu says:

    Oh dear god please no :p

  3. Congratulations on your 10-year invasion of Holland. I’m sure that they think that all things have remained the same but secretly, they have to admit that your luxurious animated facial hair is a cause of wonder.

    Well done.

  4. Jules says:

    Agree with Heather: time for a circle party!

  5. Alison says:

    Impressive! Congrats, or should that be gefeliciteerd! I’m looking forward to the revisit to the early days.

  6. Breigh says:

    Happy anniversary! :)

  7. Riayn says:

    Congratulations on your 10 year anniversary!

  8. Iooryz says:

    congratulations!

  9. Hanny says:

    Wow 10 years, that is amazing! Congrats :D

  10. Dave2 says:

    I would have been permanently stuck on “Year Two” for the past ten years, so congratulations!

  11. VallyP says:

    We are glad you stayed too, Stu! Looking forward to seeing you this weekend. I’ll mail you the address….might help :)

  12. Bart says:

    Congrats! Your invasion lasts more than twice as long as the previous attempt (somewhere during the 1940’s I believe).
    The wife and I are coming to A’dam this weekend, so we’ll bring a bunch of tulips and a family pack of Heineken to your doorstep.

    PS: year 4: so wrong
    PPS: year 5: so very very wrong
    PPPS: Year 6: no no no no no

  13. French Bean says:

    The year 7 cartoon totally cracked me up!

    Honestly, congratulations on settling your life in a new country and making it your home. It takes guts, skills and an everlasting love of Speculoos to achieve that! I have a mere couple of years of doing so in France and I feel like I’m still stuck in the year 1 phase. :p

  14. Aledys Ver says:

    Gefeliciteerd!! I’m glad you stayed – big fan of your blog here! :D

  15. Anita says:

    Parabéns, gefeliciteerd. I think you have gone through all he phase of enchantment, cultural shocks, denial, anger, frustration, surrender and finally… acceptance.

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