Arriving in the Netherlands Wide-Eyed and Hopeful - My First Impressions

Arriving in The Hague felt both grounding and disorienting. From public transit, recycling and tree-lined streets that brought the smell of nostalgia reminding me of my grandparents home.

When you move countries, people warn you about culture shock. What I didn’t expect was how quickly small things would shape my daily life here in The Hague. These are the first impressions that have stayed with me in our first months here.

Arriving in The Hague, I felt wide-eyed in every sense of the word. My first impressions were both grounding and disorienting. Public transit was everywhere, efficient, and obviously built into daily life, yet I found myself confused just figuring out which line to take and how to pay. I personally don’t read a lot of forums or Reddit threads to find answers to things because I find them demeaning and most of out of date. So finding websites with real answers that were legitimate was so time consuming. We ended up just giving up and asking a store clerk.

Recycling was similar: complicated at first, but once I learned the system, it became second nature. We even started using a company called Droppie for nearly everything except paper and glass. You download their app and scan your QR code and they pay you to recycle.

Don’t get me started on advertising in the US. The lack of it here was one of the first things I noticed. No giant billboards screaming at you, no medical ads trying to sell you on the newest pill. I can’t tell you how refreshing it felt not to be constantly marketed to.

We should also talk about an obvious detail to everyone but until you experience it… it’s truly eye-opening and that is walkability. Take a look at these 2 photos. One in California I snapped back in March while walking to a Starbucks while my car charged and the other while I walked to a cafe in The Hague.

Driving into The Hague didn’t feel real. The route took us through forested areas, and even inside the city, the sheer number of trees stunned me. When our driver dropped us on our street, I stood there blinking at all the greenery. We’ve been in nearly every major U.S. city outside the Northwest, and I’ve never seen this kind of greenery woven so naturally into an urban space.

Weeks after being here when we had bikes we were cycling home from the beach and the smells of the greenery brought a sense of nostalgia of growing up at my grandparents… the smell of trees, flowers and the feeling in the air during summer. It just felt familiar. I never expected to experience that in a place so urban.

To be honest I could write an entire post about how much I missed non-threatening deciduous trees living in Tucson.

The city itself felt odd because it wasn’t something we had ever experienced. No matter how many YouTube videos I watched nothing prepared me for it. So many of the buildings looked similar in style, but each had a kind of character I rarely saw in the U.S. where strip malls and cookie-cutter neighborhoods dominate the landscape. In the US no matter what city you visit there are always the same set of ugly, cheaply built offerings. It’s so predictable and boring.

Then came the surprises… the smaller, daily-life details that no amount of research prepares you for. Like kids shopping alone in the grocery store, list in hand and money ready to pay. Oh and the gates at the grocery store that you have to scan your receipt to open.

Sometimes it was for their own lunch, sometimes for their parents and it just seemed so normal here. Then of course, the bicycles. We expected them, sure, but nothing prepared us for the sheer volume of bikes or the massive garages packed full of them. Seeing it firsthand is an entirely different experience.

There were other adjustments too.

Stores closing around 5 p.m. still throws me off, even though grocery stores stay open later.

Despite the biking culture, there are still a lot of cars, a surprising number all fighting for limited parking. Not something I expected to see here honestly.

Should I mention that cities aren’t loud when there is a lack of cars? Honestly that was something I have heard over and over on urban planning style channels on YouTube like Not Just Bikes, Strong Towns, City Beautiful and City Nerd but couldn’t believe it was actually true until I experienced it myself.

The closeness of shops is a gift I never realized I’d love so much. Forget an ingredient while cooking? No problem, I can walk to the store, grab what I need, and be back at the stove in ten minutes. That kind of convenience was never possible in the U.S. neighborhoods we lived in.

Some things were more challenging. Over-the-counter medicine options are slim, and coated pills are prescription-only apparently. For someone like me, with an autoimmune disease that narrows my throat, swallowing uncoated pills is nearly impossible and allowing them to melt in my mouth is a thing of nightmares. I’ll need to persuade my doctor to provide a script for coated medication apparently.

Another challenge is the sheer amount of smoking here. As someone who goes out of my way to avoid smoke, it is frustrating to see how common it is in public spaces, right in front of doorways, outside cafes, and even in outdoor eating areas. I genuinely hate it. The US worked hard to push smoking out of shared spaces, and I do miss that shift. Honestly, I am shocked at how high the smoking rates are here given how long and healthy Dutch people tend to live. I respect personal choice, but not everyone around you wants to be breathing it in.

Finding favorite personal care items is always a challenge. I don’t necessarily want to waste money on products I will end up hating but it’s something you really just have to do to find things you will like. I was truly shocked by the floss culture here though. I’ve never seen so many options for tiny little straw cleaner looking floss sticks and like 1-2 options for actual floss on a roll. I did finally find a large roll of Reach floss at Etos. It’s not coated but it also doesn’t fall apart between my teeth.

Did I mention the sheer amount of libraries here? There are 3 within a mile of our apartment and a 4th we visit frequently when we are in the city center. I do love a library and when you’re new here and you register with the municipality they send you a booklet that contains a coupon for your first year of membership for free. Score!

All of these details are shaping our daily life here in the Netherlands. I don’t know when The Hague will start to feel like home, but I can already feel the edges of that belonging taking shape. I think it’s just a matter of finding your flow and we are starting to get there.