Information about Netherlands


Gastronomy 

Holland is not known for its gourmet cooking, unlike France or Italy. It's known for its coffee, tulip and cheese. 

The typical dutch food is a northern cuisine and mainly composed of potatoes, meat and vegetables. It's natural, plentiful, delicious and not sophisticated food. 

There are some traditional dish like " Erwtensoep " (it's a soup with peas) or the " Stamppot (a dish of patotoes and meat).

The famous herring or " Haring" (in NL) that they eat raw, marinated, " pommes à l'huile " or smoked is dutch delicacy.  

At Amsterdam, they often add onion and sometimes cucumber. But to follow the real way of eating of a Dutchman, you must swing above your head by the tail and open the mouth very wide. Love it or don't like ... !  

Eet smakelijk  ! 

Celebration 

source

Netherlands is a country where the culture has a big place in the society. The major event in Amsterdam is the Koningsdag, it's the queen's day and it corresponds with the king's coronation. For them, it's the National Day. 

That day, the orange color invades Amsterdam streets, canals, parks ...

This is a very special event, it's unique with its giant garage sale, outdoor concerts and festivals, you can't miss it if you're Dutch. This year, the Koningsdag is April 26th. 


Horticulture

source

One of the most famous symbol of the Netherlands is the Tulip. This flower originally come from Turkey. A French botanist, Charles de Lécluse, brought this flower to Leiden during the mid-16th century. Netherlands was then suffering a real tulip mania : a tulip bulb cost more than a house! Around 1630 the price decreased radically, but the Dutch chose to selected the tulip as an official national symbol.

Today dutch horticulture is not only based on tulip, but also on hyacinth, narcissus, rose, orchid and lily. 

The best moment to admire the flowery fields is from mid-April until end of May.The Keukenhof is the most famous and the biggest floral exposition on the world : we can see there more than 7 millions bulbs spread on 32 hectares.


 Sports and activities in Netherlands

The national sport in Netherlands is football.

Source

They also invented in 1902 a sport  called the "Korfbal", which is quite similar to the basketball. The particularity of this sport is to be mixed

Speed skating is a very popular in Netherland. In winter, when it is enough fcold, most of the population go out with his ice skates and skate on all the frozen canals and laks. 

A weird dutch activity is the "Wadlopen", litteraly "walking in the mud" : during the low tide, people walk in the sludgen, sometimes sunk until the thighs.

Another specific activity is the "Fierljeppen" = "long jump". The aim is to jump over marge canal with a 8 to 12 metres length pole.The rcird is about 21m.

Our accommodation  



Anaise has found a roommate thanks to a group on facebook called "NHTV and AVANS - Living Arrangements Breda". It's a place where people can find proposals for room rentals. It's specially for ERASMUS exchange, the owners are students and they leave their apartment  for a short period, often to study in other countries. 

Anaise lives with a flatmate named Alicia. She shared the living room, the kitchen and the bathroom, but she has her own bedroom. The apartement is located at 297c Epelenberg. It's near to AVANS, just 10 minutes by bike. 




 
Camille has found  her room on this facebook group too. Her two roomates are called Helen and Mark. They are part English-part Dutch and Dutch.They both say to enjoy cooking and eating, spending time outdoor, so it looks perfect. Another room will be rented later this year, so maybe another roomates will come. The room is about 10 mn from AVANs by bike.

The living room

My bed!

How to move in Breda and the Netherlands?

Well, Breda is in the Netherlands, and the Netherlands are quite known to be a place where it is easy to bike. Actually the country is said to contain more bikes than inhabitants! So we can suppose that it would be useful to have a bike in Breda!

(here is a bike parks near Amsterdam station. We couldn't imagine that in France!) 

image source

Another way of transport very used in the Netherlands is public transport. However, the price for one ticket bus, available for only one bus ride, is 3€, wich is quite expensive, isn’t it? Some cities are equipped with subway or tramway (for example Amsterdam, but not Breda).

Apparently the best way to move in a city is to go by biking or walking. Furthermore, the historical center of cities like Breda or Amsterdam is organized according to biking or walking (there is more than 35.000 km of cycling path, bikes parking …). 

Between the cities, there are a lot of trains. For example there is more or less one train every hour between Breda and Amsterdam, and the price is quite cheap (20€ for 105 km).

Of course people can use their car to travel from a city to another.

Some of us have planned to buy a bike in Breda, so it will be easier to move from our room to the center.We look forward to see those amazing bike parks ourselves!

How would you go to Breda?

The first way to go in the Netherlands is the train. The journey is about 8 hours from Angers to Amsterdam, by going through Paris. Price is quite cheap if you buy it in advance: we had it for 60€ in November. Without any reductions it costs about 200€ for a round-trip ticket.

 (The Amsterdam airport is the 4th biggest one in Europe)

image source

It is also possible to take a plane; it is faster (between 1 and 2h30, it depends from which town you leave) but more expensive: from 200 to 600€. There are direct lines leading to Amsterdam (Schipol airport) from Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Toulouse.

Going to the Netherlands by car is quite easy: starting to Lille, you have to go to Belgium by E7. Once you’re in Belgium, Netherlands is 150 km distant. Furthermore highways are free in Belgium and the Netherlands. But if you stay a long time in the same city in Netherlands, your car will be quite useless.

Another possibility is to take the bus to go to the Netherlands. It is not as comfortable as others way of transport, but it is cheaper: between 15 and 25€ from Paris.

 (In the Netherlands, the main train company is Talys)

image source

Half of the group going to Breda will take the train. We will leave Angers at 9h41, arrive at Paris at 11h17, leave Paris at 12h25and finaly arrive in Amsterdam about 15h40. Then we’ll take another train to Breda for approximately 20€. We plane to arrive to Breda about 18 p.m.

Others are going to use a car. To my knowledge, nobody is planning to take a plane.

And what about you ? What would you choose ?