[SlickyBoy]

Quote:

By far the best game to run in the Nethetlands. But I had no time to for it. It takes months to develop a social circle and I was there for only 4 days

Very true all over the Netherlands - though it's more like years. If you haven't known someone since you were five you'll never truly be close to them - and as the expression goes: "if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much." But no matter what, yes, they are usually polite and rarely have I met one who does not speak fluent English.

Utrecht is a student city - if you're over 30 it won't be as easy as it would be for a college aged exchange student, but there are still plenty of good pubs where you can find great beer (Kafe Belgie - must be 200 beers on that menu), polite conversation (seemed like everywhere) and even a live band now and then (Boot Hill Saloon). One thing that you'll notice is nearly every 25+ girl seemed to already have had an American boyfriend once in their past. Such is reality in the age of cheap airfare and smartphones.

At least most of the ones nominally identifying as feminists were still not disgusting to look at.

If you are in town for King's Day, it's a huge street party. Be sure to bring something orange to wear.

And if you do decide to get a bike (highly recommended), don't get something too expensive as bike theft by junkies is rampant, especially near the train station areas. Overall though, it is still a very safe city. That said, I would avoid residential areas with a lot of Moroccan immigrants such as Ondeep - there's been some problems in the past with racial tensions, but even then only infrequently. No reason you'd want to go there anyway.

In case you are wondering, yes, you can smoke weed at the coffee shops there too - not just Amsterdam. Funny thing is you won't see a lot of ethnic Dutch in those places, mostly third worlders, students and the occasional tourist.