Two weeks from today, I'll be back in the Netherlands! Now of course what I'm most excited about is seeing my family and my best friends, but for this post I'll focus on what I miss about Netherlands and so am excited to experience again.
I love how beautiful the neighborhood we live in is. There are huge trees everywhere in Wassenaar and a forest in the middle that we bike through to go anywhere. The forest used to be part of different estates, and there are two castles hidden in the trees that you catch glimpses of during the winter when the trees are empty of leaves. The whole country is beautiful, especially in the spring when the tulips and daffodils are in bloom.
I love how easy it is to get around. I don't have a driver's license (the legal driving age in the Netherlands is 18, so I was never able to get one), and I feel kind of stuck here, but in Holland I was never ever limited. From my house, it takes 20 minutes to bike into the Hague and 40 to bike to Leiden, both places I went regularly. If I didn't want to bike or I wanted to go farther, such as to Amsterdam, there were buses and trains and trams galore. Biking and taking public transportation is so easy that even my parents rarely use their cars. My mom bikes or takes the bus with my siblings to school, and my dad takes the train or bike to work. The only time we ever really drive is when going to church and Mutual. I miss it.
I love the little, private shops that are the norm rather than the exception. In the center of town there is the Langstraat, which means "long street." No bikes or cars can travel on this street–which is lined by shops–it's just for walking. Teenagers hang out here, couples go here for dates, moms come here to shop. There are a few chain stores along Langstraat, such as Hema, a Dutch department store, but the majority of shops are boutiques. There's a candy shop that I go to almost every time I'm on Langstraat. It's packed with all sorts of candy, chocolate, dutch licorice, the best stroopwaffels I've ever had, trinkets, and Dutch china, and it always smells amazing. The owner is the only person I ever see behind the counter, and he is so friendly to everyone. His store is my favorite on the Langstraat.
I miss Dutch food, the pannekoeken (big thin pancakes), poffridges (tiny fat pancakes), stroopwaffels (basically ambrosia), and hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles that go with everything). I miss the Dutch street signs and city names, like Scheveningen (a city), and Verlengde Kerkeboslaan (the street I live on), the coughing, guttural "G" sound in every other word, and how accomplished I felt when my pronunciation of Dutch names was approved by my Dutch friends. I miss the people, although it did take a while to get used to how direct they are. You always know the opinion of a Dutchie. I miss how you have to go uphill to get to the beach, how in some places the bike paths are wider than the roads, how you could by a dozen roses for 5€ ($5.50), and the cobblestone streets in the center of town.
Holland will always have a special place in my heart.
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