living in amsterdam
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- punkyup0
Hmm, Amsterdam can be fun to live in but expect to pay between 750 and 1000 euros rent for a studio/ two rooms appartement. And it's very difficult to obtain an appartement. You can also buy an appartement but if you want to live in a decent neighborhood (de pijp, de jordaan etc) and have a decent house than you are looking at 200 k, or something like that.
Food/drink prices don't vary much of prices in the rest of Europe i reckon.good luck
- rabattski0
750/1000E? that's what you pay if you rent something outside the ring. inside it's almost double the price. amsterdam is very expensive though. here in berlin it's about 50% of the amsterdam rates.
- DutchBoy0
rabattski, it was all over the news here..
http://www.nu.nl/news.jsp?n=3039…
you live in Berlin, btw?
- punkyup0
I have a few friends that live near the Westergasfabriek (Westerpark) and they pay around 1000 euro. I still think that it's a lot of money (2200 guilders). Amsterdam is a small city so if you live just outside the ring, you are still very close to the centre.
50% of the Amsterdam rates in Berlin? So that's 500E for a good appartement? Wow. I want to live in berlin
- Edo0
well from all I can tell most opinions here are either extremely positive in a very cliche kind of way, or either very negative again argumented with all kinds of cliches.
My experiences are mixed, but having lived in the center of Amsterdam for the past 10 years I can tell you its a mixture of both.
1. Rent is high, salaries are high, it just evens out. Besides you can pay a fair rent for a apt. if you are willing to put some effort into it.
2. If you don't like being dependent on either public or motorized transprotation, Amsterdam is your city. There is not a single better form of transportation than a bike and Amsterdam is the best city for it.
3. Nightlive is not the best in the world, but it is certainly not bad at all. All the bs coming from other ppl that Amsterdam nightlive sucks compared to that of Amsterdam just don't know what they are talking about. It is not that I don't ever go out of Amsterdam, to R'dam for example, to go clubbing or whatever, but just for your daily beer, your regular dance and your weekly pickup routine, Amsterdam is as good as any other place.
4. Media wise: Most big advertising agency's have an office in Amsterdam. And a lot of them have the european accounts. Only London and maybe paris are better city's in europe if this is your industry. Same goes for the whole online industry.
5. It is very cosmopolitan, which cannot be said of any other Dutch city. Besides everybody speaks english and you can adapt quite easily.
6. Someone said that Amsterdam was a violent, or criminal city. This is the biggest BS I have heard in a while and certainly coming from someone who is bragging about NYC. It is in no way more dangerous than any other big city.
7. Amsterdam is a very left-wing city. There is not much racism, discrimination or extreme poverty. A lot of global NGO have HQs in Amsterdam. If you want to build a portfolio, you can do work for them and it shows great on your portfolio. Examples are greenpeace, warchild etc.Good luck
- rabattski0
well cliches become cliches because it's a repeating issue hence the name cliche. i have been living in amsterdam for a long time last 3 years or so dead centre (1 min. walk from central station) and i am so glad i moved away. then again it all boils down to personal preferences. plenty of people digging amsterdam or else it would be empty.
punkyup: yep. i pay half the rent i used to pay in amsterdam and i even have a twice as big apt. big enough to have my studio here.
db: thanks for that link! no way!?! how could i have missed that one. yep. berlin. all the way. accept no substitutes.
- schedule20
I've spend alot of time in Amsterdam and I absolutely love the city. I live in California and try to get out there once or twice a year because I love it so much.
The people are the best you will ever meet. The city is totally safe, especially if you are used to living in a busy metropolitan area. The only thing you have to worry about is the red light district late at night if you are stoned out of your mind and don't appear to be too alert. I have been confronted by a few scam artists in that area, but by no means did I fear for my life. This is Holland, people don't kill people in Holland. At least not compared to here (USA)
If I could get cleared through imigration I wouldn't hesitate to move over there. The cost can't be what I'm paying now for rent..at $1060 US dollars a month for a small one bedroom.
Do it if you have the chance, consider yourself lucky.
- rabattski0
schedule2: to be honest comparing california, or the us in this case, with europe is like comparing russia to europe. you can't. if the person who asked would be from the us maybe the amsterdam criticism would be different but that person is not from the us. actually all the americans i know in amsterdam think it's a breeze but that's based on where they are from and what they know. i actually had a friend who ducked when a van passed by slowly. different attitude i guess. no good excuse but still. the differences aren't that big but the expectations are different. so for someone within europe it can be whole different thing. my experiences with amsterdam are the opposite with yours but no regular killings that's very correct but then again that is something that is pretty much the same everywhere in europe. i just wonder have you visited any other major cities in europe?
- stewart0
Holland is more than Amsterdam.
We allso have great cities like The Hague and Rotterdam.
If you're into design, architecture, photography, film etc, those are the places to be, and it is only 15 minutes traveling by train between them. And they're not floating on tourists like Amsterdam.
- Edo0
ok, so you didn't like it. But I can't understand your problem with crime. Although if you live 1 min walk from CS no wonder you experienced crime. I can't think of a place in that area that is quiet or worth living. I live in de jordaan and here it is quiet and beautiful.
- stewart0
and Rotterdam has the NightTown
- rabattski0
stew: rotterdam rocks. everyone knows that here. got plenty plugged up here.
edo: yep, the jordaan is nice and the pijp as well and some other parts east and west like i have posted before. the last couple of years was dead center before that pretty much everywhere. no crime? well from my point of view no crime or hardly no crime is really exaggerated. bos & lommer, bijlmer, osdorp, especially in the centre (which you'll know if you have lived there) those areas are no pretty pictures. maybe i've seen more shit happen. dunno. but saying there's no problem with crime in amsterdam is like saying that there are coffeeshops in amsterdam.
- rabattski0
and it's not disliking it. it has turned from a love to a love/hate relationship with amsterdam (as posted before). it's just that berlin for me is an eyeopener, it has all the positive things from amsterdam but not the negative things. for me i could really see amsterdam from a different perspective you know. then again, amsterdam is so much smaller as berlin. space does make a difference.
- stewart0
my sister lives in Amsterdam-West
that is an interresting part of Amsterdam.
close to the city center, but very quiet.
- stewart0
difficult to compare Amsterdam and Berlin.
you don't even have a shopping part for pedestrians only in Berlin, isn't it paul?
and Berlin is a strange, mysterious city.
because the history ofcourse, and the many small city centers spread all over the city.in Amsterdam all action seems to take place inside the ring of canals. good overview of everything that is taking place there. maybe you can call that a bit boring...
- Edo0
Look I am not saying that it is the best city in the world by any means. What I am saying is that every city has its pros and cons. If you move to NYC, after a while you will start to dislike things there that you did not notice when you first arrived.
You mention a couple of neighbourhoods in A'dam that you consider dangerous, but it is nothing compared to some areas in Paris, London or even Berlin.
I like Berlin, I like London, I like Paris, I would like to live in all of them ones, I have lived in a couple so far. I am young so why not, I can do my work in most parts of the world and if I don't like it I can always try for another city. That's the beauty of being European, you can live and work in any country you want in the EU.
- schedule20
rabattski: As for your comments about comparing the USA with Europe, you are right. It is hard to compare the two. However, as for your remark regarding "have I visited any other cities in Europe?" I'm not claiming to be Eurpean, but I have lived in Germany, and travelled into many areas of Europe. I would continously end up in Holland, and Amsterdam because of my positive experiences there. Obviously I can't speak for everyone. I was simply giving my opinion.
- DutchBoy0
Amsterdam West & Oud West is deffo good, i got friends with spacy apts. there, one for even below 400 euro's..(close to center, 3 rooms, kitchen, bathroom) i need to add this one (lucky)guy has been on a waiting list of over 4 years (!!!), so be prepared.
I myself lived in a very comfy apt./studio in Rotterdam in the 90's(near Nighttown, Kruiskade), at the time it was relatively easy&cheap, but hell, nowadays in Rotterdam it's hard to get a good deal for living space..
and to make things worse, in the far outskirts of NL, well at least here down south in Zeeland, is now 'hip' to live, esp. for rich and old people, but also for young ones, and the most basic starterhomes will easily cost above 150k euro's to buy, and often even above 200k (that's over half a million guilders for the dutchies!! rijtjeshuis!!)...
so it basically sux anywhere, maybe except for the outskirts of Groningen though (up north)..
anywhere it'll surely help if you find inside information about some landlords, and stay away from institutions that put you on endless waiting-lists... aaargh..
- rabattski0
stew: there are shopping parts for peds only in berlin. and yes every district has it's own centre. and this is why. going from north to south berlin is about the same as going from amsterdam to utrecht. so you can imagine you're not gonna have one centre.
in amsterdam the action is within walking distance. which is cool but also very limiting. to be honest if you have lived in amsterdam for a while it kinda gets boring. not really new initiatives, always seeing the same people and if there's a new bar / club it's filled with soapies within no time.
- rabattski0
edo:because those cities are way bigger than amsterdam. you are prone to have more crime due to numbers and social economic geography. but saying that amsterdam is crimeless is ridiculous. talking about berlin. i feel so much more safer here than in amsterdam. yep living in the eu def. has it's advantages although i ran into a lot of catch 22's although i was dutch. then again. that is typical german. must say dutch bureaucracy is a breeze compared with eastern german bureaucracy. forms. forms. forms.