If you speak Dutch you can get a decent paying job in Eastern-Central European cities in customer service no time. Live a better than average living standard locally and have a relatively good start to your career.

Newly they have Afrikaans openings as well from time to time in these shared service centres.

Check careerjet and other sites. Good luck! 👍

South African here who spent 6 months in Amsterdam during my masters and has now been living in Rotterdam for a few months for my PhD (will be here for another 4 years) after spending some time back in SA.

Firstly, strongly consider not living in Amsterdam. It’s a beautiful city with lots of great qualities, but it’s damn expensive and operating above capacity. You’ll be very lucky to find accomodation without an extensive search, and the city just feels full. There are great universities in other cities (Rotterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, Nijmegen, Groningen, Eindhoven and Wageningen, to name a few) where you wont spend all your savings and you will still have a good time and a great education. The Netherlands is unique in that most of the big universities are very comparable in terms of quality, with a few such as Delft and Wageningen being very specialised in certain fields and being the best in those.

That said, I’ve enjoyed the Netherlands. Things are safe, things work (big thing coming from SA), I’ve made great friends (requires putting in some effort to reach out to people, unlike in SA where peeps are mostly super welcoming), and it genuinely feels like a land of opportunity. I don’t think I see myself here in the very long-term (who knows), but I’m happy with my choice. Speaking Afrikaans also massively helps to understand Dutch. Still get very confused with grammar and stuff on the speaking front, but does make you feel less alienated if you come into a place kinda knowing what’s being said.

I would implore you, however, to not write off South Africa immediately. Things aren’t going great, but there are still many pathways to build a good life in the county, and there are positive elements to South African life that you won’t get at all abroad (as a funny example, I constantly miss mountains). I know many people that moved abroad and have come to regret it or have second thoughts. The gist of it is that I think it would do your future well if you fully weighed up the pros and cons of emigrating. What do you value? What do you want? What do you like about South Africa that you might not like about the other country, and vice versa? You don’t want to commit to living in an expensive country without an income and the also realise it’s not a good fit. Also, you have an EU passport, so emigration at a later stage is very easy if it becomes necessary.

First of all, start learning Dutch now already.

When you get here, find a student job quickly otherwise living costs will eat you…fast (considering the ZAR-EUR exchange rate). There are plenty of part time jobs in the hospitality industry that could get you on 1500 - 2500€ a month.

You have an EU passport as I read it so you are basically sorted. Just keep your head down, don’t drink and don’t go out but rather grind for the first year or two until you have a nest egg of money. Then worry about finding friends and going out etc etc.

First two years will be tough. Good luck.

You’ll need much more money to get a room and survive the first few months.

Just a little reminder that every EU country is different when it comes to allowing you to reside there.

For example, in Belgium everybody with an EU passport is welcome. However if you want to stay for longer than 3 months, you have to be able to show that you are going to be working (or have sufficient funds otherwise). Furthermore, finding a place to live isn’t going to be easy if you don’t have a job arranged or 6 months rent saved up.

I don’t know what the exact situation is in the NL, but it’s worth investigating.

You also want to learn Dutch asap. If you already speak Afrikaans, you’re three quarters of the way there :)