Hey all, hoping you can help.
I live in South Africa at the moment. I’m 18 years old and I’ve just finished my final year of school - I receive results in Jan 2024.
I’m hopefully going to be studying in Amsterdam next year (although won’t know until I receive results) but I will definitely find a place to study abroad.
I’m very fortunate to have an EU passport. The situation here in South Africa, is relatively bad. The chances of me getting a job here are quite limited.
For this reason, I’m hoping to immigrate to Netherlands next year (anywhere in Europe would suffice though) - I plan on finding part time work - waitering/bartending/tutoring/babysitting/cleaning etc… and starting to earn some cash (which I’ll invest on the side).
I just don’t even know where to begin. I’ve got enough money to get a plane ticket and afford 1/2 months rent while I look for a job but other than that, going with pretty much nothing.
Just looking for tips and advice:
- where is the best student life? Where are the best opportunities for international students when looking for work? Any agencies I should contact? Personal stories of similar circumstances etc…
If anyone has any tips or advice, please post on this thread. Would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
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.