Netherlands

denhaagenite

Anyone out tomorrow? Thinking of heading to O Sheas or Stratum so if anyone wants to join?

Amsterdam GAA

Hi all,

There's a very big Irish community in Amsterdam and we have a mens and ladies GAA team set up here. We play in European competitions during the year in places like Brussels, Luxembourg, Copenhagen, Munich, Budapest etc so it's good fun with some great weekends away.

We're about to start training at the end of January/early February for the new season and we're looking for new mens and ladies players.

We train twice a week during the year, and we have a lot of players from Utrecht, Haarlem, and some have played from Eindhoven, Rotterdam. Obviously a lot of the lads and ladies coming from outside of Amsterdam don't train during the week (due to travel distances), but they come to the monthly tournaments instead.

Anyways if you fancy playing, or know of any other Irish (or any nationality...we have a lot of Brits, Aussies, Dutchies etc that play) who might be interested, feel free to pass on my details or get in contact with me yourself.

My email is corcoran.david@gmail.com or phone number is 06-10135761. You can check out our club website at http://www.amsterdamgac.nl or club blog at http://amsterdamgaa.blogspot.com

Cheers,
David

Rowley Birkin QC

I previously lived in Amsterdam but have applied for a few jobs in Veldhoven just outside Eindhoven this morning. Any of the Irish crowd here living in that direction?

Just wondering about rent, Irish community etc.?

Would it be in any way feasible to live in Amdam and work in Veldhoven? My girlfriend is still living and working in Amsterdam so that would be ideal but definitely not a pre-requisite to taking the position.

Cheers.

keithclancy

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

I previously lived in Amsterdam but have applied for a few jobs in Veldhoven just outside Eindhoven this morning. Any of the Irish crowd here living in that direction?

Just wondering about rent, Irish community etc.?

Would it be in any way feasible to live in Amdam and work in Veldhoven? My girlfriend is still living and working in Amsterdam so that would be ideal but definitely not a pre-requisite to taking the position.

Cheers.

Myself and the G/F live in Strijp.
You could get a room for around 300 / month (hard to come by) and an apartment for around 500 - 600 / month.

Example in Waalre, not too far from Veldhoven.
http://www.funda.nl/huur/waalre/appartement-47994948-gestelsestraat-10-c/

If you live close to where your working then your going to be paying more as you'll be contending with the other few hundred expats coming in every month

Commuting from Amsterdam ?
Hmm .. depends on how much patience you have, you'd probably be doing shift so its doable I'd guess, you'd be looking at 2 hours depending on which part of Amsterdam shes in.

Theres a good few Irish around the place, mainly you'd see them in the Irish bar at the weekend.

Alun

OP .. I lived for 13 years in Veldoven. Plenty of rental opportunity in Veldhoven itself, or any of the surrounding areas. Depends on what you want really. If you want to live closer to Eindhoven that's easy enough or if you prefer a quieter more rural existence then there's plenty of smaller villages / towns to the south and west of Veldhoven.

As for commuting to Amsterdam, it's doable, but the traffic coming into the Amsterdam area, or any large conurbation in the Randstad in the mornings is horrendous. If you think the M50 is bad, you ain't seen nothing yet Train is a possibility, but you have to get to Eindhoven first .. I think there's a reasonable high speed bus lane into Eindhoven centre from Veldhoven now, but when I was there the only real option was car and there was little parking near the station.

Anyway, if you want any more info on the area, or want to chat about life in the Netherlands in general just drop me a PM. BTW is it ASML you're looking at working for?

EDIT: just noticed you meant living in Amsterdam and working in Veldhoven (not the other way round) .. that would be easier as you'd be going against the flow, but you'd still be looking at a good long commute.

Rowley Birkin QC

Alun wrote: »

OP .. I lived for 13 years in Veldoven. Plenty of rental opportunity in Veldhoven itself, or any of the surrounding areas. Depends on what you want really. If you want to live closer to Eindhoven that's easy enough or if you prefer a quieter more rural existence then there's plenty of smaller villages / towns to the south and west of Veldhoven.

As for commuting to Amsterdam, it's doable, but the traffic coming into the Amsterdam area, or any large conurbation in the Randstad in the mornings is horrendous. If you think the M50 is bad, you ain't seen nothing yet Train is a possibility, but you have to get to Eindhoven first .. I think there's a reasonable high speed bus lane into Eindhoven centre from Veldhoven now, but when I was there the only real option was car and there was little parking near the station.

Anyway, if you want any more info on the area, or want to chat about life in the Netherlands in general just drop me a PM. BTW is it ASML you're looking at working for?

EDIT: just noticed you meant living in Amsterdam and working in Veldhoven (not the other way round) .. that would be easier as you'd be going against the flow, but you'd still be looking at a good long commute.

Thanks for the info. If the job came through it would be with Navteq.

I think commuting really wouldn't work long term. My experience of Dutch transport was wholly positive but commuting that distance probably wouldn't allow for any hiccups/delays whatsoever.

I flew out of Eindhoven once or twice when I lived in the Netherlands but never got to explore it much. How does it compare to say Dublin in terms of standard of living? I'm guessing it would be unfair to compare it with Amsterdam.

Restaurants, night-life, culture etc.

Alun

OK, didn't know Navteq were there now. ASML was always the biggest employer in Veldhoven when I was there, plus of course Philips and DAF in Eindhoven.

I think you're right not to consider commuting from Amsterdam. Like you say, Dutch roads and public transport are better than what we have here, but despite what people who only visit these places for day think, there are delays, cancellations, breakdowns, roadworks, traffic jams and general cock-ups quite regularly, just fewer of them, and the Dutch who are consummate whiners, complain about them just as much as we do. I commuted to Utrecht by train for a few months, and I'd say there was at least one delay a week, sometimes more. I also drove to further flung places regularly including a 3 months stint in Rotterdam, and that's something I'd never do again however much you paid me.

As far as comparing Eindhoven/Veldhoven to Dublin, well there's not really a comparison. Veldhoven is very quiet, and is largely a new 'constructed' town, built around 3 older village centres, Oerle, Zeelst and Veldhoven - Meerveldhoven. The 3 centres are still there, and there are a few pubs and cafes in those older areas, but the 'City Centrum' area of Veldhoven where the town hall etc. is all brand new. There's a pretty good shopping centre there for the everyday things though, we didn't have to venture into the 'big smoke' of Eindhoven too often for that reason. There's nothing in the way of night life there apart from a theatre / cinema in the town hall building.

Eindhoven is a little better, and there are a good few cafes and pubs, some decent ones in the market square with an 'authentic' Irish Pub not too far from there. There's also an area in Eindhoven called Stratumseind which is wall to wall pubs, mainly student oriented, but a bit too rowdy for my liking. Eindhoven itself is a bit soulless, with not much in the way of quaint architecture you might get in other older Dutch cities, mainly down to the centre having had the sh!t bombed out of it by the Germans in WWII, so is mostly rather boring post war in character.

There's some interesting enough countryside around (albeit flat as a pancacke) if you like walking, and of course cycling. We were avid cyclists when we lived there, and the area south of Veldhoven down towards Belgium is particularly nice, you can find yourself criss-crossing the border without even noticing.

All in all it depends what you want really. I like the quiet life, so living in Veldhoven suited me fine, but you might prefer living closer to or in Eindhoven if you're more of a night-owl.

keithclancy

Alun wrote: »

OK, didn't know Navteq were there now. ASML was always the biggest employer in Veldhoven when I was there, plus of course Philips and DAF in Eindhoven.

I think you're right not to consider commuting from Amsterdam. Like you say, Dutch roads and public transport are better than what we have here, but despite what people who only visit these places for day think, there are delays, cancellations, breakdowns, roadworks, traffic jams and general cock-ups quite regularly, just fewer of them, and the Dutch who are consummate whiners, complain about them just as much as we do. I commuted to Utrecht by train for a few months, and I'd say there was at least one delay a week, sometimes more. I also drove to further flung places regularly including a 3 months stint in Rotterdam, and that's something I'd never do again however much you paid me.

As far as comparing Eindhoven/Veldhoven to Dublin, well there's not really a comparison. Veldhoven is very quiet, and is largely a new 'constructed' town, built around 3 older village centres, Oerle, Zeelst and Veldhoven - Meerveldhoven. The 3 centres are still there, and there are a few pubs and cafes in those older areas, but the 'City Centrum' area of Veldhoven where the town hall etc. is all brand new. There's a pretty good shopping centre there for the everyday things though, we didn't have to venture into the 'big smoke' of Eindhoven too often for that reason. There's nothing in the way of night life there apart from a theatre / cinema in the town hall building.

Eindhoven is a little better, and there are a good few cafes and pubs, some decent ones in the market square with an 'authentic' Irish Pub not too far from there. There's also an area in Eindhoven called Stratumseind which is wall to wall pubs, mainly student oriented, but a bit too rowdy for my liking. Eindhoven itself is a bit soulless, with not much in the way of quaint architecture you might get in other older Dutch cities, mainly down to the centre having had the sh!t bombed out of it by the Germans in WWII, so is mostly rather boring post war in character.

There's some interesting enough countryside around (albeit flat as a pancacke) if you like walking, and of course cycling. We were avid cyclists when we lived there, and the area south of Veldhoven down towards Belgium is particularly nice, you can find yourself criss-crossing the border without even noticing.

All in all it depends what you want really. I like the quiet life, so living in Veldhoven suited me fine, but you might prefer living closer to or in Eindhoven if you're more of a night-owl.

Yeh theres bus lanes most of the way there now, 402 goes to the new centre and then you take the 18 to De Run.

I commute the other way to Germany so Jams etc are quite rare. Used to live in the Hague and the A4 to was THE worst road ever, you may as well just dump the car, get out and walk

Mechatronical

Ive been offered a position with ASML, wondering if anyone else on this thread has worked there and is it hard to settle in Eindhoven (regarding language and culture).

judas101

Congrats! What position have you been offered? SIE?

Its pretty easy to settle in over here, there's quite a large Irish contingent which helps.
One piece of advice I would give you is to try and live in Eindhoven and not Veldhoven, inside the ringroad if possible.

Its a nice place to live. Its not too cheap but there are nice amenities ect.
It's also pretty safe. Of course the first week or 2 will be a bit of a pain and you'll need to go to the town hall and set up bank accounts, health insurance ect. but that is no different from any other city.

I think quite a lot of people have just been offered positions so it'd be a good idea to get in contact with some other as it'll be easier to find a house (you'll want to do this asap as the temporary accommodation offered is usually crap!)

Any questions feel free to PM.

Mechatronical

Ya SIE. Are you working there yourself? Typically what price would the rent cost in Eindhoven for a month and is the commute to Veldhoven long or easy to get to using public transport.

keithclancy

Mechatronical wrote: »

Ya SIE. Are you working there yourself? Typically what price would the rent cost in Eindhoven for a month and is the commute to Veldhoven long or easy to get to using public transport.

Takes about 25 minutes from Eindhoven Station to ASML, Bus 150, 174 or 149 all go there.

You could live anywhere close to the Center on one of those bus lines.

Cost depends on what you want, do you want to share ?
If your renting i'd say you'd be looking at spending around 700 for someplace in a decent area on your own.

u140acro3xs7dm

What are the chances of getting work in The Netherlands?

Basically i have no degree and only speak English. I have a few years experience in offices and with computers etc. But I was more thinking along the lines of flower farms or such seen as I am "unskilled labour". Any info or pointers to websites would be great thanks. Also i will be happy to go to Germany or France etc either.

tomyr7

This site might help some of the people on this thread:

http://www.undutchables.nl/

It's a job recruitment company that posts jobs for people who speak languages other than dutch, but who want to work in the netherlands..

keithclancy

tomyr7 wrote: »

This site might help some of the people on this thread:

http://www.undutchables.nl/

It's a job recruitment company that posts jobs for people who speak languages other than dutch, but who want to work in the netherlands..

Undutchables
I don't know one expat thats gotten a job through them.

www.monsterboard.nl
www.xpatjobs.com(usually rubbish but some good jobs there time to time)
www.jobs.nl
Also have a look at the Amsterdam Craigslist .. sometimes theres some good jobs (and some 'escort' jobs that usually mean something else)

Theres a few jobs in NL being advertised in Ireland as well, i.e. The ASML Jobs are through Collins and McNicolas I believe.

Keep an eye on jobs.ie as well .. theres a few postings abroad on there.

Also don't expect to get paid more than you would in Ireland, in fact the minimum wage is much less here between 1.20 and 4.80 / hour depending on your age. (16 - 25)

elefant

I'm going over to A'dam to do my master's in September. Did my erasmus in Groningen last year and loved it. Seems like a no-brainer to go back out. The higher-education is a fraction of the price, and hopefully I'll have a decent standard of Dutch when I finish. I became really conscious of how desirable it is to be multi-lingual when I was in the Netherlands... Only speaking English and Irish isn't too useful!

I'm hoping they don't scrap the student grant and free transport for master's students before I start there. Word on the street is they're talking about doing away with it. Still... cannot wait to get back again. Ireland became a seriously depressing island while I was away!

David6330

I am starting a 6 month internship in June in Steenwijk. I will probably end up living in Zwolle as there is more choice in accommodation there.

shakin

Anybody ever lived or have experience of tilburg?

Ionesco

Born and raised in the Netherlands. Parents are Irish though.

charlemont

Im planning a move to Utrecht in the next two months, I lived in Bunschoten-Spakenburg over ten years ago, So hopefully I can get work and stay in Utrecht or Amersfoort.

denhaagenite

Hi All

Sorry for the thread resurrection, but anyone given any more thought to an Eindhoven meetup? We've been to O Sheas a few times now but find that 90% of the people in there are Dutch. It seemed like there were more Irish people there before, but the only Irish people I've seen in there recently are the owners. As stated before find them a bit rude, and don't really enjoy going in there because of it.

I've done a bit of research and there are GAA clubs in Amsterdam, Den Haag and I think Maastricht. Would anyone be interested in one here in Eindhoven? I'm willing to do a bit of work on it, but I haven't played Camogie since school so would probably need some help .

elefant

denhaagenite wrote: »

Hi All

Sorry for the thread resurrection, but anyone given any more thought to an Eindhoven meetup? We've been to O Sheas a few times now but find that 90% of the people in there are Dutch. It seemed like there were more Irish people there before, but the only Irish people I've seen in there recently are the owners. As stated before find them a bit rude, and don't really enjoy going in there because of it.

I've done a bit of research and there are GAA clubs in Amsterdam, Den Haag and I think Maastricht. Would anyone be interested in one here in Eindhoven? I'm willing to do a bit of work on it, but I haven't played Camogie since school so would probably need some help .

The club in Maastricht haven't any playing teams (anymore?) I believe. They have some GAA officials though.

Amsterdam GAA

Yeah unfortunately Maastricht don't have the numbers over last few years to have a team, but put in a lot of work to help organise tournaments.

I think it'd be good to see a team down in the south. We have players from across The Netherlands; A'Dam, Groningen, Utrecht, Nijmegen etc...and one of our Groningen based players has suggested maybe trying to set up training in Groningen in 2012 for the guys based up the north, and then play as part of Amsterdam as they wouldn't have enough players for a full team in their first year of training. Then build up into it's own club after a year or so as more people get involved. Possibly the same idea could be implemented down in Eindhoven.

Anyways, anybody interested in getting involved in the gaa scene in The Netherlands, or if you want advice on setting up a club down there, no problem giving me a shout..corcoran.david@gmail.com or 06-10135761.

Cheers,
David

http://amsterdamgaa.blogspot.com
http://www.amsterdamgac.nl

denhaagenite

Hey all.

Unfortunately I haven't heard anything from any Irish people in Eindhoven so there must not be as many people here as I thought . I've been in contact with http://europegaa.eu with a view to setting something up, but if we don't have the numbers we can't do anything. If anyone is interested, do PM me or even reply here.

I think Eindhoven is a great place as it's perfectly central in the East so people from Venlo, Den Bosch and Breda can all get here easily.

David, if you hear from anyone else let me know, as I have the time to spare at the moment.

esperanza1

elefant wrote: »

I'm going over to A'dam to do my master's in September. Did my erasmus in Groningen last year and loved it. Seems like a no-brainer to go back out. The higher-education is a fraction of the price, and hopefully I'll have a decent standard of Dutch when I finish. I became really conscious of how desirable it is to be multi-lingual when I was in the Netherlands... Only speaking English and Irish isn't too useful!

I'm hoping they don't scrap the student grant and free transport for master's students before I start there. Word on the street is they're talking about doing away with it. Still... cannot wait to get back again. Ireland became a seriously depressing island while I was away!

Hi, I was thinking about doing a masters in the Netherlands - a 60 credit one.
Just wondering how easy it is to qualify for a grant there. If you have any information on that, I'd be very grateful.

irelandrover

denhaagenite wrote: »

Hey all.

Unfortunately I haven't heard anything from any Irish people in Eindhoven so there must not be as many people here as I thought . I've been in contact with http://europegaa.eu with a view to setting something up, but if we don't have the numbers we can't do anything. If anyone is interested, do PM me or even reply here.

I think Eindhoven is a great place as it's perfectly central in the East so people from Venlo, Den Bosch and Breda can all get here easily.

David, if you hear from anyone else let me know, as I have the time to spare at the moment.

I lived in Eindhoven for about 18 months and now live in Arnhem.
Looked at setting up a club in Eindhoven as well but it is a lot of work (much more than expected). I play for Den Haag and also talked to European GAA development agent but he recommended playing with Den Haag first and getting people involved first.
We even looked at training in Eindhoven once a week or once every two weeks to get people involved but the interest isn't there. There isnt a dutch camogie team but if you get involved with a club in europe thenb it is very easy to travel to tournaments and join teams that are short players. If you want any information feel free to PM me as I have been here about 4 years now. A lot of people from Eindhoven have played withg Den haag so if you wanted to join a training I could meet up with you.

denhaagenite

irelandrover wrote: »

I lived in Eindhoven for about 18 months and now live in Arnhem.
Looked at setting up a club in Eindhoven as well but it is a lot of work (much more than expected). I play for Den Haag and also talked to European GAA development agent but he recommended playing with Den Haag first and getting people involved first.
We even looked at training in Eindhoven once a week or once every two weeks to get people involved but the interest isn't there. There isnt a dutch camogie team but if you get involved with a club in europe thenb it is very easy to travel to tournaments and join teams that are short players. If you want any information feel free to PM me as I have been here about 4 years now. A lot of people from Eindhoven have played withg Den haag so if you wanted to join a training I could meet up with you.

Well it was more to have contact with other Irish people living in the area, and maybe to try and help them settle in when they get here- we know what it's like, and had met some people working here in passing who said they were going home most weeks or even after a few months because they missed it. I thought maybe GAA was a good start, as it's something we all have in common to some extent. I know it would take a long time and alot of work but I wanted to see if there was any interest in it because we have to start somewhere.

We used to live in Den Haag and know lots of Irish people there but the point is to mobilise the troops here. It's a bit too far for us to travel on a regular basis for training, I don't think the dog would be too happy being left at home or in the car for hours on end .

elefant

esperanza1 wrote: »

Hi, I was thinking about doing a masters in the Netherlands - a 60 credit one.
Just wondering how easy it is to qualify for a grant there. If you have any information on that, I'd be very grateful.

You need to work 32 hours a month to qualify for the grant and the free transport as a non-dutch citizen.

bambismom

Hi all,

I know this thread is a little dated but sure it's worth a shot. I've just moved to Arnhem and was wondering were there any boardsies around the general area of Utrecht?? I'm only learning the language so a few people to hold a conversation with would be only smashing.

irelandrover

bambismom wrote: »

Hi all,

I know this thread is a little dated but sure it's worth a shot. I've just moved to Arnhem and was wondering were there any boardsies around the general area of Utrecht?? I'm only learning the language so a few people to hold a conversation with would be only smashing.

Are you looking to learn Dutch or English? I am living in Arnhem myself so if I can help you at all then PM me.