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I've been traveling recently, and after spending a few weeks in Germany, crossed the border to the Netherlands.
Wow. What a difference! Absolutely as soon as we crosssed the border, people were SO MUCH friendlier! It was really remarkable to see. People were smiling, started greeting us, and smiling and talking to one another as well. In Germany, people seemed very down and depressed.
I've never seen that before, such a large difference, just traveling a few kilometers. All of sudden I went from being the friendly one (trying to greet people first, smiling, etc), to feeling like I was the rude one (other people were greeting me first, etc.). At least until I adjusted to the predominant level of friendliness.
I've never experienced this before. And we were traveling at a slow pace, from one relatively rural area to another (I know of course being in a city makes a big difference in terms of friendliness).
I wonder what the background is, to this difference. I mentioned it to a few people, one came up with the idea that the Dutch have been big traders and travelers for centuries, so that makes them more outgoing.
Another thing that may make a difference is that Germany appears to have a much higher percentage of migrants. There were a couple cities I was in, where walking around, you could walk for a good 30 minutes before you heard 2 people speaking German together, instead of speaking some other language. And these were often young people as well, who normally intergrate very well into a new culture.
Thoughts? Are there other places where you've noticed big differences in personality/atmosphere, crossing a border?
I find this fascinating. I felt this when I crossed the border from Croatia/Montenegro to Albania. I was passing by car, and right when I crossed the border to Albania there was a degree of desperation and sadness by beggars. I noticed a lot of the people tended to keep to themselves, whereas in Croatia people were pretty outspoken and friendly.
Over the trip when we got in the city people tended to be more friendly and outgoing, it was just a huge shock after being in Croatia for long, how different the people are right when you cross the border.
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but borders are a silly concept, an artificial construct because we all belong to one race, mankind
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Well i cant say from my experience but all i can say is that one of my my friend visited Rotterdam and he had similar views about Netherland. Everyone speaks English, people are nice and trains running on time. Much better and vibrant atmosphere.
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Yes to a better atmosphere. But my train experience has not been good. Cancelled trains leading to long delay.
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Make that multiple cancellations causing the missing of trains, both Netherlands and Germany. Ugh.
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I just notice it all the time travelling back and forth to the Himalyas! People living up there are more friendlier and joyful than the people living in the plains.
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13 sats \ 1 reply \ @guts 13 Jul
I lived some time in the Netherlands and the culture shocked that still have in mind was how tall Dutch were, one bicycle for every Dutch and how integrated is the bicycle culture. People who smoked most weed were tourist, Dutch are more beer drinkers. There is this "Dutch directness" they are proud of, they don't like it when you do it back though. Also very good engineering, fighting the seas is a marvel.
Also funny anecdote as a tropical Latin American ice coolers were not common there. Or maybe I was dumb I could not find any.
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Men and women are very tall
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I lived in Germany for a month which for sure is not enough experience and learn. Language is big barrier to break in Germany. Not English friendly. But people do try to speak if one can make effort. If you go on the streets of Frankfurt the situation is similar to old Delhi. Stuttgart is the worse train station Bahnhof of whole Europe I think. If you go to Garmish area which I did is very neat and clean. Younger population of Germany I spoken to is not that happy and many I met here in Australia says they have old Grumpy people. Culture we have to keep and maintain. Mass migration happened due to the big uptake of combustion engine. Now culture if strong will survive or perish depending on the environment and survival skills of people. I think France culture is lost and yes true Europe is more of an Allah land with more of the their kinds. Europeans are low on fertility and family values I think with so much of drugs , cigarettes and so called modernism of progress. Just my 2 sats.
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Raspail warned us in 1973 his novel Camp of the Saints
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What border? lol There is no borders, that's "Keine Grenzen" for ya. You will notice different street signs and houses might look a bit different but that's about it. EU now is kind of like million "tribes" located on the same continent. One can drive from Portugal to Latvia with driver license only. I think languages also make a big difference, you can feel it also on French-German neighborhoods, as for "niceness" (is that a word? :-)) You are right, more tourists, more friendliness and trades. In more rural areas yo will get "wtf you doing here" looks... Also, mass migration ruined for all the Europe, on the streets of Paris you will hear more "Allah languages" than original French (not that there is anything wrong with Arabic). While you in Europe, visit the high Alps region (Innsbruck, Bolzano, Vaduz area/triangle, add some Garmish area to it) to experience the highest level of friendliness , because they know you will spend your money and leave...lol.
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13 sats \ 4 replies \ @398ja 13 Jul
You'd need to live in Germany a bit longer, say a few years, speak the language, and understand the culture to make sense of what you describe. Mass migration, a relatively new phenomena, it is definitely not, I can confidently say...
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I’ve noticed the congeniality of the Dutch and migrants has been greatly exaggerated on social media. I would call it a myth
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You mean...the Dutch and migrants don't get along as well as advertised?
I can't say much on that topic. But definitely, at least where I've been, there's a much smaller percentage of migrants in the Netherlands compared to Germany.
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I haven't met any migrants.
Dutch are not friendly
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Oh I see. That wasn't my experience, they seemed really friendly to me
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First of all all EU countries are much more happier. Not so big a difference as your post mentions. If you really wanna see the difference just go to a African country and find out.
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Nordic countries are happier not for nothing. This may be due to the fact that the systems give them so much freedom not to give a thought for getting sad!
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