Location, location, location

Culture and Life

Location, location, location

Being able to live in continental Europe gives you great opportunities for quicker and cheaper travelling around European countries. Here’s a list of some of the countries and cities, you may want to visit;

• Belgium: Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Liege, Achelse Kluis (brewery 1hour cycle from Eindhoven)
• Germany: Dusseldorf, Cologne, Aachen
• France: Paris (Disneyland)
• Netherlands:
  • Keukenhof – Tulip flower festival usually finishes after your first weekend in NL. Be careful you don’t miss out!
  • Amsterdam – Canals, nightlife, Gay Pride fortnight (boat parade), zoo, Heineken Experience, Van Gogh Museum, Cat boat
  • The Hague – Parliament,  Peace Palace, Beach, Madurodam (miniature models of NL)
  • Rotterdam – Cubic Houses, Erasmusbrug, harbour, De Marktha
  • Utrecht – Canoeing, Shopping, Dom Tower, Cathedral of St. Martin
  • S’ Hertogenbosch – St. John’s Cathedral, Try the local Bossche bol cake.
  • Maastricht – Castle walls, Try limburgse vlaai
  • Apeldoorn – Apenheul Monkey Park
  • Arnhem – Hoge Veluwe National Park

For Travelling to these places you may want to check out: www.spoordeelwinkel.nl which offers day trip train ticket and lunch deals. I’d also recommend you checking coach services and Bla Bla cars which are very popular in Europe on: www.busradar.com. I often travelled with ‘FLix Bus’ but be aware delays often occur around Antwerp. Also note that the coach pick-up point is the other side of the train station to the bus station (the train station has entrances at both ends).

At the end of our placement, my friend and I decided to take several days to cycle from city-to-city up from Eindhoven to Amsterdam. Our route was: Eindhoven-Tilburg-Breda-Dordrecht-Kinderdijk-Gouda-Leiden-Haarlem via the coast-Zaandam-Edam-Volendam-Amsterdam.

This was a really lovely trip as there were cycle paths between all cities so we never had to cycle on the road and didn’t even wear helmets. It was great to see the varying countryside and architecture travelling north, with wildlife, canals, farm animals and lots of cheese!

The view cycling through NL countryside

Amsterdam gay pride

Apenheul Monkey Park

The Eiffel Tower in Paris

‘Girl with the pearl earring’ portrait at The Hague

For accommodation try
●    Couch-surfing app – free
●    Airbnb
●    Deals on hotels
●    Hostels

You’ll probably need to book a hotel or Airbnb for your first night in Eindhoven as most letting agencies are only open Mon-Fri. Let my supervisor know I could only make it in for 10am on my first day so I could pick up the house keys beforehand.