General info on The Netherlands and other Netherlands Packing List Tips

Miscellaneous: There is heaps of info on The Netherlands at
http://www2.holland.com/uk/

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Luggage And Bags: Anything will do.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Prepare for rain. Summer can be anything from 10-30 degrees Celsius.
Winter can be anything from -10 to 15 degrees Celsius.

Toiletries & Medical Supplies: Everything can be bought anywhere.

Photo Equipment: Everything can be bought anywhere.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: Everything can be bought anywhere.


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Luggage And Bags: On the Schiphol airport website you can find the New Rules for Hand Luggage

If you want, you can download the brochure.






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Website: www.schiphol.nl

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: It's not really a packing tip, but if you're staying in NL longer, you might need a bank account. This is what I wrote in reply to a forum question.

Weighing Postbank against Rabobank, is that Postbank seems easier to open an account but for personal advice I would prefer Rabobank. More so since being a foreigner your situation might be a bit more special. Both banks have plenty of offices around so there will always be one close to you.
Both have excellent internet-banking facilities and you can use all ATM's of all banks with any bank card that has the PIN facility.

ABN-AMRO is currently involved in a takeover by a foreign bank. I would choose one of the below.

Check government website for visitors to The Netherlands (English) for all info concerning staying in The Netherlands (proof of stay).

Miscellaneous: Postbank
There's a special students account (studentenrekening).
You can open a normal or students account with your ID and proof of income. Being a foreigner, you do not need a socalled Burgerservicenummer (that's an individual number for all citizens, used for taxes and social security).
Other conditions are that you have to be between 16-30 yrs old and full time student.

Rabobank
To open a normal or students account you need a valid passport and proof of stay in The Netherlands. You need to go to a local Rabobank with your papers (ID, proof of stay/visa and proof of income ie your student loan papers). The local bank will determine the correctness of all this to open a normal account or, if applicable, a students account.

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Miscellaneous: Find an ATM that accepts Mastercard here:
http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/cardholderservices/atmlocations/index.html
or click here.

Select Netherlands
(just put in the name of the town, if you don't know anything else).

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Miscellaneous: Some aspects which would help you make a choice for a Dutch language course.

- determine how much Dutch you want to learn in a given period of time. Ask if they can deliver
- speak to (ex) students to see how satisfied they are
- which method do they use (any Dutch course is called 'NT2', meaning Nederlandse Tweede Taal or Dutch 2nd language)
- price
- official recognition (do they teach for the state exam?)

The best recognised method at the moment is Code. This is the method that I have used to teach, and it leads straight to the State Exam. The method is developed by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU).

Some info:

[quote]
CODE 1, 2 and 3
Authors: Titia Boers, Nicky Heijne, Marten Hidma, Hinke van Kampen, Vita Olijhoek, Carola van der Voort
Project manager: Carola van der Voort (part 1) and Marijke Huizinga (part 2 / 3)
Course material: Textbook with CD-ROM, exercise book (teacher’s manual with CD-ROM, audio CDs, video)
Publisher: ThiemeMeulenhoff
CODE can be seen as the successor of Code Nederlands. CODE is a complete NT2 learning method in three parts, and forms a preparation for the State Examination of Dutch as a Second Language, programme II. CODE is task-oriented. It consists of an exercise book with corresponding CD-ROM, which students can largely study independently (at home). In class, students can then focus on activities which require the presence of a teacher and fellow students, such as the training of oral skills. CODE pays considerable attention to the exchange of cultural experiences and offers much information about Dutch society. It has been named best learning method by the Dutch marketing research institution TNS NIPO, in a satisfaction survey about NT2 course material.[unquote]

For an idea of prices:
www.thiememeulenhoff.nl/VirtueelAdviseur/pages/themas/methode.aspx?sector=17&id=88&markt=71 or click here
(you don't need the network licenses and it's either DVD's OR cassettes, not both). Code consists of 3 parts. Part 1 and 2 each take 180 hrs. Part 3 takes between 350-450 hours. The number of hours is 50% selfstudy/50% lessons.

There is also a famous fast method called Delftse Methode.
See here: www.delftsemethode.nl/uk/home/index.shtml or click here
Courses: www.delftsemethode.nl/uk/cursisten/cursussen.shtml or click here

Another possibility is this one at the Volksuniversiteit. Click here
I have no experience with it, so I can't really recommend. The price is quite low though.

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