Name: Anya Sokha
Nationality: Russian
City of residence: Amsterdam
Date of birth: July 1984
Civil status: Single
Occupation: Student
Reason for moving to the Netherlands: Studies (MA in English Linguistics)
Lived in the Netherlands for: 1 year


What was your first impression of the Netherlands?
Bicycles galore!  Be it rain, wind or snow, Dutch people cycle no matter what.


What do you think of the food?
If you are into mashed potatoes, kale, carrots, onions, you name it, Dutch cuisine will certainly appeal to you. Spicy food aficionados, have no worries though: for one, there is always hot sauce; and secondly, international cuisines – Indonesian, Indian, Chinese, Turkish, and Moroccan – are represented aplenty in the Netherlands, restaurant-wise as well as on the shelves of the local supermarkets. Amsterdam is a culinary hotspot, of course.

 Cheese! © Anya Sokha

What do you think of the shopping in the Netherlands?
Apart from mega malls, there are lots of charming shops and boutiques with their own ambiance and character, which makes the whole process of shopping much more exciting and memorable. As for food-shopping, while Amsterdam is not Paris, the city nevertheless is home for a number of French bakeries whose breads and pastry taste, well, like Paris – that is, "magnifique" (or as the Dutch would say “lekker”). Oh, and those cheese shops, and farmers' markets, and organic food stores! Mmmhhh.


What do you appreciate about living in the Netherlands?
Dutch people definitely understand that there is time for work, and time for rest. In this country, people (mostly) do not work themselves to exhaustion, anxiety and stress, so to speak.

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