Here's a google map i've been curating for 8 years or so while google slowly makes the custom maps look worse (you'll have to click on names to get the descriptions now) I marked the new office way over to the left:
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3694239,4.8723931,15z/data=!4m2!6m1!1szG7FACzpwTmo.k1lO1BUQ4f7Y
Musings:
- It'll be chilly and wet, if you have water resistant boots you'll want em, ditto for a coat. You can buy umbrellas for a couple euros at the AKO shops around train stations.
- If your bank is anything like mine they will shut off your credit card and ATM cards a few days into the trip. You can call them beforehand and tell them you are about to travel and it helps, but even still I usually get like 250€ as soon as I arrive so that I have backup.
- Jetlag-wise the first couple days are usually the hardest, luckily there are a few of us arriving at the same time so we can grab dinner after work, have a beer or two, etc. Keeping to a normal schedule helps and you really want to stay out until at least 10pm, usually if you head home by yourself before then you will pass out as soon as you sit down.
- Speaking of jetlag, there isn't much open before 8am if you decide you don't want to keep trying to sleep and are hungry because you didn't stop by albert heijn. Look around for the times on the cafes near you to see whether any do breakfast.
- Albert Heijn! It's the best, it's a grocery store, things are pretty cheap for decent quality. Some lines (and some entire stores) will be "pin" only, they'll say Pinnen and have a picture of currency crossed out... they don't take cash.
- Albert Heijn smoothies are basically my lifeblood in the morning, they have multiple kinds, I usually get the big bottle and drink it all morning.
- When buying stroopwafel in the store there are multiple kinds, find your favorite http://www.ah.nl/zoeken?rq=stroopwafels&searchType=product
Dutch words:
- roomboter: butter
- karamel: caramel
- minder: less
- suiker: sugar
- groot / grote: big
- klein / kleine: small
- bier / biertje: beer
- een (pronounced: ay'n): one
- vrij: free (vry)
- honing: honey
- citroen: lemon
- huis: house (pronounced the same as english)
- lekker: tasty (as applied to anything)
Dutch pronunciation:
- g when not in "ing": kind of a scrapy hard g, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrI2-bZ7wpc
- ee - ay / eh (like the eigh in eightball)
- oe - oo (like oo in racoon)
- ue / oo - oh (kinda, like the ow in low)
- ui - ow (like the ou in house
- ij - eye
- v - v with a bit of an f in there
- w - w with a hint of a v
- th at the beginning of words - just t
- a - usually "ah"
- j after a consonant - ch (like, the ch in poncho)
More Musings:
- dutch people will make fun of your pronunciation no matter what because they are all mean people, force them to listen to your pronunciation of stuff as penance
- getting a chipkaart for public transportation is a good idea, you can buy one at the train station. They are difficult to fill up again afterwards because you need a european card usually, but you can give a dutch coworker some cash and they can do it for you at a train station
- bikes effectively always have the right away, there are times where you'll be crossing bike lanes, car lanes and tram lanes at the same time, don't get hit
- bikes going around corners don't care about you and will take you out if you don't get your ass out of the way
- you can buy weed at coffeeshops, of which there are many varieties and styles, and smoke it there or on the streets, the vast majority of bars don't like you smoking weed at them
- dutch people like to show off how cool and tolerant they are and are legitimately usually pretty nice, so don't be afraid to ask questions at restaurants / bars if you don't know what something is, the flipside of this is that they will laugh at you if you have ask something they thing is unusual (a lot of very normal things fall into this category), don't take it badly just stand your ground and proudly proclaim that america is the best
- you can't really modify your order much from what is on the menu at most places, though that is changing a bit, so be ready for your request to be refused
- the dutch way to say excuse me is to bump past you then say sorry
- beers at a regular bar are super tiny but usually cheap
- liquor pours are all metered so don't expect san francisco singles
- the red light is weird and generally shitty with tourists but it is a thing people go to amsterdam to see, i'm happy to give a tour (I used to live the next neighborhood over)
- don't OD on stroopwafels