Happy Valentine's Day! The international love story of one of Saxion's international couples

Love in a new country

Imagine moving to another country that you’ve never been to. You do an international course, you meet new people from all around the world and you think you are getting acquainted with, in this case, the Dutch culture. You then meet someone from your course, a Dutch person even, and you get to know them better and better, and before you know it, something wonderful has bloomed between you two.

International couple

This is what happened to me, at least, I am the Dutch person and my partner is half German and half Indonesian. A year ago we got together and we obviously couldn’t be happier, but as we are from different cultures, sometimes funny or awkward situations take place because of this difference. Besides that, it is quite nice for my partner to have someone to translate things and to explain him things about how things work in the Netherlands even though he has been living here for almost three years.

The language of love 

In our relationship there hasn’t been much of a language barrier as we both speak English fluently. Even when meeting my family it wasn’t that much of a problem either as English was proficient. My partner is trying to learn Dutch so whenever he uses a new phrase or word I’m always very proud of him and he keeps learning more every day! On top of this, we have even found a way to play Dutch boardgames with him!

Different cultures

What I personally enjoy most about coming from different cultures is the fact that I can introduce him to all of the wonderful things the Dutch culture has to offer, mostly the Dutch family traditions. This past year I have introduced him to Sinterklaas (a Dutch traditional celebration) and he joined the festivities of my family and we all had a great time! Then, with new years my family makes oliebollen and it was also my partners first time to taste a home-made one which was absolutely great. This is the way I get to share a big part of my life with him and I’m very grateful that he is enjoying it so much.

Cultural opposites attract 

It also goes the opposite way, of course, I learn a lot about his cultures too, though it is less frequent. This is of course also because we live in the Netherlands, and the Dutch culture is  the one my partner has to adapt to. Regardless, I always love it when he shows me pictures and explains me what type of stuff he does or did differently than me. He did grow up in partially a German household, so in a lot of aspects our cultures are alike, but there are usually more differences than you think at first glance.

All you need is love (and food)

One of the most noticeable differences is food culture. In the Netherlands, for example, we don’t eat that much for lunch. A lot of people are content with a cheese sandwich as opposed to my boyfriend. We have had cases that we were talking about what to eat for lunch after we just had some cheese sandwiches. “We just ate!” is what I said but, “A sandwich is not a meal, it’s a snack!” is what I got in response. He then proceeded to cook a meal for himself while I was still content with my sandwiches.

Journey full of surprises

All of these things I just mentioned have never caused any problems for us whatsoever. And I think it’s good to keep these differences in mind but has become very clear that love transcends culture. As long as you’re curious and willing to learn about where the other person comes from, it will be a journey full of surprises and discoveries and a lot of laughs. Though this shouldn’t be too difficult when you’re truly in love with a person.

Feels like fate

Overall, I would like to say that I was very lucky to have met such a great person. When I think about the coincidence it was for him to go to the Netherlands and choose the same course as me, someone living 30 minutes away from Saxion, it does really feel like fate.