Going Dutch Blog

So as our summer session comes to a close, we have learned many things on this trip as we have discovered and experienced what the Netherlands is all about. There have been many challenges on this trip, but I feel the biggest one is budgeting finances. It’s easy to feel like the Euro is play money because it is so different from our United States currency, but it has been imperative that we all control our spending as well as possible. In an attempt to prove that I could do it, I have budgeted 450 Euros for this trip: E200,00 for the first two weeks in Amsterdam, and E250,00 for the second two weeks in Rotterdam. It’s been a strugle, and I have had to pace myself, but I can proudly say that it is infact doable. I sit here wiritng this, counting the money in my wallet… E17,35, plenty enough money to get me through Saturday and back on the plane home. When I was leaving Amsterdam, I counted my cash at this checkpoint and I had spent 30 cents less than twohundred euros. I have to admit, I have had to restrain myself from wontan purchases and really control my spending habbits. I bought my wine and liquor at the grocery store and avoided buying drinks at resteraunts. I looked for cheap places to eat. I packed my lunch. I avoided treating myself to some of the more expensive touristy things, like renting a boat on the canal and such. I’ve had to be carefull but it was very doable. I never missed a meal, I never went hungry, and I never have felt like I have missed out on a great experiance because I didn’t have enough money. Everyone in the states told me that I would need to spend at least $1200 to be comfortable here in the Netherlands, but I have finished this week off spending just over $700. So what does this make me: thrifty or cheap?

Here is a series of photos that I have photographed over the course of study here in the Netherlands, so needless to say, I can be thrifty, or I might be cheap, but it never stopped me from taking great photos of this terrific country.

—Ryan Farmer

Find more photos like this on Going Dutch

This entry was posted on June 26, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized.