It’s almost time for me to go start the new term and go back to Nijmegen. After a summer away, I have realised that there are some things I have really missed. These are the top 5 weird and wonderful things I miss about the Netherlands.

1. Double Decker Trains. The first time I set foot on Dutch soil was in Amsterdam central station as a young, naive 17-year-old during an Interrail trip. My excitement at seeing a double decker train for the first time was probably one of the greatest moments of that trip. I still always rush to the top deck whenever I get on a Dutch train just for sheer novelty factor.
2. Hot snack vending machines. Found in snack bars such as Febo. Even though I haven’t actually eaten anything from one of these in a long time I like to think that, if I so wish, at any time I can spend a few euros and buy a whole array of hot snacks… from a hole… in a wall.
3. Fries with satay sauce. I can even pair these delicious hot snacks with fries drenched in what is essentially peanut butter. The Dutch are geniuses!
4. The baby bus bikes. I don’t know what these are called but it is a bike for one adult and about 8 toddlers and it is probably one of the most heart-warming sights known to man. Also deserving a special mention, but not quite as wonderful, are the bikes which have barrels for babies to sit in at the front.
5. “Lekker”. I love “lekker” most probably as it is one of the few Dutch words I can pick out, but it is also a weird and wonderful word in its own right. Usually translated as “yummy” or “tasty” but is also used to describe all sorts of things besides food. I find it beautiful that weather can be described as “tasty”. I miss hearing that word a million times a day.

If, in the future I leave the Netherlands and someone asks me what I miss most, I’ll probably say the people, the myriad of interesting things to do or the open, liberal society. But what I’ll really be thinking of is snack food bought from a machine in a wall and bikes with multiple babies on them.

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