Dutch Air-Raid Sirens, Unrefrigerated Eggs & American Fry Sauce Fiasco
Sara Wegman, a New Jersey transplant who spoke Dutch and had visited Holland more times than she could count, relocated to the Netherlands in 2017. Shock hit immediately when a monthly lunchtime air-raid siren blasted on her first solo day—turns out it’s just a patriotic party alarm, not a World War II rerun. Winters feature one or two sad inches of snow, not frozen canals for Dutch commuting fantasies. Dutch small talk? Nonexistent, leaving her as the cashier's suspicious 'foreigner' for asking 'How are you?'. Stores shut shop at 5 p.m., making last-minute shopping less than American 24/7 convenience. Eggs don’t get fridge VIP treatment here, because washing them is a foreign concept. The American food aisle? Home to bizarre canned hot dogs and an 'American fry sauce' mystery concocted by McDonald's Netherlands that even stateside folks have never seen. Medical costs hover near $200 a month with occasional 4-euro inhalers that polite pharmacists oddly apologize for—a real bargain compared to US prices that could fund a small yacht. Sara’s lived the Dutch dream driving abstinence, biking 45 minutes to work, and shopping around seagulls rather than sandy shores mere 15 minutes away in Leiden.
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Moving to the Netherlands means monthly air-raid sirens that aren’t emergencies, eggs that ignore fridges, and Dutch people giving you the 'Do we know each other?' look for casual American small talk. Welcome to the land where hot dogs come in jars and pharmacists apologize for charging 5 bucks.
Nothing screams ‘welcome to Dutch life’ like a lunchtime air-raid siren test and eggs chilling on your countertop with zero judgment.
If you thought your local store closing at 5 pm was rough, try navigating a country where people bike 45 minutes for their office sweat sessions and leave leftovers as mythical creatures.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 9/19/2025 | Author: Sara Wegman
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