MMMmm...German chocolate...there's a Bavarian market in Leicester for the next 3 weeks, selling lebhkuchen, chocolates and bockwurst and such things. Very nice winter food. Last year they also had a friendly Dutchman selling poffertjes but I couldn't see him today. Had a nice glass of Gluhwein though.

if any one is allowed to complain about the weather. it should be me. because I live in Canada in one of the coldest part of it"Winnipeg" it is minus 20 now and i am working. like every one else. I have been in Holland I left there 2 years. and every one bick over there. I think your complaining is not valid!!

Wow; minus 20 is colder than my freezer!

It doesn't really get cold in the UK; it just bloody rains all winter.

to be honest minus 20 is not yet the coldest here it get also minus 30 and the wind chill make it sometimes feels like minus forty. I have lived in Europe and it is never cold compare to what I am experencing here. we have snow for 6 months and every thing is very white, revers are icy to the degree that you can drive your car on then!!

How do you survive that? You must have to wear mammoth skin just to stay warm. And the heating bills must be huge.

Hey monkey,

I hung out a lot with people, went swimming and tried to stay indoors as much as I could during the winter in Rotterdam. Don't you just love it when it is really crappy outside and you get to sit inside with some tea and biscuits? I could recommend the Dutch stroopwaffels for that...

what's a stroopwaffel? I speak German so I often understand some Dutch, but what's a stroop?

stroop means syrup. They're kind of like hard waffles with caramel inside that you put on top of your coffee cup, till they go soft. If you're in the UK Asda sell them.

If you are in Germany, supermarkets have them, too. And obviously, you could get them in the Netherlands almost anywhere.

Ah I see. Starbucks and Pret sell them too. Very nice they are as well, if not a little messy, especially in those of a cack-handed disposition (ie me).

i LOVE stroopwaffels!!!! probably the only dutch food i am really crazy about. could eat them all day - unfortunately that would mean twice a day to the gym so i try to restrain myself

i actually find it a bit hard to get to know the Dutch people closer. we have many people here i chat with, but after work they all depart and we never do anything together. somewhat sad.

I actually made the same experience. During my MSc, it took the Dutch students in my class about 6 months to recognize me and actually say hello or talk to me. However, once you get to know them more, they are usually really nice.
I also found that it helps if you ask them along to something you were going to any way. I threw a party for the people in my class at the end of my year in the Netherlands, and they all came, had a good time and said they would have really enjoyed doing something like that earlier. They are just shy, I guess, but really friendly once you do get to know them. So maybe if you try to be a bit more outgoing they will open up... Good luck!