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we are a german family, who has been living in the US for almost 15 years.
We just dropped off our olderst daugher (19) in Amsterdam, where she will attend college (University of Amsterdam, PPLE).
She moved into her dorm, which is centrally located. we managed to buy her a nice 'holland' bike and stored her.
now we skype everyday and many things are still unfamiliar/hard to find out.
for example, she took three pieces of luggage with her and we thought, she could just buy whatever she needs via amazon. well, turns out, there is no amazon (which surprised me, since its neighbor germany has had amazon for decades). is there a similar online merchant?
apparently, at Albert Heijn supermarkets you can only pay via a 'bank card', not with cash. she does not have her bank card yet. other supermarkets (lidl, aldi, no chains) seem to take cash, right?
well, there are more questions. if anyone lives in the netherlands, maybe even in Amsterdam, I would very much appreciate your input.
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Why does she *have* to shop via Amazon ?
If you think that you can not buy almost everything in a store in the Netherlands, how do you think the Dutch people survive ?
She just needs to take her time, make some local Dutch friends, and then find out how the Dutch *get around* in their daily life ...
thank you! so far I could only find books/kindle on the amazon.nl page. a friend of mine has lived in the NL until last year and told me, he has not used amazon there, but sometimes the german amazon and they shipped to him - but with global shipping, so not for frequent buyers on student budget.
regarding the supermarket: good to know, maybe it was just this one location. she was guided to the customer service desk to pay with Euros.
for smaller appliances (nutri bullet etc.) people probably go to MediaMarkt?
I also found HEMA and read it is kind of a mini target?
IKEA was out of most sleeping sofas, to me beter bed looks like an alternative.
she is also looking for bags (those saddle bags) for her bike. are there shops for used bikes and accessoires, anyone can recommend? she went to this one big outdoor market, where we bought her bike, but could not find anything.
she lives on Ringdijkstraat.
for example things like a nutri bullet, protein powder, english books, head phones, yoga mat - I am sure you can buy everything in town - but it seems more difficult as anticipated to get around with English or German, find the right shop and being also limited to a bike. also navigating websites, that are all in dutch. she'll start a crash course in two weeks though.
In addition she is sick with a fever, just arrived, still doesn't know anyone and is a little overwhelmed
it's not an easy task to start a new chapter in life in another country, culture and language, when you just turned 19 .
and yes, we have just visited family and friends in Bavaria (wuerzburg, Muenchen, Kempten). we go every other year. shipping from there is an option, but I am sure after some time she knows where to go.
we use amazon prime a lot here in North Carolina, so does my family in Germany - it just saves time and money and we are a little spoiled, I admit.
as I said, maybe it was just this location. or their cash register didn't work? I only know the shook their heads when she wanted to hand her Euros and send her to customer service.
Make shure she doesn't leave the bike outside on the street at night. Take it inside, otherwise it'll be stolen. Buy the cheapest bags (fietstassen) you can find. The Action has them for like € 5,00.
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(which surprised me, since its neighbor germany has had amazon for decades). is there a similar online merchant?
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