Newly arrived American expats in Maastricht: “No time to be bored!”

Amanda “Mandy” Potter (27) moved to Maastricht only recently, in April 2009 to be precise. Her husband Dan was offered a job as a biology researcher at Maastricht University. Sharing a sense for adventure, they seized the opportunity and left their home, family and friends in Boston to start a new life in Europe. Their cats Agatha and Einstein didn’t stay behind and now enjoy the privileged status of being genuine expets (!) in the Netherlands.

View of Maastricht

Mandy describes a lot of her experiences in her blog Single Stitch Studio to help her family and friends back home get an idea of what life is like in Maastricht.

Truly inventive is the podcast Maastricht Minutiae in which Mandy and Dan talk about various aspects of living among the Dutch, and review their trips and adventures in the region. They have only been here for a couple of months but have already released the 7th episode of Maastricht Minutiae! Reason enough for Crossroads to introduce the Potters to the expat community at large.

We meet at Chalet Bergrust halfway up Mount St. Peter (St. Pietersberg), where the view over Maastricht and its wider region is breathtaking. Given their curious nature, it’s no surprise to learn that Mandy and Dan already visited Chalet Bergrust a year ago, when they travelled to Maastricht to check out their future hometown and start the preparations for their move.

Amanda Potter in Maastricht, photo by Gina Vodegel

“When Dan told me he had been invited to work in Maastricht for a period of three years, the first thing we did was look on the map for the Netherlands and Maastricht. It is so small on a map! Although I enjoyed my job as an archivist and knowledge manager in Boston a lot, I would not let my husband go to Europe alone. So as a spouse, I came along and decided to just let it all surprise me. It’s an adventure,” Mandy smiles.

As every expat knows, moving to another country requires a lot of work, especially in dealing with administrative paperwork. All sorts of questions arise to which answers need to be found. Some are more urgent than others. Such as finding a place to live. “Dan’s employer, the university, have been helpful in pointing out how to find a place to live, but he practically did it all by himself. He checked out various real estate agents and companies and finally found us a neat apartment not far from the Justice Building in Maastricht.”

Challenges
In Single Stitch Studio, her blog, Mandy describes how they flew their two cats over, Agatha and Einstein. It’s exactly the kind of information that could be useful to other expats who are considering bringing their pets with them.

“Expets” Agatha and Einstein

And there are more challenges that sometimes only manifest themselves when an adapter starts sending out smoke signals instead of electricity. Mandy: “Yes, we brought some of our appliances and equipment with us but we forgot we would need a converter for some of them. We had no clue what was wrong until the adapter started to melt. So, it’s important to check out whether the voltage and wattage of your machinery matches the use of power in your new country.”

“The apartment we rented in Maastricht can without any light fixtures. Dan is standing on a table and trying to get our kitchen light functioning”, Amanda explains.

Bicycle country
One thing Mandy and Dan absolutely love about the Netherlands and Maastricht is the fact that compared to Boston, it’s a relatively safe place for cyclists. “Back home, there are no separate cycle paths or sections in the road reserved for cyclists. Often enough people get killed or injured because someone in a car just opens the door. There’s also no respect for cyclists… while here, it’s an entire separate way of life and people are used to transport themselves using a bike. Dan’s workplace is on the other side of town, but he loves the fact he can get there on the bicycle. And we have also cycled to the Flemish town of Tongeren, we made a podcast about it, but I sure had underestimated the trip because I was exhausted,” Mandy laughs.

Dan on the way home from Tongeren

Learning the language, embracing the culture
Living here for almost three months may have offered ups and downs riding the bicycle, but as far as their daily life is concerned, it’s nothing but promise and things to discover and look forward to. Mandy: “Most of the people here speak English, so there’s no problem in communication. I have already figured out enough in Dutch so I can read or at least understand the labels in the supermarket and I’ve enrolled in a course to learn Dutch which will start somewhere in the fall.”

Easter Procession in Maastricht

“I don’t think of it as a real difficult language,” she continues, “although there are sounds that don’t exists in American English. Like your “g” sound for the word “goed”? We’re here for a period of three years, so some may argue that it’s not necessary to learn Dutch, especially when everyone understands English. But I really want to speak the language as well as learn about the culture that surrounds us. There is just so much to see. We also have the rest of Europe to discover in the next few years, so we probably won’t have time to be bored!”

By Gina Vodegel
Gina Vodegel (45), freelance writer/journalist
Writing Affairs
Editor MVV Business Magazine, MVV Gazet

Photos by Amanda Potter

More information:
Amanda Potter’s blog: Single Stitch Studio
Maastricht Minutiae: “Join Dan and Mandy, an American couple, as they talk about their experiences living in the Netherlands. All aspects of living with the dutch are discussed, from culture and cuisine to traveling to all those annoying legal bits you have to deal with when your living in somebody else’s country.”
Amanda’s photostream on Flickr