Moving to a new city and starting the next chapter in your life can be exciting, scary and stressful all at once, especially if you have to do it on your own. I remember my first few days (or weeks…) in Groningen took a lot of getting used to. You might arrive in Groningen and have no idea where to begin, so I’ve compiled a little list of the top five things you should do once you’ve arrived in Groningen.

1. Get a bike

As you may have noticed, the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands runs on bikes. Your bike will become your best friend. Whether it is transporting furniture, 3 crates of beer or just your best friend around town - you can do all of this on a bike. This is also why you should get one of your own as soon as you get to town. You can buy a bike for a pretty reasonable price at one of the numerous bike shops in the city for around 70-100€. You should also get a big chain lock, as bikes can be stolen. My tip for avoiding it getting stolen is spray painting it hideous colors. My old bike was bright orange and my current one is neon pink, not exactly welcoming colors, and easy to spot after a long day of studying and you forget where you left your bike. Once you have your bike, the next step is learning how to navigate through the city. While Dutchies have been biking for as long as they can walk, you might need some time to get used to their wild and fast biking style.

Watch Agustina’s bike vlog on her experiences with getting used to biking in Groningen! If this is already stressing you out - you can also veto bikes and decide to do everything by foot (it’s possible here!).

2. Buy some essentials for your room

You’ll need furniture and essentials for your room like a bed, desk, chair, bookshelf and a closet (unless you want to live a very minimalistic life), which you can get a second-hand at MamaMini or go to the local Ikea. Nothing says adulthood more than slamming together an Ikea closet with your bare hands because you don’t have any tools, or being so stubborn that you think Ikea is wrong and building your closet the wrong way (speaking from experience…). Both stores will provide you with a free “bakfiets”, which is a bike made for transporting large and heavy objects, just like the one Joey is riding in the cover photo of this blog.

Another tip for transporting furniture from Ikea is by taking the bus - a cheap alternative than having furniture delivered. A great way to score some cheap furniture if you don’t feel like spending all your savings at Ikea, is Marktplaats.nl, an online second-hand store. It’s common that students put their furniture on the website for a cheap price when leaving Groningen, which could save you some serious cash. I highly advise you to do this before actually starting classes, otherwise, you’ll be living between boxes until after the first exam period because of procrastination of finishing off your room.  

3. Register with the Municipality

It’s required to be registered with the municipality when you are living in Groningen, so that they know that you are living in Groningen. Registering at the municipality was the first time I really thought ‘wow, I’m an adult’, which made me freak out a little, but it’s super easy and you can do it all online.  It’s also important when you want to open a bank account which is important because everything is basically cashless and visa card is barely accepted anywhere. Having a Dutch bank account will make your life easier when handling financial matters in your student life.

4. Explore the University

Unlike high school, the UG has a lot of different buildings and even different campuses. It’s not a bad day to discover the city a little bit and orient yourself around where you might have classes. If you’re going to be studying a programme in a faculty situated on the Zernike campus, you should go visit the campus to figure out which buildings you’ll be having class in. Even if you don’t have classes in Zernike, it’s good to go there, because the general exam hall is there. Trust me - having to Google Maps where your exam is 20 minutes before your exam is not good for the stress levels.  It’s also a good idea to figure out the difference between the Academy Building and Harmony Building and get an idea of all the weird number codes each room has. This might all seem really daunting, but you’ll get the hang of it really easily, especially if you join the ESN introduction week or your study or faculty introduction week.

5. Get to know Groningen and its surroundings

Seeing as Groningen is all the way in the north of the Netherlands, it’s relatively isolated from cities like Amsterdam, the Hague or Utrecht. Luckily, there is enough to do here in the North! Groningen has recently been named one of the best cities for backpackers by the Guardian. Discovering Groningen nightlife is a definite must do, especially in the ESN week and KEI week. Is the weather still nice when you arrive in Groningen? Cool off at the City Beach or go to the Paterswoldse or Hoornse lake in the south of the city. Other than learning all the hotspots in Groningen, it’s fun to explore beyond the city. You can go the small island off the coast of the Netherlands, Schiermonnikoog, which is only an hour away or to the popular seal sanctuary Pieterburen. The definite pro’s of living so “far away” from the rest of the Netherlands, is that you can take weekend trips to a different Dutch city and make it feel like a mini-vacation.

(BONUS TIP)

Learn how to cook. It’s a lot harder than it looks if you haven’t really done it before living alone, so if you’re still living with your parents, ask them for a few staple recipes. Trust me - you’ll thank them later. Three years later and I still make my mom’s favorite 15-minute stir fry noodle recipe at least once a week.

Hopefully, you have a better idea of what you should do when you arrive in Groningen, what's the first thing you’re going to do? Let us know in the comments below!