The Netherlands, a country of tulips, food automats, scarcely dressed ladies in  windows and space cake. I had the pleasure of calling the Netherlands home for a total of 6 years. Now, 15 years later, I still sometimes miss my time in this beautiful country. But it wasn’t always “Rozen geur en Manenschijn” (sunshine and roses) as the Dutch say and for me as a young island girl at the time, those first few months were quite educational. Talk about culture shock.

Here are 11 of the things that shocked me most about the Dutch way of life.