Welcome to Saxion! Welcome to Deventer and the Prep Programme!

Culture shock is real! Be kind to yourself. Give yourself time to eat good food, sleep well, chat with your family back home but also give yourself some space to take in new sights, new experiences, new ways of doing things. Below are some tips for making your first weeks a bit more comfortable.

Ask students who already live here where to go for certain items to make you feel at home. Everyone will have their own opinion about where to shop for different things. You may want to check out:

Stores

Het Goed – This is a second hand store where people can buy household items or clothes second hand. Many of the items are in good condition so if you need a small table, a lamp, some plates, cooking items – this is a place you can go – about 15 minutes by bicycle from Saxion. Also if you have items to donate at the end of your stay, you can go here. Most items are very affordable and it may be easier than Marktplaats which is the online version (you’ll have more choice there but you’ll have to create an account and email back and forth in English)

Hema / Hema Market

The Hema is a department store with everything from towels, clothes, small appliances, cooking items to some food items. It’s a very popular store with Dutch and Belgian shoppers.

The downtown market

Every Friday until about 14:30 and every Saturday from 9-16:00, the downtown market has fruits, vegetables, flowers, nuts, olives, bread, stroopwafels (a dutch cookie), spring rolls, fried fish (kibbeling), shoarma, and many other items. ( I went this weekend to get new batteries in watches). If you go towards the end of the day, they often have fruit (strawberries, apples, oranges) or vegetables for sale quite cheap (1 euro a bag). The Dutch are not very good at making lines at the market so go with a friend, be confident, ask if you can please order in English – point to things and say how many you want or how many grams. It takes a while to get used to but it is a great way to get some healthy food for a cheaper price than the supermarket. If you write down what you want on a paper, you can show the market workers if they don’t understand exactly what you mean. You can use a bank card or pay with cash.

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