“There are more people here who look like me so I don’t feel so alone anymore,” says Rita. She was born in Nigeria, but her parents are from India. That is where they later moved back to. Now she has lived in the Netherlands for about six years.
“I came to the Netherlands because I wanted to study sociology. But in India, they don’t see sociology as a research subject while I was interested in research.” So she looked further afield. Many other students then choose England or America, but Ria was drawn to the Netherlands. “Your culture seemed easy-going and laid-back to me and it is a smaller country so I thought it would be safer,” she says. And that was true.
Free
“In Nigeria and India, safety for women is a thing. For example, my father wouldn’t let me go out alone in Nigeria. In India, sometimes he could, but not often. In the Netherlands, that’s why I felt very free. Here, I could just wear what I wanted and go to a nightclub by myself without worrying. That was very nice.”
Large and diverse
She did her bachelor’s in Groningen. “But after that, I wanted change: more diversity and a bigger city. Previously, I had visited Rotterdam and I found that there.” Ria thinks she made a good decision. It also played into it that her friends moved with her to Rotterdam. First she lived in Kralingen. “And I loved that, so close to the park.”
A park and cute houses
Still, she moved to Blijdorp. “It did take time to adjust but I really like it. There I have the Vroesenpark. The houses are cute and I found a nice swimming pool.”
This is also her advice to other newcomers. “Decide what you find important and choose the area you want to live in accordingly. If you live in the city centre, you live far away from nature. If you want nature close by, it’s better to live in Kralingen, for example.”
A large community
Next to different neighbourhoods and people, Rotterdam has also different groups. “I see many subgroups. That’s fine because everyone needs that. But it would also be nice if we could break through that and form one big community.” In any case, Ria has already found her place in the Rotterdam community. “This could be my home for a very long time.’