Amsterdam is a city of migrants, but rarely do they speak up and share their stories. Migrant Voices is a storytelling project collecting testimonies of first-generation migrants living in the city. Stories are told through text and podcasts. Migrants speak about why they came to the Netherlands, the lives they built, and the impact they have on the city and country. When many in the Netherlands and around the world turn their backs on migrants, we listen to their voices.
Amsterdam is a city of migrants, but rarely do they speak up and share their stories. Migrant Voices is a storytelling project collecting testimonies of first-generation migrants living in the city. Stories are told through text and podcasts. Migrants speak about why they came to the Netherlands, the lives they built, and the impact they have on the city and country. When many in the Netherlands and around the world turn their backs on migrants, we listen to their voices.
Originally from Paris, France
Living in Amsterdam for 4 years
Freelance Creative Director, side job in a hotel
Arielle Lucantonio moved to Amsterdam 4 years ago, but it was not her first time living in the country. As a student, she studied in Groningen.
“I spent one year in the north of the Netherlands and this is when I discovered the Dutch way of life, everywhere you go is with your bike. It was an amazing student city. Then I came back to Paris. A few years after my graduation and after COVID, I wanted to leave Paris and the chaos of the city. I knew I fit with the Netherlands, so I wanted to give a try to Amsterdam. And I never looked back since then.”
Arielle moved to the Netherlands for a job and faced all the same struggles in a new city as other young people, making friends, finding an apartment, feeling like you belong. “When I worked in the company, I felt like I belonged in Amsterdam.” After her job ended, her sense of belonging was threatened.
“Those time where I feel a little bit like I didn't belong to Amsterdam was when I was looking for a job, when mostly they were looking for Dutch speaking people.”
She applied for a job and learned from a friend that the only reason she didn’t get the position is because she did not speak Dutch, even though it was an international company who’s profossional langauge was English.
“I do understand that the Dutch want to speak in their own language and you don't want to explain everything in English. But on the other hand in my personal level, I thought that it was such a shame because I know I could deliver, I know that I could do the work and I... I didn't get this job only because I was not speaking Dutch on a professional level. Even tho I'm really willing to learn Dutch. and I'm still learning, but it is very difficult to reach a professional level.”
“I understand that you want to speak in your own language and you don't want to explain everything in English. And on the other side, I was more on my personal level, that's such a shame because I know I could deliver, I know that I could do the work and I... I didn't get this job only because I was not speaking Dutch on a professional level. Because I'm really willing to learn Dutch and I'm still learning, but it is very difficult.”
“Everyone who has this experience will tell you the same. The first two years are the experiment and then you're trying things, connecting to people, then you lost contact. On my personal experience, the first 6-7 months was really harsh on me because I had this feeling of not fulfillment. When I was speaking with some friends back to France, they were telling me, but you made it. You moved to another country. Like half of the people will not do it so you should be proud of yourself. But I think my brain needed to adapt because it adapts slower than my body did.”
While Amsterdam is now her home, she still feels pulled between the two parts of herself. Her past in France and her present in the Netherlands.
“In some certain areas, I feel completely part of Amsterdam and it's my home. Whenever I travel back to France, to visit some family and I come back in Amsterdam, I have this little voice in my head saying ‘I'm home' and I feel so much better. So I really developed this homey vibe and feeling like I belong here. [But] in some other areas, related to jobs or maybe over a conversation, I have this feeling that I'm not Dutch and you're not really part of it’ because you don't have the full background culture or if you spoke with a Dutch person about I don't know childhood, cinema or TV shows. It's not the same. Also, the weird thing is now that my new home is not France, when I'm back in France, I don't feel like I'm home too and I don’t feel like I belong that much anymore. I think all of the expats and immigrants have this feeling ‘You have two homes but in a way you kind of belong nowhere’ because half of you is in one side and the other half is in the other side so you have to live with that balance and make the best of the life you want to build.”
“I would say belonging somewhere is very personal feeling. And I will say only you can say if you belong or not. So if you feel comfortable, if you have your life, your little routine, then you can't say you belong.”