Giovanni Landriscina (32) is an acoustic and sonar scientist at TNO, the Dutch Institute for Applied Scientific Research. As an acoustic expert, he works daily to develop new solutions to manage sound, reducing the impact deriving from railways and marine applications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Landriscina first came to the Netherlands from Italy eight years ago to pursue a master’s at the University of Twente. After completing his study track, including an internship in Canada and a thesis with TNO, he thought his Dutch days were over. Yet, after a few months, he accepted a job offer at a startup in Amsterdam, where he worked for some years before rejoining TNO as a full-time scientist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Getting a job opportunity, moving to a new country, and settling in are three moments every expat has experienced. But how does the Netherlands look in the eyes of the foreigners who move here for work? In our new series, Dutch Diaries<\/a><\/em>, we bring the stories of expats who moved to the Netherlands to work in the tech and innovation sectors. Why did they decide to come here? What do they like the most about the Netherlands? What would they change?<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter finishing my bachelor’s, I wanted to get my Master\u2019s abroad, inspired by other people around me. I focused on opportunities in Northern Europe. Sweden was my preferred destination, but applications were closed. There was still a chance to sign up at the University of Twente, whose program started in February. So, I visited the University\u2019s Open Day and was positively impressed by Enschede and the university; everything seemed to be tailored to the students. In February 2016, I started my Master\u2019s in Thermal and Fluid Mechanics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first six months were probably one of the best moments of my life; in the first weeks, I met people I\u2019m still friends with to this day. Then, the opportunity to do an internship in Canada came. It was critical for me to understand if I liked this job. After nine months in Ottawa, I returned to the Netherlands to write my thesis. The topic was acoustic, so I wrote it with TNO in collaboration with the department I currently work for. Although it was a good experience, I didn\u2019t enjoy it as much as I liked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cI started looking for a job, purposely avoiding offers from the Netherlands. After a few disappointing job interviews, I decided to consider opportunities in big Dutch cities. I found an offer from an Amsterdam-based startup working on underwater microphones. I worked there for a few years, but after a while, I decided to move on, and about a year ago, I joined TNO.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSocializing with Dutch people has always been cumbersome, and that\u2019s also my fault because I don\u2019t speak the language. Honestly, living in Amsterdam sometimes feels like it\u2019s not the Netherlands. Still, I\u2019m trying to learn Dutch, but far from being fully fluent. It teases me that I\u2019m the only one who doesn\u2019t speak Dutch during work meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe main difference I noticed with Italy is the connection between universities and the job market. Universities are constantly evolving according to the developments of the labor market. Furthermore, there is always a lot of interest in emerging technologies. At TNO, the research on new tech is often assigned to the younger colleagues, who are supported by the experience and knowledge of the more experienced fellows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome flexibility. Sometimes, I feel things are too structured, and, in some contexts, that’s not necessary. Just a few weeks ago, I was at a restaurant in Italy, and I asked to replace one of the sides of the main dish. There was no problem at all, but it came back to my mind a few times, that was not the case in the Netherlands. I sometimes believe some more relaxation could be helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of an existential question at the moment. Life is good. I have become economically independent, and I have accomplished many achievements in my career. Yet, it is not my home country, and even when I think about raising a family, I would like to do so where I fully feel comfortable. I have a feeling that sooner or later, I\u2019ll go back to Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Giovanni Landriscina (32) is an acoustic and sonar scientist at TNO, the Dutch Institute for Applied Scientific Research. As an acoustic expert, he works daily to develop new solutions to manage sound, reducing the impact deriving from railways and marine applications. Landriscina first came to the Netherlands from Italy eight years ago to pursue a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":505720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84165],"tags":[84642,3520],"location":[6763],"article_type":[6758],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[81075],"class_list":["post-480078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-dutch-diaries","tag-expats-en","location-netherlands","article_type-interview","reboot-archive-community"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"What do expats think of living in the Netherlands? In our series Dutch Diaries, expats share their experiences. ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Mauro Mereu","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/gioexp2.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["COMMUNITY<\/a>"],"unlinked":["COMMUNITY<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Dutch Diaries<\/a>","expats<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Dutch Diaries<\/span>","expats<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on June 14, 2024","modified":"Updated on June 14, 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on June 14, 2024 3:00 pm","modified":"Updated on June 14, 2024 3:00 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480078"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=480078"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=480078"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=480078"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=480078"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=480078"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=480078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How did you end up in the Netherlands? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How did your university experience go? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What happened next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is the thing you had the most trouble getting used to? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is your take on the Dutch working environment? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What practice would you bring from Italy that you miss in the Netherlands? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Do you see yourself living in the Netherlands in five years? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n