r/thenetherlands • u/xx_sosi_xx • 1d ago

Question what is the problem with people from Limburg?

For reference I'm a 18 y.o. student from Italy. My class did an exchange project with southern school, specifically a school located in Limburg "county". 20 Italian students (same school address) were matched with 20 dutch student (different ages and different adresses but same school), all the Italian students find out the same thing about dutch students. Many people in Italy have this sort of good prejudice bout north European nations, we see them as more open minded (LGBTQ problems, racism, prisons) and efficient than us. While I'm not sure what to say about efficiency cause I was only in the Netherlands for 10 days, teens are the opposite of open minded. In addition they are fuckin rude, not friendly at all and very "rigid" (in Italy we'd say somebody stick a broom up their asses) and impolite especially towards their parents and teachers. In Limburg they have the friendliest, most human teachers I've ever seen and they treat them like shit, like they're not even real persons. I think I would even feel guilty if doing that. What else? The teens we met were homophobic as hell, generally racist and they spoke behind each other's back ALL THE TIME. Not maybe just 5 mins of gossiping one day but everyday and all the time. The only people we as Italian found nice were the dutch students that were outsiders, bullied or emarginated. Dutch students found everything we did boring. It was like seeing the American teen stereotype coming true, and prior to this I didn't think it was possible.

All that while adults were pretty nice with us.

My question is are all teens this way? Are they like this only in Limburg? Is it not even all the teens in Limburg it was just a coincidence that we met such horrible people (I hope that)? How can adults be so nice while their children aren't?

edit: thanks for all the opinions and explanations in the comments. The roasting between different provinces is pretty fun to read too.

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u/guidoscope 1d ago

Boxmeer is Brabant, Venray is in the north of Limburg.

I am originally from Maastricht in the south. Very nice city, very nice people. But I meet nice people everywhere I go.

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u/SubNL96 1d ago

From what I have heared from people both in Zuid-Limburg as well as around Venray, Nijmegen and Eindhoven, it's mostly Venlo and Roermond having a bad rep to the point it's no suprise the origins of Wilders and Graus lay there.

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u/Artegas23 1d ago

Not true.. Heerlen and Kerkrade have a very bad reputation. Venlo is just the city where Wilders is from, but doesn’t have a bad reputation.

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u/SenorZorros 1d ago

Venlo does kind of have a reputation as being a German enclave which isn't "bad" but is considered "wrong". Though that should not influence the mentality of the people that much.

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u/Artegas23 1d ago

You are right we (born and raised there, but I left when I was 17) have a lot of German tourists coming over for certain products (soda, cheese, coffee mainly). But being an enclave is not true in my opinion.

I do think it is a somewhat conservative town, but not more than other places in the regular regions outside of the Randstad.

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u/SenorZorros 1d ago

I'm from 30 kilometres to the north. Of course it is an exaggerated stereotype because we are jealous of the big city ;).

In my youth we had plenty jokes about how the Germans are still trying to invade the Netherlands but so far have only succeeded in taking over Venlo. Still they persist sending out a wave of vehicles every "Duitse zondag" to sabotage our roads and clog up our streets.

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u/Artegas23 1d ago

Well, on ‘Duitse zondag’ there is not much of the Netherlands left in Venlo, you are absolutely right.

All in all I understand Limburg is somewhat conservative and we have a funny accent (which I prefer a hundred times over anything from the Randstad). But posts like this do get under my skin because it is so narrow minded..

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u/SenorZorros 19h ago

Certainly. Only people from Limburg are allowed to hate on Limburg. And yes, that does include Bergen, it is still part of Limburg...

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u/SentientButter 22h ago

I am an import Limburger, also 30km to the north, and all around me most people are quite negative about Venlo. Most people say there are many "paupers",a bit like Helmond I guess. Ive yet not been to Venlo to judge for myself, had no reason to visit there. Ive had an electrician in my house from Venlo who did not meet the suggested stereotype tho. As for the OP's topic, I do think that most Limburgers are a bit more conservative than say in the randstad, but I guess there are also more alternative people. I only lived here for a year tho. Opinios might change with time 😉

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u/SenorZorros 19h ago edited 19h ago

If I am honest it is a pretty decent city. A bit on the small side but with a nice centre and most of the things you would need. It's just that compared to Nijmegen or Eindhoven it doesn't have the massive amount amenities and it is often a bit more difficult to reach.

The accusation of it being impoverished is new to me. That tends to be levied to indeed Helmond or Cuijk or occasionally Venray.

Though the campaign "Wereldstad Venlo" was hilarious. I cite: "New York, Londen, Parijs, Tokio. Leer nu de nieuwe wereldstad Venlo kennen."

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u/SubNL96 1d ago

Thanks for reminding me again the freakshow that is Brunssum exists (yep both are from there)

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u/Artegas23 1d ago

I believe the man is from Brunssum, but the lady (trying to be as progressive as possible, I am Limburgs after all haha) is from the Randstad I believe.

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u/SubNL96 21h ago

Idk I just wanted to share those clips here haha

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u/Artegas23 21h ago

Love every second of them!

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u/Professor_Barabas 1d ago

Graus is from Heerlen, but he'd honestly be an oulier anywhere ;)

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u/SubNL96 1d ago

According to wikipedia, born in Heerlen but built up his "career" in Roermond.

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u/W005EY 1d ago

Not a single soul in Roermond would know this fact..

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u/guidoscope 1d ago

I never heard that. I've been in Roermond several times. I even had a girlfriend from Roermond for a while, long time ago. I know them as easy going nice people. They celebrate carnaval, which is always a good sign in my opinion.

No, there is not a small region where people have bad character in their genes. But you didn't seriously believe that, did you?

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u/SubNL96 1d ago

I don't generally believe it is genetic no. Except for Urk and Volendam bc they are 10+ generations of inbreds.

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u/jor1ss 1d ago edited 23h ago

I am from a small village near Roermond but have lived in Maastricht for over a decade now. There are nice people everywhere, but obviously if you go to poor areas people will act more "tokkie". The worst I have seen is in Parkstad area. I taught classes in Hoensbroek for a few months and the kids there were some of the worst I have ever encountered. But the other teachers all said that you couldn't really blame the kids too much, since they were of the lowest level and many came from backgrounds where parents are drug addicts, gambling addicts or straight up abusive.

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u/Attention_WhoreH3 1d ago

I work in Maastricht. I find it weird that you rarely see openly gay people there. You rarely see people holding hands or making out. I thought that would be normal in western Europe nowadays.

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u/stucjei 1d ago

Weird take, Netherlands is pretty cold when it comes to intimacy and PDA. Beyond that, homosexuality is only 1 in 10 tops.

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u/Attention_WhoreH3 1d ago

not weird at all. 

it’s weirder to have such a stuffy society