Cedar Zuijdgeest (she/her), is a Sophomore here at Mountainside. From playing the Guitar to writing stories based on Greek Mythology, Cedar has a knack for all things creative. Unlike the majority, Cedar is living approximately 5,063 miles away from their native country, the Netherlands. This (as you can imagine) comes with its own pros and cons. “Living here when I was 3-5 and then moving back to the Netherlands, and then again moving back here at 14 were two completely different experiences obviously, but it did make it easier to learn english. One of the things I miss most about the Netherlands is definitely speaking in my native language, Dutch.”

The majority of us have never even been to another country, so life in the Netherlands is a complete mystery to those of us who have only ever lived in the United States, unless you’re Cedar. “The Netherlands and the U.S are similar in a couple of ways, but they do have significant differences. Dutch people are much more direct. It’s hard to explain, but they are less likely to start a conversation with a stranger than Americans are, people in the Netherlands are much more true to themselves.”

In Cedar’s experience, school in the Netherlands and school here in America also have very vast differences, which were complete culture changes.

“Back home, the school environment is very different. The grading system is very different from here, and it’s harder to do well in. School is way less personal there, like there are no clubs or sport games, no extracurricular activities at all. It was weird to see how close the community at American schools are, and how many activities they have going on all the time.”

While the prospect of moving to a foreign country with a completely different lifestyle is very rough to transition into, there are a few positives like we mentioned earlier, some of which can even come in the form of new hobbies that you might not have heard of in your home country. For Cedar, this was the art of embroidery. 

“I didn’t really know much about embroidery back in the Netherlands, so when I moved here that is when I learned about it and have been doing it since. The store ‘Micheals’ was also something I loved finding in America, I didn’t have that at home.”

From her creative hobbies to her interesting life story based in a completely other country, Cedar is no doubt someone we are all looking forward to having on our team here on The Peak this year.