Social Rent

Desperate to find a house with rent under 700 euros per month, I registered everywhere. Any dubious city. And I guessed it, I had to leave the Randstad, because I was first in a draw for a house in Eindhoven (2017). Accept, move and then I'll see. After I had unpacked and settled in, I discovered 5 things about Eindhoven. Not one of the 5, but relevant is that my palace seems to be very popular. Yet I would exchange it for a new building in the Randstad. I tried 'woningruil' on which there were a lot of reactions from people from Amsterdam who wanted to move to Eindhoven. Even families reacted on the 50m2 loft, and the most bizarre thing was that I would find posters with people almost pleading to exchange home with me. The houses on the posters were sometimes brand new and on good locations in Amsterdam. I didn't take the offers, but it could be a good solution for others.

There Are Many Techies Living In Eindhoven

With the technical university and companies like Philips, it is logical that there are many technicians living in Eindhoven, but I did not expect so many. Almost everyone I meet does something technical. With my Databeet that brings digitization to the digibeet I have not come to the right place. This city is too digi smart!

Even The Artists Are Technical

In other cities it is often the case that artists do not know much about website and social media. I get my clients there, but it's different in Eindhoven. The artists here have often studied technique and art at the interface and can therefore code. They are not waiting for a WordPress site from me, unfortunately.

Living In Hipster Strijp-S

All I knew when I moved to Eindhoven was that some of my friends lived there in the past, I was going to live close to public transport and that my loft was part of a converted Philips factory. But after some research and visits to shops and other facilities in the area, it turned out that I lived in hipster town! Strijp-S is up and coming! Here the hipsters shop and sit on the terraces. Many concerts and parties are also held here in the open air or in the Klokgebouw (Strange enough or very good is that the buildings are sound proof and the sound norm is only exceeded a few times a year with a notice beforehand to the habitants of Strijp-S). There is also the hipster market Feel Good Market once a month and a Skate Hall. The Feel Good Market was before COVID-19 also in other cities. I visited the one in Utrecht, before I moved to Eindhoven. 

Philips Fruittuin

Everything in Eindhoven seems to remind the inhabitants of Philips. There is:

• The Philips stadium of PSV

• Philipsdorp, a neighborhood in Eindhoven

• The Philips fruittuin where I can get fruit and vegetables in the shop. Next to the shop there is a nice Pancake restaurant in the garden

• The Lichttoren in which there is a restaurant and some offices

• Eerste gloeilampfabriek van Philips (Philips' first light bulb factory)

• The Witte Dame: in this building the library is situated and some others

• Muziekgebouw Frits Philips (Music Hall)

• Philips museum with everything about the history of Philips

• Strijp-S was the factory garden of Philips and not accessible for public before it was sold, and the factories disappeared

• Free walking tours: On the two free walking tours the guides tell a lot about the buildings and history of Philips, especially on the Strijp-S tour.

Free Walking Tours

Eindhoven was one of the first cities in The Netherlands that offered free walking tours. Almost every 'big' city in The Netherlands has a free walking tour now. Eindhoven has two. 

• On the Centre tour I was guided through the city center and they tell about the hotspots and the history of Eindhoven 

• And the other is about my old neighborhood Strijp-S. On this tour I learnt more about the history of Philips in Eindhoven.  For example that the employees were Philips all their life if they worked at Philips in the past. They lived among other employees, they played sports together, they recreated together, the children went to Philips school. Quite an indoctrination in the eyes of today.

Definitely worth walking along. The free tours were held every Saturday before COVID-19 and are free (based on a tip afterwards). I did both tours when I was living there. After the tours, I looked at Eindhoven with different eyes. 

First Time Back In Strijp-S After Moving

The name and logo of Philips is slowly disapearing in Eindhoven from the buildings that are not used by Philips anymore. These buildings have been transformed to living space, offices or used otherwise. Strijp-S is now more hipster than back than. It looks like New York on Berlin steriods (Like those gym people).