The Netherlands have a LOT of holidays in April/May.
- Good Friday and Easter (including “Second Easter” on Monday) – University closed Friday through Monday
- King’s Day on April 27 – University closed on Thursday and Friday
- Liberation Day on May 5 – University closed
- Ascension Day on May 18 (40 days after Easter) – University closed on both Thursday and Friday
- Pentacost on May 28 and Pinksterdag (second Pentacost, called “Whitsun Monday” in England) on May 29 – University closed
Kind of makes for a fun couple of months. In the US, we don’t really celebrate most of these. Some places give a day off for Easter, but a lot don’t. None of the rest are celebrated. Most US states would see this as too much Christianity in the holiday schedule, but I didn’t get that sense at all here (even though most people aren’t religious). They were just happy for the holidays!
Our kids also had all of these off for school, plus some of them connected. We appreciated that, since it let us do our cruise and Israel trip.
It was a bit annoying on the days where we weren’t traveling that “University closed” means that faculty are not allowed on campus. I had to work on some of the holidays, so I worked from home (which is a little tricky with kids out of school). I like the holidays, but not the forced nature of the holidays.
Dutch Bentleys 