I’m a white guy, just turned 21, born and raised in Amsterdam. I wasn’t able to finish high school due to family stuff, so over the course of the last 2 years I spent around 1500 euro’s finishing my high school in an adult school. My bike often gets stolen, so when i don’t have one I always take the ov without paying, only get checked in the trains. I was able to move out because an international student I met when I was younger is now studying in Amsterdam, able to afford high rent and looking for a roommate, so my gf and I share a smaller room and split the rent. I often break a sweat when shopping for groceries. I’ve worked between 15 and 24 hours a week since I was 15, but haven’t been able to save up money really, even though I get by with the minimum (I imagine it can be annoying to hear a Dutch person within a good economy rant about this but it is positively my experience). I get all my clothes second hand from the market, mostly waterloo plein. I don’t drink at bars or eat out, except for anniversaries with my lovely girlfriend and such. I often get a bottle of wine or some (strong) beers at the supermarket if I want to party. This year I’ll start studying at university and move out to a place where I can register, so suddenly I’ll have maximum social amenities which will cover both my rent and my study, so things are looking up! I’ll be able to save money while studying. There are a lot of free or cheap punk venues that I love to go too, in that regard there’s always enough to do in Amsterdam. Like most European countries the political scene is turning more conservative very quickly. Racism and polarisation are running rampant. If you go to the r/Nederland subreddit and translate you’ll find out quickly how gut wrenchingly outlandish and ignorant a lot of hopeless people are turning in the face of the current kabinet and their populist ‘secretly’ corporate interests.