I have friends that live in Utrecht and it's great. The biggest adjustment for an American, I think, would be getting used to the smaller house sizes. It shifts how you see and value "stuff".
We spent two years living in a 50 square meter (~500 square feet) miserably cold and dark thatched cottage in a field in Ireland. That was, admittedly, unpleasant, but the places I see on Funda.nl look perfectly nice.
Incidentally, the author of this article showed us around Houten (9 minutes from Utrecht by train) and it was hard to contain my dumb grin just seeing kids - not much older than mine! - riding bikes _everywhere_ and just doing their thing. we visited for dinner and when her ~10 y.o. son said "I want to go ice skating" she said "OK, have fun!" and he just... hopped on his bike and went. No "ugg who's going to drive him" or "I don't want to have to pick him up late" etc. - an independence most kids can only dream of.
I actually would've thought the biggest adjustment would be cultural - the Dutch seem more reserved than Americans (who, to be fair, are known for being exceptionally outgoing).
Incidentally, the author of this article showed us around Houten (9 minutes from Utrecht by train) and it was hard to contain my dumb grin just seeing kids - not much older than mine! - riding bikes _everywhere_ and just doing their thing. we visited for dinner and when her ~10 y.o. son said "I want to go ice skating" she said "OK, have fun!" and he just... hopped on his bike and went. No "ugg who's going to drive him" or "I don't want to have to pick him up late" etc. - an independence most kids can only dream of.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/may/16/welcome-cycle...
I actually would've thought the biggest adjustment would be cultural - the Dutch seem more reserved than Americans (who, to be fair, are known for being exceptionally outgoing).