Ilse van der Palen | initiator of English-language website and city guide on Eindhoven

Ilse van der Palen (28) has since 2010 been running the website www.eindhoven-life.com. On this site you can find everything about culture, eating and drinking and going out in Eindhoven. “Although most Dutchmen speak English well, if you want to find English-language information on the Internet about museums, shows or restaurants, that is almost impossible. I wanted to change that.”

Ilse lived and worked in Dublin from 2006 to 2009, and from Dublin she was seconded to Wroclaw in Poland for six months. “There I saw the websites Wroclaw-Life and Cracow-Life. I used those sites there frequently. While I did speak a bit of Polish, an English-language site with events and reviews about restaurants was a boon nonetheless. Once I got back to Eindhoven I noticed that there was nothing like it here, whereas there was definitely a demand for this. As I also enjoyed keeping in touch with people from different countries, I decided to take stock and see whether I could set up an Eindhoven-life site.”

And this proved to be possible. Eindhoven-life is the first -life site in the Netherlands, and in the autumn of 2011 there will also be an Eindhoven Life Guide. “This is a map of Eindhoven containing information about things like restaurants and big events. It’s a kind of What’s happening in English, intended for people who have just arrived here, as well as for people who have been here a bit longer. In the beginning the Life Guide will be published once every six months, but if it goes well, the frequency will be stepped up. In Cracow for example the guide is published once every two months. It is distributed at various locations in town: in hotel and catering facilities, cultural institutions, at universities and colleges of higher education. Tips for both the website and the guide are always welcome. “And as a visitor you can also place messages or reviews, so we also welcome those any time.” (HB)