Why do Amsterdam students scream out their windows at 10pm?
Schreeuwen uit je raam in een Amsterdams studentencomplex
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch from the Netherlands · Picked for people who know a little
Schreeuwen uit het raam (“screaming out the window”) at exactly 22:00 became a fixture in Amsterdam student housing during the 2020 COVID lockdowns. With universities online and bars closed, residents in DUWO complexes (the big student-only buildings near campuses) agreed informally to open their windows and let out a collective shout. It started as stress release during isolation. At Houthavens, where this clip is filmed, the ritual lived on past the lockdowns.
This vlog cues the moment: “als je hier rond 10 uur des avonds uit je raam schreeuwt, dan gebeuren er gekke dingen” (“if you scream out your window here around 10pm, things get wild”).
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Dutch press coverage of pandemic-era student rituals (Het Parool, Folia, Trouw)
- ▸In Amsterdam student-housing TikToks (DUWO, UvA, VU Amsterdam dorm-life accounts)
- ▸In Dutch news on COVID-era youth (NOS, RTL Nieuws, Nieuwsuur, NU.nl)
- ▸In Amsterdam neighborhood Facebook groups about noise (Houthavens, Westerpark)