{"id":2297,"date":"2013-06-23T04:43:03","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T04:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/?p=2297"},"modified":"2022-01-10T21:41:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T21:41:56","slug":"june-2013-austin-member-of-the-month-patrick-van-den-nieuwenhuysen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/june-2013-austin-member-of-the-month-patrick-van-den-nieuwenhuysen\/","title":{"rendered":"<img src=\"\/images\/flags\/Belgium.gif\"> Austin &#8211; Patrick Van Den Nieuwenhuysen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-2xo27t-549385814d4172123258733cdec2d2a9\">\n#top .avia-gallery.av-2xo27t-549385814d4172123258733cdec2d2a9 .avia-gallery-thumb a{\nwidth:14.2857%;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='avia-gallery av-2xo27t-549385814d4172123258733cdec2d2a9 avia_animate_when_visible  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  deactivate_avia_lazyload avia-gallery-animate avia-gallery-1'  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\" ><div class='avia-gallery-thumb'> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen-450x272.jpg 450w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" data-rel='gallery-1' data-prev-img='https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen-495x370.jpg' class='first_thumb lightbox ' data-onclick='1' title='Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen'  itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\"  ><img class=\"wp-image-2302 avia-img-lazy-loading-not-2302\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen-180x180.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"  title='Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen' alt='' srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen-180x180.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen-36x36.jpg 36w, https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-content\/uploads\/member-of-the-month\/2013\/06\/Motm-PatrickNieuwenhuysen-120x120.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<p>I asked Patrick Van Den Nieuwenhuysen to answer a few questions. His company has sponsored your appetizers a a couple of times. Every time when I see Patrick I think about Asterix and Obelix \u2013 I don\u2019t know why. I also recall Asterix finding out The Belgiums invented the French Fries!<\/p>\n<h4>Tell us about yourself- who are you and what would be the short story of your life?(where are you from, where did you study, how did you come to Austin etc)<\/h4>\n<p>When I moved from Belgium to the USA in 2003, I came directly to Austin TX. I picked up my passion for cars and started working for Mercedes-Benz of Austin. (It\u2019s been over 8 years now). I was working for Shell in Belgium and before that I studied in Holland at the IVA, a specialized school in the automobile industry.<\/p>\n<h4>What is THE thing about Austin captivates you the most?<\/h4>\n<p>Austin is a booming city that doesn\u2019t seem to have suffered from the down economy. Working for MERCEDES-BENZ OF AUSTIN has made it possible for me to provide many happy customers with a great new or certified pre-owned car (Mercedes and any other used car brands)<\/p>\n<h4>Do you think living in Austin has in any way enhanced your work experience?<\/h4>\n<p>Having a European accent has never hurt my ability to sell cars;-)<\/p>\n<h4>If someone asked you what they should NOT miss while in Austin, what would reply?<\/h4>\n<p>I love the international diversity in Austin and the bright blue skies (most of the times).<\/p>\n<h4>What do you do in Austin when you feel like you just want to chill out?<\/h4>\n<p>Any outdoors activities (such as hiking, gardening, swimming in the swimming holes) and practicing yoga and meditation.<\/p>\n<h4>Anything truly memorable that has happened to you since you have lived in Austin?<\/h4>\n<p>I was able to feel at home in a completely different setting and environment. WholeFoods, Central Market, Whole Earth Provision and other stores offer a bunch of European products, that all contributed to me feeling so much \u201chome\u201d here in Austin.<\/p>\n<h4>What really annoys you about Austin \u2013 or maybe nothing does?<\/h4>\n<p>The TOTAL lack of public transportation (connecting the big cities with rural areas) and the flooded road (traffic jams)!<\/p>\n<h4>What do you miss most from your country\u2026in addition to the family and friends?<\/h4>\n<p>NOT MUCH! Most of it is available here too, except the small little grey shrimp from the North Sea<\/p>\n<h4>Do you have a favorite Austin\/area restaurant?<\/h4>\n<p>ASTI\u2019S and FINO\u2019S for dining, and the Rattle Inn for dancing<\/p>\n<h4>Do you see there are benefits for someone from abroad to come to Austin for a few years?<\/h4>\n<p>A growing economy full of opportunities and the great international environment<\/p>\n<h4>What do you think about the cost of living in Europe vs Austin, TX \u2013 and the standard of life and life style?<\/h4>\n<p>It is very similar. Although the sales taxes are much higher in Belgium (21% VS 6.25%). In exchange, in Belgium, you do get a lot of benefits in return (public transportation network, medical support, and many others). The property taxes in Texas are outrageous!(Kaisa\u2019s comment: that\u2019s probably as there is no state income tax!)<\/p>\n<h4>In your opinion what is the best time to visit Austin?<\/h4>\n<p>Spring! When everything is in a full bloom and the temperatures are not reaching the 100 Fa(over 35\/40 Celsius)<\/p>\n<h4>Anything else you feel you\u2019d like to share with us about Austin or yourself?<\/h4>\n<p>MERCEDES-BENZ OF AUSTIN has sponsored a couple of events for EuroCircle Austin. I hope that anyone from EuroCircle who needs a car or truck will consider contacting me to see if I can help them getting a new or pre-owned car. Our owner, Brian Hardemann, also owns FIRST TEXAS HONDA, SUBARU OF AUSTIN and INFINITY OF AUSTIN. Let me know if I can help!<\/p>\n<p>Mercedes-Benz of Austin: <a href=\"http:\/\/WWW.MBOFAUSTIN.COM%20\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WWW.MBOFAUSTIN.COM <\/a><br \/>\nCall Patrick at 512 917 6904 or email PATRICKVDN.BE(at)GMAIL(dot)COM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I asked Patrick Van Den Nieuwenhuysen to answer a few questions. His company has sponsored your appetizers a a couple of times. Every time when I see Patrick I think about Asterix and Obelix \u2013 I don\u2019t know why. I also recall Asterix finding out The Belgiums invented the French Fries! Tell us about yourself- [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2297"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29957,"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions\/29957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eurocircle.com\/euro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}