A woman has told how her dream move to Amsterdam turned into a nightmare after a string of freak accidents left her in and out of hospital.
Jordyn Lee says her new life in the Netherlands with her boyfriend was hit by one disaster after another just months after arriving.
In the weeks following her move, the 27-year-old was caught up in a car crash, a bike accident, a huge snowstorm and even had her bicycle go missing.
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Jordyn revealed she “kept getting into accidents”, with one incident now forcing her to return home to Ireland, leaving her battling “anger and confusion”.
“When the issue started happening, I felt a lot of anger and annoyance and ‘why is this happening to me?’,” the youth worker told What’s The Jam.
“But I’ve had to look back and say that realistically it could’ve happened to me anywhere and that I can’t really dwell on it because nothing will change.
“The only thing I can do now is focus on my recovery and my healing and trying to get back there when I’m healed.”
Jordyn moved to Amsterdam in December 2025 after falling head over heels for the country during several visits.
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She said she and her boyfriend became “absolutely obsessed” with the Netherlands and believed it would be the perfect place to “settle down”.
She said: “I think, alongside it being such a beautiful country, it became so hard for us as a couple to be able to afford to live outside of our family homes in Ireland.
“The Netherlands has great healthcare, education and work-life balance.”
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But things quickly took a turn for the worse.
As well as adjusting to a new job and language barrier, Jordyn also had to deal with a heavy snowstorm, the worst the country had seen since 2021.
Then came a terrifying ordeal when she was hit by a car while cycling.
She said: “Getting hit by the car was probably one of the scariest experiences of my life because I’ve never encountered anything like that obviously hoped I never would.
“I was in a country that I had barely gotten used to, and when you’re without your support and you have no family there, it makes it so much harder.
“I had my boyfriend, obviously, but he was at work at the time when I got hit with the car so I was lying on the road with Dutch people around me, all speaking Dutch and trying to communicate to me what was going on.
“It was a very scary experience but the people who stopped and helped me were honestly amazing and made the whole experience less traumatic than it would’ve been if I had been on my own.”
Jordyn suffered heavy bruising and a bruised larynx but said the pain was manageable and she recovered “quite quickly”.
But just two weeks later, disaster struck again.
While cycling to work, her wheel hit a kerb and she was sent flying.
She added: “This was my first long cycle after the car accident so I was so impressed with myself for getting as far as I did because my anxiety was through the roof.
“I came around the corner and my wheel got stuck in an indent next to the kerb and my bike just toppled on its side.
“I tried to save the top half of my body because of the first accident, so my ankle then took the brunt of the fall which led to me dislocating my ankle and breaking it.”
Jordyn broke her ankle in three places and needed surgery, an open reduction and internal fixation, meaning she will now have plates and screws in her leg for life.
Her recovery is ongoing and she says she is “unsure” what the future holds.
She was forced to return to Ireland to recover, leaving her partner behind after he cared for her in the immediate aftermath.
She added: “I’ve had such amazing support through this accident.
“In the first couple of days, I was still in the Netherlands so my boyfriend became my full-time caregiver as well as working full-time and it was a lot of pressure on him.
“I feel like he deserves a medal for handling everything the way he did because I would not have gotten through it without him.
“We both made the decision that it would be best for me to go home because I would have my family and his family here, and my friends, so it’s definitely taking a lot of pressure off us being separate at the moment.
“But it is very, very hard to go from being with your best friend every day to being separate from him for God knows how long.”
Despite the setbacks, Jordyn is trying to stay positive and says the ordeal has taught her “so much” about herself.
She said: “Having a lot of time on my hands like I do now would generally present challenges for me with my mental health but since moving, I’ve developed a new sense of resilience and I’m able to deal with it quite well.
“The only solace I try to take from it is that there must be some reason that I am meant to be in Ireland right now.”
Despite everything, Jordyn says her time in Amsterdam was also filled with new friends, new culture and happy memories with her partner.
Now she is focused on getting back on her feet and hopefully returning one day.
She added: “I gained a real sense of independence, finally being out of the nest, so to speak.
“Me and my boyfriend were making great friends over there.
“We both had jobs and we were just settling into the day-to-day life of what it could be like, and then a curveball was thrown at us.
“But we’re trying to handle it the best we can and move forward.
“My friends over there have been an amazing support to my boyfriend and myself and they’re always checking up on us.
“I just hope that those friendships can continue even if I don’t get to go back there.”
Jordyn has no set date for when her recovery will be complete, leaving her future uncertain.
She added: “We are not sure if I’ll ever be able to go back.
“It is upsetting because I feel like I did not get a proper experience within the country to see if it’s something that could work for us long-term.”
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