I can tell you a little how I live here in Holland.
Before i bought my house  I rented a small room in a area called Lombok in Utrecht. There I shared a house with 3 other girls and we all got along very well.
When you look outside you can almost think you are in another country and that isn't holland! That is because many foreigners like to live here. Most of them come from Turkey. The area is also called "the turkish area" The main street here is packed with sales men on a saterday and they sell you all their treats from their home contries. Best place to buy really cheap apples and so.
As a new dutch i like everything that is almost for free. :-)

Here in Utrecht you can find many nice things to do. An absolut MUST is to sit on the "Neude" on a sunny day and drink a wit bier, and bitter ballen to go with it. Lekker!
Neude is a big square and there is many bars. Perfect to just sit and watch people go by. Which i like very much. You can go to the kanal and have a nice lunch or dinner and you sit right by the water. In the summer it is lovely. They have kanal boats aswell, but i haven't taken the tour yet. Is about time since i have been here almost 2 years now!!!
Around Utrecht you can also find small forts and the forest is close by. If you take the car 10 min you can bathe in a lake and go jet skiing! That place is called Maarseveense plassen. If you like the ocean it takes a little longer. About 40 min.

Another thing worth seeing is the Dom tower. You can see it from wherever you are in the city so if you get lost, just aim for the big tower!
I once climbed the stairs,,think it was over 200,,but it was worth the effort. Fantastic view from there. There was an exebition of big artistic thingies going on at that time so you could se all strange objects sitting on the roofs.

So, what about going out in Utrecht? Well, since it's a students town you defenately will se a lot of young people out in the bars. I usually go to jans kerkhof , many bars around that area. A popular disco is Winkel van sinkel, music played is techno.
I would recommend the bar "het hart" ,,open late. and also de kijker. There you will find somewhat older people and also no techno music :-)

Sitting at the beach at night waiting for the bbq'd crab.
Click here for more pics from Thailand!
Picture taken from Zadelstraat in Utrecht center