“FEYENOORD!” That was all I saw and heard yesterday while I was exploring beautiful Rotterdam in the short time I had. The locals were absolutely ecstatic that their beloved club was about to win their 16th Eredivisie title and I totally wish I could be there to experience the parades and celebrations beginning on Sunday. As much as it pains me since my allegiance in this fierce rivalry is with Ajax, even I took part in some of these chants. Unfortunately the show must go on and we left Rotterdam early this morning, closing this brief chapter of our time abroad.
Our bus departed from our hostel some time around 8:45 headed to the Southwest Netherlands, where we passed by plenty of windmills on the way to the Watersnoodmuseum, also known as the Flood Museum. It was quite windy outside, explaining why this was a great location for windmills as they were able to sustainably produce electricity in a more efficient manner here. The museum itself was about the devastating floods in 1953 that wiped out the regions of The Netherlands near the North Sea. It then proceeded to describe the evolution of flood defense from there on and how it was specifically engineered to do so.
We continued this in greater detail when we then made our way to Deltapark Neeltje Jans. The experience here was incredible and helped me better understand what we witnessed at the museum first hand. We first started off with a 15 minute experience where we were immersed in a reenactment of the 1953 floods that was incredible but also quite scary to me. After that, we all went on a guided tour that detailed the progression of the Delta Works inside the main theme park building, followed by a visit to the current Delta Works system outside. Once again, there were plenty of windmills and I was very cold from the strong winds, but I learned an incredible amount about how flood were able to be maintained and its importance. While the dikes were important in protecting against flood damage, the Delta Works were seen as a more sustainable future in flood protection as they are far more advanced and resistant from erosion over time. The Delta Works that we saw were a complex series of storm surge barriers that were able to be readily maintained 24/7 by the Dutch and have been incredibly effective, especially in their most recent standoff with a storm in March 2022. As a result, the Delta Works are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which I had just learned about on my own!
To conclude our time down in this region, we hopped onto another cruise, getting an even closer look at the Delta Works and riding down the North Sea (in addition to plenty more windmills). Unfortunately, most of us were inside on the cruise ship as the winds were still too strong and most of us only had shorts/short sleeves on. However, the cruise was still very relaxing and informative, and the views were impeccable! Once we got off, we all went for lunch inside Deltapark. I ordered more saucijzenbroodjes and kaasbroodje, a Dutch favorite of mine that are simply just pastries stuffed with sausage and cheese respectfully. In my time here, the food has been mostly incredible and has made me appreciate new tastes/cuisines that I have almost never come across back home in the US.
After lunch, the bus was ready to take us home and of course, everyone spent the two hour ride back to our home base in Amsterdam by taking a nap in the reclining bus seats (because what better way). Now I am finally back in Amsterdam and ready to take on the city once more for our final week abroad!