Today we left our hostel in Rotterdam at 8:30. This hostel was much more roomy than our hostel in Amsterdam so it was a tough goodbye. We then took a bus to the Watersnood Museum, a museum dedicated to a disastrous flood that destroyed many cities in the Netherlands in 1953. Unlike most other people on this trip with me, I for whatever reason can not seem to fall asleep on the bus so I have been pretty tired recently due to a minor lack of sleep. One of the things that drive innovation in the Netherlands is that roughly 1/3 of the country is actually below sea level. Because of this, the nation has a constant need to develop ways to keep the water during storms out of the country. That is also why sustainability is such an important part of Netherlands culture. Global warming has resulted in rising sea levels, which puts many coastal areas, and The Netherlands especially, in huge risk. After this disaster, the country devised a way to stop the surges of water which also happened to be our second visit of the day. We traveled to an “amusement park” that was all about Deltaworks, the Netherlands largest river defense system. These man made dykes connect various islands with hydraulic doors, that shut in a little over an hour from the press of a button in the control tower, stopping the water from surging in. After the tour of the storm surge barrier, we went on another cruise around the area, however since it was very windy and cold most of us spent that time inside. We were all quite hangry up to this point, so after the cruise we quickly bolted and grabbed lunch. After that we got back on the bus and headed back for Amsterdam. The scenery during the ride was very pretty, and the water was beautiful. Tomorrow is my birthday and I’m looking forward to going to the vintage market and spending all my money (telling myself it is a birthday present for myself).