It may have been cloudy today, but those clouds were filled with information. We started the day by visiting the VU campus, where an engineering student and tour guide showed us around. Not only did I notice some similarities to the University of Pittsburgh campus, but also some significant differences. One thing they really emphasized about the campus was how all of the buildings are close by to give a campus feel which a lot of schools in the Netherlands don’t have. They also have about 30,000 students, with 6,000 of those students being international, which is pretty close to the ratio of Pitt. What was crazy was the tuition prices, though. At UV, it’s only 5,000 euros for people who live in the Netherlands and 15,000 euros for students abroad. All of the buildings on this campus were beautifully built and had a different feel than the Pittsburgh buildings. The buildings were very open with lots of windows as well. One thing I am thankful for at Pitt is all the housing they have available for their students. It was apparent that there wasn’t a lot of on-campus housing, whereas, at Pitt, we have multiple dorm buildings available. They also spoke on the university majors or what they call faculties. Pitt definitely offers more majors; for example, the science faculty would include chemistry, engineering, etc., whereas, at Pitt, those are different departments/majors. I was also surprised by how many classes they offered in English and how the lecture halls were very similar to the ones at Pitt. 

Next, we went to the airport to visit the KLM warehouse. We could see one of their big planes that they were repairing and inspecting. We were able to go inside the very neat plane. Inside I could see the first class section, which made me realize many differences between first class, business class, and economy. It makes a lot of sense why first class is so expensive because all the amenities and legroom were soooo much better. I do see this as an excellent opportunity for airlines to increase their revenue and to incline their customers to want to spend more money. We also visited many of the buildings at KLM, where we saw the engines, learned how to identify the issues with the engines and more. I found it crazy to see an airplane so close and what goes into the plane as a whole. He told us that when a bird flies into a plane, it costs them millions of dollars. I was expecting to be in the regular part of the airport, so I was pleasantly surprised by how we got to go behind the scenes and really understand how the planes are built. 

Finally, today, we had a group dinner at Pakhuis De Zwijer, a sustainable center that allows corporations to rent out rooms in return resulting in free food and events for the community. Their motto is all about giving back to the community. Next, we went to a podcast. It was opinion filled, to say the least. What I gathered is “hope is not a plan,” and I don’t think they were following that motto. I found some of their points exciting, but I could recognize that there was no plan. It was a lot of talking and no action. It could have been very impactful to have had someone with an opposing view on the panel because they were all just agreeing with each other. Overall I am not very opinionated about politics, but I disagreed with many, if not all, statements. I am excited to go to Utrecht tomorrow and see where Sophia lives!