Today was packed! We started off the morning with some breakfast, then headed to the train to go to Delft and visit their university, InHolland. The visit started off with a warm welcome and a small lecture about aeronautics. We learned about the structure of planes, and the what technologies are best to ensure safety, comfort, and sustainability. The small flaps on the wings, or winglets, are used to manoeuvre the air around the end of the wing, which conserves energy! Aside from learning about the anatomy of planes, we learned a lot about their school! The program is extremely small, with only 700 students, 5-10% of them being female. The dropout rates are also extremely high for first year students because of the intensity for most classes, such as math or physics.

In comparison to schools in the states, it is much different. Instead of having one specific school for one field of study, we have general schools, such as arts and sciences or business, where as they were only focusing on aeronautics.

After the lecture, we took a tour of some of their buildings. We learned about their satellite project, and the process to receive funding to make it all oficial. They are hoping to have it complete by 2027! We also had the opportunity to fly a plane in one of their cockpit simulators. Lindsey and I were copilots, and I thought we were killing it, until we ended up in the ground. To be fair, she started to vlog in the middle of it and I had no help. Driving definetely suits me better.

To finish the visit off, we built small airplanes and had a friendly competition, which of course, my team won. We had a template to build it, and attached weights, tape, and glue to hold it all together. We were judged based on distance, height, durability, and design. Out of the three trials, we got two perfect scores, and wowed the judges with our perfect decor on the plane.

Because of our victory and Luiza’s birthday, the Bursic’s took us out for a sweet treat. We had delicious milkshakes and experienced our first rain in The Netherlands! After, we took a canal tour of Delft, and learned all about their architectural history and bridges. We stopped for a quick dinner, got on the train, and headed back to the hostel. Tomorrow is also going to be super fun, since we are going to Deltaworks! Stay tuned 🙂