I had a rough nights sleep last night waking up at 6:30 because of the French kids in our hostel running around and being extremely loud. We didn’t have to be ready until 9:15 this morning. I got breakfast and we were ready to go. Today we took the tram to InHolland’s Rotterdam campus which was for business, law, and creative business, which is almost like architecture but making sure that everything is sustainable while also making a profit.

We arrived at the school at around 10 am before being taken on a short tour by some faculty around the city. On the tour they explained many of the buildings surrounding the campus and how they are sustainable. For example, one very large building has multiple uses including residential and governmental uses. With the dual usage the Dutch are utilizing their space much more effectively, not requiring multiple buildings for multiple spaces. Furthermore, near these massive buildings, which are concrete jungles effectively, there was a small little “park” area with grass and a little playground. Interestingly, the professor from the creative business study mentioned the effectiveness of these socially sustainable areas. While the park provides a nice place to sit, relax, and enjoy the surrounding nature; how do we judge its effectiveness relative to the price required to build it. As we walked past the “park” there was no one using it and as I thought about it more, I realized the park is kind of useless. It is meant to be an area for people to relax in, but with the Netherlands cold and rainy weather, who would want to sit and relax in an open grassy area while getting rained on. There were no tents or trees to provide cover so I feel the park will never be used.

As the tour went on I realized that Rotterdam reminded me almost of a Minecraft world. It seemed that many different architects decided to trial their own creative buildings which resulted in multiple oddly shaped buildings, houses on the river, and a beach being made right next to a busy road and government building. There was no uniformity and common style throughout the city and I honestly didn’t like it too much. To elaborate, I feel the beach will be another failed socially sustainable project. The government has the right idea trying to give their residents somewhere to go that does not feel like they’re in the city. However, I feel they aren’t thinking about the profitability and the actual use of the beach. It will be surrounded by large buildings and the water on the beach has tons of boats, including a boat taxi service, and a busy road right behind it. If someone actually wanted a release from the city they would take a quick train ride to Den Haag which is very close to the actual beach, not a man made one. I go to the Jersey Shore very often, but I couldn’t imagine sitting on the beach, soaking in the sun while reading a book and then looking up and seeing a skyscraper only hundreds of meters from me. It would make me feel claustrophobic. The tour ended around 11:45 and we were then taken into the school.

We ate lunch for about an hour before being given a short presentation on the school. It is almost maddening just how much the government supports their students and even international students educations. It is extremely affordable and again is much more oriented towards real world experience. I understand that students learn differently and there are many difficulties in order to get these projects for students but I still feel that this way of learning would be more productive. In the US we are taught through books, and are expected to get the real world experience through internships, abroad programs, and other ways. Yet wouldn’t it be more efficient if schools provided some sort of semester or year long class where we worked with companies and possibly other universities for consultations and much more. Thinking about this in the concept to consumer way, a class like this would open up another market of students for colleges. I have many friends who hated school because of the studying and tests but immediately started working full time after high school, and worked hard at that. If they were able to get work experience while in college, I feel that they would actually be interested in going to college. Also, I have spoken with many people in the workforce and one consistent message is to forget what you learned in school, because it never happens that way in the real world. The best way to learn, like InHolland mentioned, is through trial by error and learning from your mistakes.

After the meeting the group was given a fun little test on some basic trivia about the Netherlands. I finished in fourth which was good but I wanted to be on the podium. We then left and I got back to the hostel at around 3-3:15.