Today we got to sleep in a little longer than usual as we had a 9:15am meeting time. The extra sleep was nice, and I got to the meeting spot on time and ready to go for the day.
After arriving at the meeting spot, we all hopped on the metro and made our way to the Inholland Rotterdam campus. I was interested in seeing what this campus offered which the Delft campus which we had previously visited didn’t, so I was excited. We arrived at the campus and started off our day there with a tour of the Rotterdam area. What stuck out to me most about the area we were touring was the architecture and why it is the way it is. We learned that the city was bombed during WWII which caused about 85% of the city to be destroyed. Because of this, Rotterdam needed to be rebuilt almost entirely which has made it an architectural playground. There are many different building designs that stand out as very creative and innovative. When comparing It to cities in the US, it’s so much more diverse in its structures which makes an amazing and unique skyline. The tour of the city was also where we learned a little about some of the efforts to keep the city sustainable. Our guides talked about efforts around the city to bring green areas where open lots weren’t being used previously. They also talked about how adding more green to their city is helping to keep it sustainable and benefiting the city in ways like adding permeable ground to decrease runoff. This was interesting for me to think about from a business perspective, as our guides mentioned that they have to bring it to the local government for permission to put the green in, and in order to do so they have to show how it will be beneficial for the city from a business standpoint. This process felt to me like it was combining the two major aspects of the program as they are bringing the concept to the customers (the city and its residents) by building it in a way that benefits all parties, and how the concept itself is an effort to make the city more sustainable.
Directly following our tour of Rotterdam, we made our way up to a conference room in one of Inholland’s buildings. The building was extremely nice and was so much different from some of our facilities back at Pitt. once we made it to the conference room, we got the chance to ask some questions about the differences between the Inholland campus and ur own back at Pitt. It was interesting to hear how some of their programs are almost entirely hands-on and have much less classroom time than what we have at home. Then, we all got a quick lunch break which was very nice as I was starving. However, my lunch break could have been better as I attempted to us the restroom for a solid 5 minutes but the door would not open for some reason. After asking one of our hosts, it turns out I had been pulling a push door the whole time, not my proudest moment. Anyway, after I successfully operated the push door and used the bathroom, we ended our visit by learning more about their program and taking a Netherlands general knowledge quiz, which I didn’t do so well on.
Following our site visit for the day, I and some others made our way to The Hague. I wasn’t expecting too much out of this trip, but I think it was my favorite place I have visited so far in the Netherlands. The Hauge was almost like if Amsterdam and Rotterdam had a baby, it had beautiful modern architecture paired with old classic European buildings. There was just so much to do and I had a great time. We shopped around one of the malls in The Hague for a bit, and then we got dinner and some ice cream before we departed for the night.
Today was one of the most interesting days thus far, I learned so much about sustainability within Rotterdam and how they seek to implement change. I learned a lot about the ways in which Inholland is different from schools in the US and why this is the case. And most importantly, I learned how to operate a push door! I hope tomorrow is just as eventful!
