Of all the days we have had so far, today was the most relaxed.  We started off the morning by taking the bus to the city of Enschede.  Once there, we received a tour of Enschede along with a brief history of the city, which emerged through the textile industry.  Along our tour, our guide mentioned that since Enschede is on a hill, the grass patches along the sidewalks dip down like bowls to catch water.  This made me think back to one of the United Nations Sustainable Goals, creating sustainable cities.  Incorporating bowl-shaped grass patches helps achieve this UN goal by addressing a community problem without relying on fuel-consuming machinery and using an eco-friendly material like grass instead of manufactured materials.

By 11 a.m., our tour had completed, and we had the rest of the day to ourselves.  A small group, including myself, decided to spend the rest of the day shopping.  We went to a few stores around the city, including a thrift shop, record store, and video game store.  Alongside shopping, we stopped at a food truck for some Latin American food.  After visiting plenty of stores and getting a few miles in during the process, we took a bus back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel, my roommate and I looked for dinner options; however, both the grocery store and local subways, the two main places to get food, were closed.  It was then that I remembered a conversation at the Alumni dinner about how in the Netherlands stores tend to close earlier than in the United States.  So, while I knew about this beforehand, it was my first time experiencing this aspect of Dutch culture.  We later both ordered some KFC from the hotel, and I spent the rest of my day preparing to leave for our next location.  Overall, today I was able to enjoy some much-needed extended free time, exploring the city of Enschede.