Saturday was relatively light with scheduled programming, so we had lots of opportunities to explore what we wanted on our own. The day started with a short tour of Enschede city with a local water engineer who highlighted how the city manages flooding and rainwater. We ended the tour in the city center at a farmer’s market which is open every Saturday. After eating lunch from the market we returned to the University of Twente.

The afternoon and evening were spent experiencing the unique and annual Bataveirenrace. This is a student relay race across 175 km of The Netherlands that finishes at the University of Twente. We were able to see the finish of the runners and enjoy the festival on campus that followed, which is the largest student festival in Europe. It was an incredible opportunity to socialize with Dutch people our age and really immerse ourselves in the culture.

Some cool innovations in Enschede was the way they designed the roads and walkways to be flood resistant. There was often lowered green space along the road, so when rain ran over the road it would be collected in the basin and not flood further downhill.