Today, we departed Amsterdam and arrived in Enschede. Specifically, we’re staying at the University of Twente. Immediately upon arriving, we took a tour of the university. It is very similar to many traditional American universities- it is very spread out, most of what you need is on campus, and there’s lots of recreation. Where it differs from the U.S. is the large number of bikes on campus and the infrastructure that supports bikes. Overall, it’s a very nice campus with lots of variety in buildings.

Afterwards, we had a short lecture on Kristalbad, which is a natural reservoir between Hengelo and Enschede. After wastewater is treated chemically, it goes into Kristalbad which treats it naturally. It also acts as an ecological corridor across the reservoir, which allows animals to move between each side.

After the lecture we got to actually visit Kristalbad. It was a very beautiful walk because of all the flowers and vegetation. There was also plenty of wildlife and we saw little ducklings! According to our guide, 5-10 years ago Kristalbad was essentially barren, so the progress made since indicates a major boost in sustainability.

We ended the day by meeting some engineering student at the university and ate dinner with them. Overall it was a great day and gave me a good first impression of Twente!