I hope I can one day see a Dutch person in Pittsburgh and see how they react to cardiac hill. I find it very funny that, due to the flatness of the country in its entirety, a small incline can create so much chaos. Today we started the day with a trip to the city center of Enschede. Here, we had the opportunity to walk through the city and see how they are combating flooding issues. Enschede is one of the more uneven places in the country, with small hills and imbalances in the ground. While not sounding like a huge issue, in a country like the Netherlands, where they are already below sea level, flooding is a very dangerous issue when rainfall is too heavy. Canals overflow and flow towards the bottom of the hill. Possibly reaching heights of 1.5 meters, this poses a threat to the locals as well as the town infrastructure. To combat this, the town has created many methods to collect water. One of these is creating deeper areas next to sidewalks to act as natural rain traps where water can collect when rainfall is very heavy. These have been calculated to be able to contain a heavy amount of rainfall. Another method they use is heavy greenery, creating a porous environment for water to be absorbed into the ground rather than continue to flow down the streets. These methods ensure that the city stays dry and intact. After this, we got the chance to check out the local market that is put out every Saturday, where I was able to buy something that I guess Europeans don’t eat a lot of, FRUIT! Farmers’ stands were littered with fresh berries, so of course I bought a pack of strawberries.

As we returned to the Twente campus, the Batavierenrace was coming to an end. This is a yearly event that is held at the school to spread community and pride among students. Similar to how we get hyped up for football games and have lots of school spirit in our sports, UT students do that with Batavierenrace. The race is the largest student relay race in the entire world and involves a relay team of 25 students running day and night across 175 kilometers(108 miles) with splits ranging between 3 miles and 10 miles. Over 8500 Students train year-round to run the entire race in silly costumes and compete for the ultimate prize of bagging rights as thousands of students gather to cheer them on. Definitely a sight to see how similar students can act when it comes to pride in our schools. The night ended with a celebration of the event, and that wrapped up our time in Enschede. Until next time!