Day 7: As I woke up, the sun was shining through nice and bright, a perfect way to start the day. I met up with the rest of our group for breakfast, and shortly after, we boarded the public bus to head into downtown Enschede. Taking public transportation allows for the carbon emissions to be reduced as they are shared amongst a group of people. Once we got to our destination, we met up with our tour guide, a civil engineer specializing in water management.
On our tour, we learned how Enschede used to be booming in the textile industry. The production of textiles and fabrics requires massive amounts of water. Once Enschede moved away from the textile industry, the water that was once used was now left over. Furthermore, during this time, Enschede also filled in neighboring creeks and streams, causing the water to have no real place to go. This water, made up of rainwater, has flooded the streets on multiple occasions. To combat this, Enschede has implemented multiple techniques, two of which we focused on during the tour. They built sidewalks with lowered sections to allow rainwater to flow into medians. Also, they replaced strips of asphalt with medians filled with plants that collect the water. Since Enschede is hillier than some of the other regions, they have to focus on downstream water. The medians are equipped with holes in the retaining walls allowing water to flow into the basin even on the higher sides. These methods of drainage help to store the water into the ground for future use and prevent flooding.
After our guided tour, we had free time to explore the city on our own! We checked out the local market where we bought strawberries, cheese, and green beans. We also went into one of their local discount stores which was almost a maze, but thankfully we made it out. Per the group’s request, we visited this local music store selling CD’s and vinyls galore. I picked up a 2012 music compilation CD as well as Night at the Museum 2 on DVD. After, we went to more stores just to window shop before stopping at a local ice cream store recommended to us by our Twente tour guide! This ice cream was phenomenal especially for 4 euros. There were also multiple flower shops in the market, one of which had my favorite flower, peonies! Once we walked enough to tire ourselves out, we took the public bus back to the hotel. I personally stayed in this night, but many others went to the on campus party where they were celebrating the completion of a relay race. Today was the perfect mix of events and free time, and I love the charm the city of Twente has to offer!
