Departing from Amsterdam, we arrived in Enchede where we will be staying for 3 days in the University of Twente Campus. For the first time this year, we got to relive the experience of touring colleges as students were kind enough to give us a tour around their campus. Similar to Amsterdam, bike lanes littered the campus. Unlike Amsterdam and the rest of the Netherlands, the campus was American-styled. This meant the campus existed in its own enclosed area and could be full of nature and open space as a result. For Pennsylvanian reference, if the University of Amsterdam’s layout is similar to Pitt, the Twente’s campus is Penn State. 

Culturally, sincce the Netherlands is in the European Union and Twente is so close to the border between Germany and the Netherlands, the university has a large portion of international students relative to the US. They make up about a third of the campus and, as a result, most classes are taught in English.(something to consider for future abroad opportunities!). 

After our tour, we stopped to get lunch and listen to a lecture about the Kristalbaad, a natural water purifier local to the area. The purpose of the water purifier is to prevent flooding by assisting in the flow of water, revitalize the treated water before it flows into a natural water source, and it acts as a natural habitat to a number of waterfowl in the area. This is done completely naturally through three separate water basins. As the water flows from one basin to the other, any contamination or runoff is filtered. We walked around Kristaalbad and viewed it from the observation deck. After being in the city for a long time, it was nice to see more of the Netherland’s wildlife and nature. In Amsterdam, since it’s a city, nature was almost secondary with additions such as greenspaces and roof gardens. For that reason, it was interesting to see an approach to sustainability that had a complete focus on preserving nature.