On our final day in Enschede, we got to finally see around the main town area. As previously mentioned, the Netherlands used to be mostly water and is currently mostly beneath sea level making it susceptible to flooding. Even a slight elevation needs to be taken into account in a town like Enschede where runoff…

Another day in Twente, another college tour—but centered around sustainability! As mentioned in the last post, Twente has a closed campus that allows for more nature than most Netherlands universities and as a result has more biodiversity than other campuses. They even won a competition for it. While their location is favorable towards it, biodiversity…

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…

Our final day in Amsterdam began with a visit to Zaanse Schans, a historically preserved village known for its wooden windmills and farmland. Walking through the town, we arrived at a lookout point where our tour guide, Enno, discussed the development of the former farmland. Initially, the region, and most of the Netherlands, was mostly…

After another morning of bread, yogurt, and cheese, our group departed for de Tulperij, a family-owned tulip farm in Voorhout. Grown there are a variety of tulips for the purpose of selling their bulbs and stalks locally and nationally. A unique aspect of the farm is how it utilizes the environment of the Netherlands to…

After a short stop in the hotel, our first day in Amsterdam began at Centraal Station with a canal tour across the city. As the boat tore through the rivers, the history of the city revealed itself in the tilted, brick structures. Located next to the ocean, the city has served as a trade port…

Hello! I’m Winaida Flaherty, a freshman engineering major at the University of Pittsburgh. I grew up around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and developed a love for travel from travelling with my family. I’m looking to study Civil Engineering, with a concentration in either transportation or structural engineering, and I’m working to obtain a sustainability certificate. At Pitt,…