The Netherlands’ historic and long-lasting connection to the sea dates back to the initial sea-faring voyages charted by the kings of the 600s. During the eighth day of travel, the Netherlands group traveled up towards the flood water museum: Watersnoodmuseum. This remote place contained a plethora of knowledge on the devastating flood of 1953 and…
Category: Frederick Honors College
Visiting TU Delft (Day 9)
On Day 9 of our global experience in Amsterdam, we visited the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). This university is a top engineering school in the Netherlands and is even compared to MIT in terms of academia and recognition. This school has also dedicated an abundance of resources and funding to sustainability research and…
Re-moo-ving the Varnish
On the seventh day of the trip, and the first day in Rotterdam, the group explored Den Haag as part of the trip within the Netherlands to understand the sustainability practices utilized within the country. During the visit, I toured several streets and noted the quieter roadways as I crossed over canals. The modern city…
Delft-initely Sustainable: Day 9 in Rotterdam
Today we got to visit TU Delft, a nearby public technical university that is the largest in The Netherlands. We started out by getting a tour of the Green Village, which is a living lab that provides space for the creation of sustainable projects and innovations. We learned about a bunch of the spaces, but…
Going Green and Staying Keen: How TU Delft’s Green Village is Saving the Planet (One Brick at a Time)
Nestled within the campus of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Green Village is a pioneering living lab dedicated to sustainable innovation. It provides a real-world environment where researchers, students, and innovators develop and test sustainable technologies and practices. Here’s a closer look at some of the unique and impactful sustainability initiatives taking place…
TU Delft
Today was our ninth day in the Netherlands, and I got up at 7:30. Fortunately, the pancake machine was working again at the hotel, so I enjoyed pancakes, sliced meat and cheese, a boiled egg, and a latte for breakfast. We then walked to Rotterdam central station and took the train to TU Delft. The…
Go Green
Like every other day, day nine started with another traditional Dutch breakfast. We got our train tickets and boarded the train to the Delft stop where we headed to TU Delft, one of the technical schools in the Netherlands. When we got to TU Delft, we headed over to their Green Village. It is a…
TU Delft Students for A Day
Today brought us to the campus of TU Delft, a Dutch university with a focus on sustainability. From walking around the campus’ Green Village we were able to identify many spots where both students and local groups could brainstorm and workshop different sustainable techniques in construction and infrastructure. One of the most prominent examples we…
Day 9: Camp Casey & CoEx Mall
Today, our day started with a one-hour bus ride towards Camp Casey, the northernmost American military base in South Korea. At the camp, we received a tour from Grace and Will, the Pitt alumni, around the base. I was very interested in finding out more about how their lives were on the base and their…
Stories Beneath the Surface
Today, I took full advantage of our 12:45pm start time and caught up on some much needed sleep. Our only activity today was a trip to the Watersnoodmuseum, which is located on an island in Zeeland. The Watersnoodmuseum is made up of 4 caissons that follow the North Sea flood of 1953. The first caisson…
05/18 – The Watersnoodmuseum
Today, other than sleeping in for the first time since the start of the trip, the main event of significance was our visit to the Watersnoodmuseum located about an hour from Rotterdam in Ouwerkerk. The museum itself is housed within 4 WWII-era Phoenix Caissons that were designed to be portable breakwaters, but were used to…
Exploring Rotterdam: Day 8
Today, we had a large portion of the morning free, giving me the chance to go for a walk with my friend Umur and explore what else Rotterdam has to offer. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to see parts of the city I usually wouldn’t explore and to find portions of the Rotterdam day…
Floods and Culture
Today I was able to sleep in since no events were scheduled for the morning. However, at around 1:00 PM, we left for the Watersnoodmuseum. This museum gave a history of the 1953 Flood Disaster that affected areas all around the Netherlands, and it informed about other floods and water related disasters that have happened…
Sleeping in and The Watersnoodmuseum (Day 8)
It only took eight days of being in the Netherlands, but I finally got to sleep in! It was nice being able to get a full eight hours, and I truly felt more recharged today than I have in several days. After getting this rest, we were off to the Watersnoodmuseum, also known as the…
Echoes of the Flood: My Journey Through the Watersnoodmuseum
As a public health student, I’m always interested in learning how communities cope with natural disasters and their aftermath. During my recent visit to the Netherlands, I took the opportunity to explore the Watersnoodmuseum in Ouwerkerk. This museum is dedicated to the devastating North Sea flood of 1953, which claimed over 1,800 lives and reshaped…
Exploring Peace and Justice: My Visit to the Peace Palace in The Hague
During my recent trip to The Hague, I visited one of the most iconic places dedicated to global peace and justice—the Peace Palace. As a public health student interested in international affairs, I was curious to learn how this historic building, home to the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, has…
Head Above Water
Today we had an easy start, with our first activity starting at 1pm. We made the most of our morning by sleeping in and then heading to see the cubic houses. On our way, we encountered street graffiti, parks, and art installations that make Rotterdam feel vibrant. Seeing the cubic houses up close was strange;…
Getting Nieuwe-ly Acquainted with the Watersnoodmuseum
To kick day 8 off, my trio grabbed a light breakfast while everyone was still asleep and took a tram to the Nieuwe Instituut, an architecture museum located in Rotterdam. I’ll admit that I initially had no idea what to expect when walking in, but I can now confidently say that the Nieuwe Instituut has…
Noury-ON Way to Rotterdam
On my sixth and last day in Amsterdam, I thoroughly packed away all my souvenirs and headed for the bus. However, before heading to Rotterdam, the group first made a two-hour drive towards Nouryon. This chemical manufacturing company specializes in remaining at the forefront of sustainable production. During the visit to one of Nouryon’s sites,…
In Den Haag
Today we traveled from Rotterdam to the Hague, which is the Netherland’s government center and an international hub of law. We started by exploring on our own and ended up at the Mauritshuis museum. The Mauritshuis is home to many famous Dutch and European paintings, including Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Not only were…