Note: This is an extra post for fun with all of the extra photos I’d like to share. Album of the Day (or of the trip): The Rainbow Goblins – Masayoshi Takanaka (This album isn’t on streaming, so here’s a YouTube link to a re-upload of the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpPG3-2V1S8) Day 1 + 2: Analphabetapolothology –…
Category: Plus3 The Netherlands
Canals, Chocolate, and Coats
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…
Flowers and Floating Houses
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…
Horticulture, History, and Hors d’oeuvres
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…
Knowledge and Kristalbaad
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…
Day 12: Vaarwel
Today was our final day in the Netherlands! We had a very slow start to the day and left around 10:00, giving us time to enjoy our last morning and eat a full breakfast. Then, we departed to The Hague, the political capital of the Netherlands. This was a really interesting city, because it almost…
Diplomacy and Departure
The final send off to our trip was in The Hague, the location of the government of the Netherlands and many of the international embassies. While walking around the city, we got to view some of the governmental complexes and even learnt about how the Dutch government works and compared it to the US. For…
Water management and Watersnood
Our first stop on the itinerary was at the dakkaker farm building for a tour around the city area and the different ways they incorporate water management and humanity into the environment. A school building had a basketball court and skating rink that turned into water retention areas during the rain and a church collected…
Deltaworks and Dikes vs. Dams
Our second day in Rotterdam and so far my favorite visit on the trip occurred at the Deltaworks in the southern coast of the Netherlands. The project was built as a response to the 1953 flood in order to regulate the water level during storms. The Netherlands is mostly below sea level, so any sudden…
Floating, Farms, and the Future
Today began our first day in Rotterdam, a city known for its ports and modern buildings that were built after the destruction of the city in WWII. Compared to Amsterdam, the architecture is a lot newer with tall, colorful structures not made out of brick and wood as much as the historically-preserved areas of Amsterdam…
Munster, Museums, and Movement
Pivoting from the Netherlands, we took a day trip to Munster, Germany, a town with a large population of students, many museums, and bike lanes galore. While the Netherlands is famous for its bike-friendly infrastructure, Munster also does a great job of implementing biking into the city in a safe and accessible manner. Bikes have…
Day 11: The End of The Nether
On the final day in the Netherlands, we are going to The Hague. This is the political capital of the Dutch; it is where all political action takes place. While we were here, we learned about the history of the Dutch government. The government has a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. This means they…
Runoff, Running, and Rotterdam-bound
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…
Day 10: Sustainability in Rotterdam
Today, we took a tour of Rotterdam Central to learn about how the city incorporates sustainability around the city. We saw some lower elevation parts of the city, where the water runs off to, for example, they had a basketball court that acted as a drain and water storage for the city. We also saw…
Education, Energy, Edelberg
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…
Day 12: The Hague and Farewell Dinner
Our final day was spent at The Hague, or Den Haag in Dutch, the seat of the Dutch government. The Hague is home to the Binnenhof, a complex of buildings that serves as the seat of the States General, the Dutch parliament. The Hague is a lot like Washington, D.C. in the United States, even…
Lets Not be Vague, We Went to The Hague!
5/14 was such a bittersweet day because it was our last one in the Netherlands. Goodbye, stroopwafels and walkable cities, you will be missed! The Hague, while not the official capital of the Netherlands, is where the government is located. This division of influence and power was done intentionally to prevent the interests of Amsterdam…
Day 11: Rooftop Farms and Flood Museums
Today, the first item on the itinerary was a visit to DakAkker, the rooftop farm. DakAkker is a 1000 m2 rooftop farm on top of the Schieblock in Rotterdam. On the farm are vegetables, flowers, fruit, bees, and chickens. There are several beehives that pollinate the plants on the rooftop as well as the surrounding…
Day 10: Delta Works
Today, after an hour private transfer, we arrived at Delta Works. Here we first took a look around the museum and attended a reenactment of the 1953 flood. We experienced the wind and loud noises that those who were in the flood did. Afterwards there was tea and cinnamon rolls to enjoy and then we…
Day 9: Floating Farms and RDM
Today was our first full day in Rotterdam, and it was packed with sustainability visits. Our first stop, after taking public transportation, was the floating farm. Here, we attended a lecture about their upbringing as well as their goals and ideas for the farm. There are currently 30 cows on the floating farm, but it…