Our last day here offered a bit of a break from the engineering heavy topics to focus back on dutch history and culture. Enno gave us a tour of the Hague, the home of all dutch politics, legislatation, and embassies. It felt very refreshing to learn about a political system that was actually healthy, normal,…
Tag: Cady Shea
Day 12: A Rainy Day in Rotterdam
Today began with a nice, laid back tour of various sustainble architecture throughout Dakakker, Rotterdam. Our guide showed us a lot of beatiful buildings across the neighborhood, many of which are pictured below, that were all used for various methods of water management. The buildings with the curved windows are actually the edge of a…
Day 11: Dam Good Deltawerken
Today was entirely dedicated to learning about to complex Deltaworks, or Deltawerken system, protecting the southwestern region of the Netherlands from flooding. After we arrived to the mueseum and had some very delicious cinnamon rolls, we were taken through a short film and tour explaining how the Deltaworks were built. After the catastrophic flood that…
Day 10: A Calm Day with the Cows
After a late arrival and nice night of rest, we got to meet the famous cows from the Floating Farm in Rotterdam! I was very excited for this industry tour because one of my student teams were assigned to research them before we arrived in-country. Even with my prior research, I was still surprised about…
Day 9: The German Epos
Today we bid goodbye to Enschede and took a detour out of the Netherlands to explore the small and historic German town of Münster. Throughout our entire trip, there has been an underlying theme of how war, specficially World War 2, has effected the places we’ve visited and forced them to innovate. In WW2, after…
Day 8: Enjoying Enschede before Exodus
Today was very relaxed, with only one tour throughout Enschede, leaving most of the day open for whatever we wanted! Before we got to that, we took a guided tour through the sustainable infrascturcture of Enschede. The city of Enschede is built all along a decline, similar to Pittsburgh, and the city struggles with flooding….
Day 7: Wacky Whimsical Windpower & Elegant Elburg
Our first full day at the Univeristy of Twente began with a quiant sustainabilty tour all throughout the campus, showing off the different architecture, engineering, and policies to ensure sustainable practices are prioritized all throughout their school. Some of these things included a man made pond used to cool the campus’s buildings, permeable stone used…
Day 6: Enroute to Enschede
Today we bid a bittersweet goodbye to Amsterdam and left bright and early for the University of Twente in Enschede. During the ~2.5 hour drive, I was excited to see many of the tiny cars I had been introduced to in Amsterdam. I love seeing them because they just look so silly and cute. They’re…
Day 5: From Windmills to War
Today was a day full of the Netherland’s rich history. We started by seeing the old windmills in Zaandijk Zaanse Schans that began the Dutch industrial revolution. I think this is definately the most touristy place we’ve been to so far, but maybe Amsterdam can just hide it better than the windmills can. Still, I…
Day 4: Flowers, Fluffy Friends, and Floating Houses!
Today we started our events by visiting one of many famous tulip farms in Voorhout. The fields were absolutely goregous and super fun to take pictures in! While we were there, we learned a lot about the sustainble farming practices used to support the over €100M tulip industry. The farmer informed us that tulips take…
Days 1-3: Landed in the Netherlands!
We’re here! Travel to get to the Netherlands was thankfully very smooth. The worst the flights had was a bit of turbulence and an incredibly loud baby, but once we landed we hit the ground running! After dropping off ours bags at the hotel, we had a super quick breakfast and met the city through…
Seeking more Stroopwafles: Setting off for the Netherlands!
Hallo! My name is Catherine Shea, and I am a rising sophomore mechanical engineering student. I chose to pursue engineering because of my passion for robotics and design work that I developed while on my high school robotics team for four years. Since beginning college, I have become very invested in extracurriculars. I am executive…