Today was our last day here in The Netherlands. We started off by visiting our final two companies: Floating Farm and RDM. The Floating Farm is a barge on water that is three levels that are a cowshed, production of products, and a basement for vegetable growing. We had a briefing and the is the…
Tag: Elena Polar
City Nature and Sites of Rotterdam: Day 11
With the second to last day of the trip, we had a couple of tours to get to know the city even better. We had many days to explore on our own, but it was great to see the city from a local and from a tour perspective. I was very excited about the beginning…
Delta Land: Sustainable or Not? Day 10
We visited Deltaworks today or otherwise known as Deltapark! To be honest, it wasn’t what I expected. It looked and was advertised like an amusement park in a way. However, we did start out the day with a movie of what Delta works was, and a tour of the museum inside the building. The show…
Pitt Meets Delft: Day 9
Our focus for the day was the visit at TU Delft. A university in Delft that is mainly a technology university. We started by visiting the Green Village on their campus site. This is where students, companies, and even the government can try out new innovations in a specific area for testing. The village even…
Hymns and High Water: Day 8
Today is Sunday and we had lots of free time in the morning. I finally got to sleep in and then went to church. I love going to visit new churches, and I’m very glad that I was able to go today. The Church was named Saints Lawrence and Elizabeth Cathedral and the whole mass…
From Courtrooms to Coastlines: The Hague Day 7
I got to do a lot today and enjoyed every moment. We took a train to The Hague and had some free time before our scheduled event at the Peace Palace. We were lucky enough to make it to the Mauritshuis which is a museum that houses artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer, and lots of other…
Trips to Nouryon and Rotterdam: Day 6
Today we packed our bags and left Amsterdam to start our travels in Rotterdam. We had a company visit at Nouryon, which is a chemical company. They are focused on polymer specifications as well as personal life products used in common things like shampoo. We got a couple presentations on the company and its history…
An Impactful Day: Day 5
Today was our last full day in Amsterdam. We started off with Anne Frank House. It was very emotional, but something that is a must see. I remember watching a movie about Anne Frank’s life when I was a lot younger with my family. I didn’t fully understand the severity of things and the tragedy…
A Taste of Dutch Culture: Day 4
Today was a great day for sightseeing! We started the day by taking a train to Zaanse Schans to visit the cheesemaking company of Henry Willig. This site was also located in such a beautiful rural place with lots of windmills and grazing land for sheep, goats, and cows. We first learned how the cheese…
Time for Tulips and Floating Houses: Day 3
After a bright and early start to our day, we arrived at the Royal FloraHolland. This is the largest floriculture marketplace in the world, and the facility is biggest than Monaco! The market opens at 6:00am and goes until all the flowers are sold. Today there were about 20 million flowers and plants to be…
History, Canals, Chocolate, and Fun: Day 2
This trip keeps getting better and better! After some much needed rest, we started off our day heading to Amsterdam Centre for a historic tour and chocolate tasting. Our tour guide was Ian, and I can easily say that it was the best tour that I have ever been on. In just an hour I…
Dodging Bikes and Taking Hikes
Our first day in Amsterdam was a blast to say the least! Arriving bright and early at 6:00am, we hit the ground running. We met with our chaperone, Brian, and got quickly acquainted with the trains and metro and on the way to the hotel, saw some interesting works of architecture. Even just looking out…
From the Rivers of Pitt to the Canals of Amsterdam
Hello! My name is Elena Polar. I am a rising sophomore industrial engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh. I hope to complete my bachelor’s degree as well as getting a lean six sigma certification! I hail from Robinson Township, which is about 25 minutes west of Pittsburgh. I love traveling near and far, spending…