It’s day 12, and our trip is sadly coming to a close! Unfortunately I’ve had a bit of a cold for the past couple of days, hence the title. We had a late start today and headed out around 10 AM to take a tram to Merwehaven, a port in Rotterdam by the river Maas….

It’s day 11, the penultimate day of our study abroad program! After a good night’s sleep and a meager breakfast, we made our way to the Schieblock building to meet our tour guide Rob. Rob is a member of Rotterdams Milieucentrum, an organization dedicated to the conservation of nature in the city of Rotterdam. After…

For day 10, we woke up early for our hour-long bus ride to Deltapark Neeltje Jans, located in the Zeeland region. The museum is dedicated to the aftermath of the Flood of 1953 and the Delta Works projects that followed. It specifically focuses on the Oosterscheldekering (“Oosterschelde Barrier”) and how it was constructed. After the…

Feeling fine because it’s day 9! After taking a train from Rotterdam Centraal to Delft Campus, we walked through TU Delft’s sprawling, wooded campus to get to the Green Village, a hub and live testing ground for sustainable innovations. There, we met our tour guide Lars, who’s a master’s Civil Engineering student at TU Delft….

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…

Day 7 has been filled with lots of exploring! This morning, we hopped on a train at Rotterdam Centraal to spend the day at The Hague, the location of the Netherlands’ government and the international city of peace and justice. After arriving, we were given our 1-day public transport cards and set loose on the…

As day 6 started, we packed up and said goodbye to Amsterdam as we drove off to Deventer, NL to tour Nouryon! We began by learning a little bit about the history of the company, then dove into some more technical details. Nouryon is a chemical manufacturing company and is the world’s leading supplier of…

It’s day 5 (our last day in Amsterdam!) and we had quite the morning to start us off. As we walked along the canals of Amsterdam, we saw the Anne Frank House come into view. Within the museum, I got a glimpse of the hushed, fearful life that Anne Frank and her family lived in…

To kick day 4 off, we made our way to the train station and were whisked away to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans, a neighborhood in the city Zaandam. The village we ended up in was filled with historic buildings and windmills, and our destination was the Cheese Farm “Catharina Hoeve”, run by the Henri Willig company….

Hallo! Today, we hopped on a coach bus at the crack of dawn to head to Royal FloraHolland, one of the largest global marketplaces for flowers and plants! Royal FloraHolland has several locations, and the Aalsmeer location is home to the largest warehouse in Europe by floor space, rivaling the city-state of Monaco in size….

Goedeavond! I had a very eventful second day in Amsterdam, starting off with a walking tour of the historical Warmoesstraat and the surrounding alleys with our guide Ian, who’s an Amsterdam native. As we wandered the streets, Ian detailed the local history and the changes that the area has undergone throughout the ages. He discussed…

Today was our very first day in the Netherlands! After a long journey with little sleep, we landed in Amsterdam bleary-eyed and stiff-necked, but ready and excited to take on the long day ahead of us! On our way to our hotel, we took the train from the Schiphol Airport, then the metro, getting a…

Goedendag! My name is Nadia Zribi, and I’m a rising sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. I am a student in both the Swanson School of Engineering and the Frederick Honors College, and in my time at Pitt I plan to pursue a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, an Honors Degree, and the Undergraduate…