Today started considerably early. Almost immediately after waking up, we boarded a bus to go to another city in the Netherlands. We went to Delft, a historic city older than Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
In Delft, I saw the traditional Dutch architecture, as well as the numerous canals within the city. The Dutch buildings are smaller and shorter, especially because the city is built mostly on dikes between canals. This city is where deceased members of the royal family of the Netherlands are buried.
I climbed up the tower of the new church in Delft. This was a particularly terrifying climb, as I was in a narrow, steep, and wooden spiral staircase ascending all the way to the top of the tower. At the top of the tower, I took in immense views of Delft, with the skylines of Rotterdam and The Hague visible further in the background.
After touring Delft, we then went to the windmills of Kinderdijk. This is an array of historic windmills, very similar to a modern wind farm. However, this farm pre-dates modern wind farms by nearly 400 years. These windmills provided manual mechanical power to pump water.
We then returned to Rotterdam, but this time, we went to a Dutch university. This one is Erasmus University. The campus was larger than that of the German university, but not as large as the Purdue campus. The buildings were stark, linear, and concrete as opposed to the red bricks of Purdue.
This led to our main activity in Erasmus: a collaboration challenge with Erasmus students involving a Tesla supply chain. We identified risks and how to mitigate them, all while working collaboratively with other Purdue students and Erasmus students to create the best solutions to these problems. Afterwards, we then gave presentations on our solutions.
Today was an educational day, as I got to learn about a real-world problem and enhance my collaboration skills.
– Dylan Vergara