Orientation and First Observations
Delft, located just outside of The Hague, is probably not on everyone’s must-see list when coming to the Netherlands. At first impressions it seems pretty standard, but after being here for a couple weeks I can say that it’s definitely worth coming to see! It’s a small city with a big university that has an old town center with plenty of charm. There are a few beautiful old churches and grand buildings that I never get tired of looking at. The history here is unlike anything in America-the town’s “New Church” opened in 1496. It’s also the home of Delftware, a fairly popular type of pottery that makes for an easy mom-approved souvenir. And as with many Dutch towns, there’s no shortage of canals or bikes and both combined make for a pretty great way to spend a sunny afternoon. Part of our program included multiple bike tours around Delft the first few days of class so we were able to learn our way around fairly quickly and see what the town has to offer.
Our orientation started the first day we arrived and went into the next couple days as well. We arrived in Delft around 1 PM and as soon as we dropped off our bags we went to get our bikes. We ended the day with a short bike tour around the city and a stop at the grocery store. The next day was Sunday and we were all able to sleep in and try to get over our jet lag before class the next day. One thing that we all experienced right away was the European tradition of closing stores on Sundays. We had limited options for getting immediate necessities and weren’t really able to shop around town that day. But it’s something that’s easy to adjust to-and another great reason to sleep in on Sundays! Our orientation continued on Monday with an introduction lecture on transportation in the Netherlands by a professor from TU-Delft, our host university. We then did the big round of introductions and ended the day with another bicycle tour of the city and an assignment to go along with it. Later that week we were treated to a huge barbeque on campus where we got to meet more of the staff and students in the Transportation department at TU-Delft. It was a great way to meet some new people and try some classic Dutch food.
Until next time, doei!
