First Day of Class

On Monday we had our first day of class, which mainly focused on introducing us to the Netherlands and the class. Classes are held in one of the engineering buildings on the Technical University (TU) Delft campus south of the Old Delft area where our hostel is located. The campus is very large for only having 15,000 students, and is filled with huge and architecturally magnificent buildings. The library, in particular, is a pretty amazing structure, with a sloping green roof accessible from the ground and attractive glass facades on the other 3 sides.

First we got an introduction to the Netherlands from Piet Opstal and Paul Wiggenof TU Delft. After some basic information about the country, he spent most of the time talking about the canal system in the Netherlands and the function it serves. The basic idea is that much of the Netherlands is below sea level, so to create arable and buildable land, they build several levels of dikes and canals. The canals at the lowest level collect the rainwater, which is then pumped up the next level of canals. This used to be done with the famous Dutch windmills, but is now done with pumping stations. Water is transferred from level to level until it gets to the major canals that are much wider and eventually connect to actual rivers like the Amstel or the Rotter. 

PSU and Northeastern students in class

The whole system is a massive feat of engineering accomplished over many centuries, and the result is a landscape that has been extremely altered by humans and yet is very attractive. The canals, while entirely artificial, ensure that everywhere you go there are attractive waterways. The major canals often have paths alongside them through the countryside, and the smaller canals go right into the middle of cities, creating the famous canal streets so associated with the Netherlands. Another great thing about canals are all the drawbridges that cross them. After living in Seattle and Portland for the last 5 years, I have a certain fondness for drawbridges in all their many varieties.

The main canal around Delft

After getting lunch at PSOR, a student pub in the engineering building (apparently every department has its own pub!), we returned to the classroom to get a lesson on surviving in the Netherlands from Peter Knoppers. He gave us lots of good information on basic life in the Netherlands and how to survive as a visitor. I think we were all very interested to learn that there really is a difference between Holland and the Netherlands! Holland is only one part of the country along the coast, roughly from Den Haag (The Hague) to Amsterdam. Peter was also kind enough to distribute Stroopwafels to the whole class! I've been a fan of the Stroopwafel (a delicious caramel-syrup cookie that goes great with coffee) and am very excited to find they are very inexpensive here compared to the ones I have found in the US.

Stroopwafel!

Peter Furth of Northeastern University in Boston also gave a short talk about the course itself. The three main themes he said we will explore are Cycling, Public Transportation, and Urban Planning. Another theme we will touch on to a lesser extent is the idea of pricing (i.e. making driving more expensive). Pricing can take the form of directly making driving expensive through high gas taxes and registration fees, but it also takes the form of making driving less convenient. They do this to an extent by making most local roads fairly difficult to use for through traffic. On the other hand, they have some of the most gigantic freeways I've ever seen (albeit more attractively designed). In any case, most of our tours will be on bike and some on public transit as we explore how the Dutch have prioritized those modes of transport while also planning their land uses to take advantage of those modes. I'm really looking forward to the next couple weeks as we get out there and see it for ourselves!