Final Reflections and Houten

Houten was very interesting in how it was designed and their goal. They created a ring road around the entire outside of the city so that minimal cars would be driving through the city. There are designated neighbourhoods that only take you so far into the city by car. If you want to use a car around the city you will have to take the ring road all the way around the outside of the city to get where you need to go. They used this to promote biking through the city and have more green space throughout the city. They centralize the city around biking and making sure that all important buildings like schools, city work, and the city center are very bike accessible. 

Overall the trip was amazing and a very good experience. I have never biked as much as I did on this trip and after leaving, I miss hopping on a bike and going for a short ride to wherever I am going. We saw a lot of the main sights in the Netherlands and it was very informational and interesting to learn about their history. I also learned a lot about transportation and how they build their infrastructure to accomodate more public transportation and bikes rather than cars and highways. My favorite place that we visited was either the Hague or Rotterdam. I thought they both were very interesting cities and would have lot to do around the city if you wanted to explore the town. This Netherlands study abroad trip is one of my favorite things I have done and on the top of the list for places I have travelled and learned about.