It was an early morning! We departed at 6:30 a.m. for the flower market: FloraHolland. Our tour guide, Niek, showed us around the market. We couldn't believe the thousands of flowers we saw coming through the marketplace. It was interesting to learn about how the flowers are brought into the market between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m., and then sold between 3:30 a.m./4 a.m.-ish through about noon.
Taking advantage of the free day, we experienced a train ride ending in the most famous city in Holland; Amsterdam. Before even leaving Leiden, Matt decided it would be a good idea to stop for a coffee and proceeded to miss the train. This was a great start to a day full of interesting events. Rainy and overcast skies welcomed us on our way to Anne Frank's Museum. The Museum depicted the profound story of Anne Frank and her family, hiding in Amsterdam during the Nazi persecution against Jews.
We were up early in Leiden and hit the road for a very interesting day. First, we visited a huge windmill which was installed 7 years ago by a group of regular citizens. The windmill provides power for 1400 households in the area. It was fascinating to go inside the windmill and hear from an expert in the field, Denny Steenhorst. The windmill we saw cost the investors a total payment of 2.25 million Euro. It was also very interesting to learn that the energy it took to construct the windmill was recovered in 4 months of the windmill's operation.
We started off the day super early and actually on time for once, pulling out of the hotel by 6:30am. We left Leuven for the last time and headed to the Mechelse Veilingen (Vegetable Auction) where Luc Peeters, head of external relations, gave us the overview of their company. Mechelse Veilingen is a grower cooperative where vegetable growers bring their produce and buyers compete in the online markets to purchase fruits and vegetable by the crate or pallet. It reminded us of the Chicago Board of Trade.
Our class had the opportunity to visit the city of Brugge, Belgium for the beginning part of Thursday, a day that Belgian Catholics celebrate as the Ascension Day Holiday. The majority of businesses across the country were closed today in celebration of the holiday. Brugge remains open and serves as a tourist attraction on Ascension Day, due in large part to the Great Procession of the Holy Blood, which is where the bishop of Brugge carries a relic of the blood of Jesus Christ through the city's streets.
On Wednesday May 16th, we started of our day with a trip to the Kraft Foods Biscuit Plant in Herentals, Belgium. In Europe, biscuits are actually what Americans refer to as cookies and crackers in the States. We first sat down with Philippe Housseman, the Associate Director of Research and Development Chocolate, Western Europe Cluster, and several other employees including the plant manager, Carl. Carl gave us a brief presentation on some of the history of Kraft's biscuit brands. In summary of the presentation, we learned that in 2007 Kraft acquired the biscuit company LU.
This morning we started our day in the European Union Commission Building in Brussels. Simon Pascoe from the United Kingdom gave an overview of the European Union. We learned that the goals of the EU are to maintain peace, cooperation, security, economic and social solidarity, and promulgate values among member states.
After that we walked around the rainy city of Brussels and had lunch at various ”fast food” establishments. Our group ate at EXK, a small health foods restaurant with the slogan, “natural, fresh, and ready."
We began our day with a two hour bus ride through the Belgium countryside. We passed through the city of Brussels on our way where we saw the EU Commision. Upon arriving in the countryside, we made our first stop at Lindemans Brewery. Stepping off the bus, the aroma of the brewery reminded us our favorite Champaign establishment, Kams. This brewery is family owned and has been around since 1822. Lindeman's specializes in brewing Lambic beer, which has three unique features. It is a wheat-based beer which is seasonal and known for spontaneously fermenting (so no yeast is needed).
After a 7 hour plane ride, we finally made it to Belgium on May 13, 2012! We collected our baggage and traveled to the Irish College in Leuven where we will be staying for the next five nights. Next, we settled in, and began a tour presented by Professor Piet Sercu who teaches at the nearby Katholieke University (KU) of Leuven. Although it had been a very long day for all of us, we were all very excited to learn about the history of the Irish College and landmarks of the city.