South Dakota Leadership SDARL Class XI International Seminar took the class to a floating dairy barn, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam.
Day 4 – February 4th
Today, class XI made the 70km trip from Utrecht, NL to Rotterdam, NL. The day started with a private bus tour of the largest port in Europe, Rotterdam Harbor. The tour guide, Mr. Piet de Winter did a great job explaining both the history and future plans for the harbor. The tour went through shipping container yards, imported vehicle yards and by many oil refineries. The final stop on the tour was a beautiful view of where the harbor connects to the North Sea.
The class was able to split up in smaller groups for lunch at the Market Hall. The Market Hall provided authentic food selections from around the World. Before departing the Market Hall area, the class took a walking tour of an architectural phenomenon, Cube houses.
The last stop of the day was at the world’s first floating farm. The floating farm is a 40 cow dairy. The milking and much of the manure management is completed by robots. The class was intrigued to learn about how the city and the floating farm work together. The city provides the farm with part of the feed ration needed and the farm in turn gives the city milk and cheese for the food banks.
The class wrapped up the day back in Utrecht with a great meal.
Day 5 – February 5th
Class XI ventured into Amsterdam, NL for the day. The first stop allowed the class to view a privately owned old Dutch windmill that is a family residence. The next stop led the class to a wonderful tour of Amsterdam’s Grachten (Canals). The afternoon was spent exploring locations such as the Anne Frank Museum. The class headed back to Utrecht for the evening.
