It was my first day in the exchange program. I actually wasn’t prepared for that. I had too much questions: What is it about? Who are these people? Are they easy to communicate with? Our first meeting was about the program’s goals. After that we had a cup of thee at the cafeteria so it was high time to get to know each other’s names, hobbies, likes and dislikes. By the end of the day my worries had all disappeared and I’m now ready to start this interesting experience.

With the fatigue of a weekend of mass celebrations running through my mind, I make my way to Schipol airport. Our group of 8 students from different Dutch universities is gathering at the check-in counter around 12 pm. As the Sunday dusk draws to pitch black night, the cold creeps in through my “not-yet-winter” coat. Just think of the 27ºC waiting for you on the other side, 27ºC!!!!!!!! If only I weren’t this tired I would already be drunk on the excitement of flying to Morocco. The warm weather is just a few hours and time zones away. At 2:30 am we finally start boarding. I see eyelids drooping and heads bobbing all around me. The occasional turbulence violently rocks me in and out of a dreamless sleep. 3,5 hours later I wake up to find myself flying over the brightly lit city of Casablanca! We have arrived! Excitement overcomes me. We collect our luggage, withdraw some Dirham and slowly slumber on in the darkness towards the train tracks leading to Rabat.

The skies are shining gloriously in Rabat as we walk up to our hotel. Most of our morning goes with napping, unpacking and food! The brochette de poisson at lunch was simply amazing. Now off to the university to meet the Moroccan students! But just a kilometre away from our hotel and already we run into some trouble. Our bus driver knocks the car in front of us! Luckily it’s only a small dent and no one’s injured. “Welcome to Morocco!”, they say. We all finally make it to the university in one piece and encounter crowds of people all dressed in military wear. Interestingly enough this is a military school where the students are trained in all disciplinary aspects, but usually carry on with civilian careers thereafter.

Our fellow Moroccan students are quiet as they enter the meeting room. A few hours and Dutch sweets later, the place is like a house on fire with discussions about the case studies being thrown around. It has certainly been a fantastic day and ending it off with a glass of sweet Moroccan tea and divine delicacies is just the thing. We leave the campus on a slight sugar high, but enthusiastic about the days ahead.

By: Rick Heikoop, lecturer Watermanagement at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences

The Wetskills program goes Morocco!

The objective of the Student Participation Program is to develop a broader understanding of the water management issues that the world is currently facing and especially in Morocco. The program provides water management cases in which Dutch and Moroccan students participate, with the goal to come up with innovative, creative out-of-the box solutions for some pressing water management problems in Morocco. The results will be presented at the Water Forum during the Seminar at October 5, 2010 in Casablanca.
The program has been established with help of the Nederlands Instituut in Morocco (NIMAR). Students from several Dutch universities in cooperation with l’Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingénieurs in Rabat participate in the program in Morocco.
Between April and October 2010 the Dutch Embassy in Rabat together with a number of partners and international players in the Netherlands and Morocco, will host several activities for the celebration of the 400 years economic relations. On October 5, special attention will be given to some pressing water issues in Morocco, during the Water day. The students will present their innovative solutions that are the result of the cooperation between Dutch and Moroccan universities.

(by Wing Yan Man, Twente University)

8 lane roads, crossing the Pudong River day and night and a perfect lit Shanghai skyline, it all seems a long time ago since we went there with 15 Dutch students to become a student ambassador for water studies. Our purpose was to let China and the world know that water is important to life and that it should be studied. Together with the Chinese students of all prominent universities in China we have created solutions for projects which are valuable for present and future.
The organization of this all made it possible to show our bilingual projects at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. For this big event, we have formed mixed groups combining Chinese and Dutch water expertise to gain synergy in the solutions for present global projects. These included the increasing sedimentation around river areas, stabilizing ground water levels in urban areas and area development with levees. For these problems, we have put our minds together to create unanimous solutions, which are reasonable in time and budget.
Before the big trip to Shanghai, we have corresponded with the students in China with all thinkable ways of communications. We have started our own consultancy firm, which exchanged information through email, skype, dropbox, and other forms of social media. By clear communication we have brainstormed on creative thoughts and adapted our cultures to each other’s. Hearing different kinds of working methods and ideas of the Chinese students made us to think beyond our Dutch scope. With this thought, we were ready to take the plane and meet our Chinese friends.
Being in Shanghai and putting the names to the unknown faces, we shortly felt comfortable around each other. By teambuilding we could mingle easily and get to know each other as a student. We have learned some interesting things in their student’s life which are imaginable in our Dutch life. Having the lights shut off at 11, you won’t see that on our campus?
Despite the cultural difference we have worked hard to create a poster which made us both happy. The cultural differences has worked in our advance and broadened our perspectives. In the end we, as a multicultural consultancy firm, presented our beautiful posters and pitches to an audience of experts to show that internationalization is our future. Different perspectives give us more ideas and more valuable solutions.
As to answer if this student’s project should continue, I would definitely say YES! We have seen how valuable it is to have creative ideas from the other side of the world. Water problems are not country related, they are global, international problems and they will urge us from all over the world to come together. So why shouldn’t we, as future experts, already start to put our minds together?

(By Darja Tretjakova, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences)

After waking up at five o’clock in the morning we loaded ourselves onto the bus and started off in the direction of the Great Wall of China. I was pretty excited about the trip, as the Wall was on top of my “to see” list. I believe we were getting close to Jinsangling when we decided to have breakfast. After about a quarter of an hour of mime and Chinglish at a local restaurant we got some decent food (and a share of shock after seeing the rural toilets) and continued our journey to the Wall.
No matter how many pictures of the wall one has seen, not a single one beats the experience of actually standing on the real thing, embracing the ancient scent, imagining the effort that went into this immense structure that mostly failed to perform its function.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Ours was only twelve kilometers and it began with an attempt to get rid of the Mongolian vendors who tried to sell you everything from water and t-shirts to cola and books. The effort was unsuccessful; every tower housed one or two vendors who practically jumped right at you with iced water in their hands.
Parts of the wall have recently been renovated; some are still crumbling under your feet. The renovations have made life easier for tourists, yet have killed some of the walls authenticity. This particular part of the wall which we visited is divided between two provinces, both trying to make some money off it. You have to pay to get on the wall, but after about eleven kilometers up the longest wall in the world, Chinese man blocks your way, demanding to pay him to go further. So you think that was it, when you arrive to a point where the wall is dissected by a river. Here, another Chinese man insists on paying him to walk over the bridge, or otherwise swim your way to the other side.
Finally, sweaty, tired, (bankrupt) and satisfied we enjoyed a beer at the foot of the Great Wall of China.

(By Margot Leicher, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences)

After visiting Wuhan we went to Beijing. Here we had just a few days before we were going back home. It was a beautiful last day and we went to the silk market to buy the last souvenirs and of course: Dutch football shirts! After a few hours at the silk market I became crazy of all the people who tried to sell me garbage. So I was glad when I was done and ready for the evening!

It was our last evening in China and the first match for the Netherlands at the start of the world cup 2010. We watched the game at rooftop of a bar, together with a lot of other Dutch people. We all know how we Dutch people are watching football, noisy and with a lot of enthusiasm. It was a nice experience to be so far from the Netherlands and still feel at home surrounded by orange. Werner (see photo) was even interviewed by the national Chinese television, so that was the second time our program reached the television. I actually did not see that much of the match, but I had a great time. Of course we won, so the real party started. The night ended with the typical Dutch polonaise.

Before I realised it I was sitting in the plane back home. I really enjoyed this experience and made a lot of good friends. I hope to see both my Dutch and Chinese friends again very soon.

Watching the game together was the best way to end our trip!

(by Shen Tian, student at the Wuhan University)

On June 10th, after my Dutch friends finished their visit for the Three Gorges, they went back to Wuhan to visit my university, Wuhan University. I met them at the Mingzhuyuan Hotel on campus, finally. Actually, it was just yesterday when we said goodbye at Wuchang Trailway Station, but it seemed a long day for me.
After a short refreshing and dinner, they were invited to our graduation party. It was a party for both students and teachers, a occasion to closer the relationship between them. There were also many professors there. All of my teachers and classmates were excited about the arrival of my Dutch friends. The party was held at a dancing hall, we could also sing Karaoke there. My Dutch friends really like singing Karaoke, cuz I learnt that there were not so many KTV Bars in Holland. We sang, we danced, everyone enjoyed it. Johan also sang a Chinese song, named Toast to the old days.
When we sang the last song together, it was a song about everlasting friendship; everyone was hand in hand, and waving their hands. Suddenly, Tom and Werner held their hands together and let me sit on their arms and began swinging. It was so exciting. I had never done this kind of thing before, cuz I don’t think there are Chinese boys could be strong enough to lift me up like this.
After the party, some of my classmates and my Dutch friends went to a KTV bar, cuz we wanted to have more fun. The more, the better. Besides singing and dancing, we also played a Dutch beer game there. It was really very funny.
At 9 o’clock on June 11th, Rick gave a lecture about Rotterdam climate proof and water issues to our Chinese students and teachers. And then Johan gave a lecture about our project, to let them know more about this project. Then there came the time for students. Erwin, Werner and Harold gave the pitches of their own group. As for me, wow, I was bit nervous actually. I didn’t prepare very well, I think.
After that, we walked around on my campus. It is said that Wuhan University is one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. We didn’t have enough time, so we just visited a small part of my campus. It was a pity, I thought. Cuz I really wanted to show more of my campus to my Dutch friends.
Then we rushed back to the hotel and had our lunch there. In the afternoon, a school bus picked us up and drove us to the Yellow Crane Tower. It is a famous and historic tower and is considered one of the China. Then we went to the riverside of Yangtze River. It is considered the bund of Wuhan. But the driver drove us to a wrong place. It is a newly built park and I don’t think it’s a perfect place for sightseeing of the river. Another pity. Anyway, we still had a good time there.
At about half past five, we had to leave for the railway station. Actually, on the first two days after I arrived in Shanghaiing felt a little bit homesick. But on the last day we could spend together, I was missing my Dutch friends. Even though we were still stay together, I knew that the departure time was drawing near and there was no time left for us, for me. I wanted to spend more time with my Dutch friends. So I just let the school bus drive away and we went to a McDonald’s to have our dinner. The train would leave at nine o’clock, that was the last several hours we could spent together. The last moment arrived finally. I just couldn’t help to cry. But I’m not a girl who likes crying. I tried to hold my tears back and I wanted my friends to remember my smiling face. We hugged again and again, saying goodbye again and again.

I believe I will remember our days spent together forever. Tom, Margot, Werner, Harold, Erwin, Dasha, Vera, Ricks, Johan, I am missing you guys already. Hope we’ll meet again.

(by Carina van Weelden, Zeeland University of Applied Sciences)

Today should become a very special day for all of us, not only because we should see the Expo and present our results to a jury of experts, but also because it was our last evening together as a group.

Early in the morning, we reached the Expo area and found our way through what seemed to be hundreds of people. We had heard before that the Expo was crowded, and a lot of people would go and visit, but waiting times of 5 and even 9 hours in the queues before different pavilions already at 10 am was beyond my expectation.

Luckily, we first had the chance to enjoy the water show of the Rotterdam pavilion, which was especially for our group temporally closed off for the public. While water was falling down from the roof, letters and characters wandered across the created waterfall explaining an innovative water storage system in an urban environment.

After this fascinating event, we could spend the time till the presentations in the evening on our own. Together with a Chinese friend, Wen Bo, I strolled through different joined pavilions, learned about Chinese artists as well as Brazilian city design and even found an environmental campaign of the city of Freiburg in Germany, where I used to live. It is amazing, how many different subjects are discussed in the exhibition and each of them has some interactive and innovative element!

To get from the west to the east side of the Huangpu River, we had to take the ferry, which meant one hour waiting in the queue.  Wen Bo was bravely holding up the umbrella against the sun for both of us, otherwise I would probably have melted right on the spot.

As soon as we arrived on the other side of the river,  I saw only people standing, sitting and walking everywhere, and I felt like I wanted to go back across the water, which actually wasn’t an option because the queues grew to at least 2 hours of waiting. So we fought our way through the mass. But after seeing a few of these great buildings from the outside, we decided to rather relax a bit in the Expo garden at the riverside.

Sitting on the grass patches in-between the expo wetland that was especially created to treat the waste water on the area, we two girls ate grapes and discussed the differences between western and Chinese family and education issues.

Relaxed and equipped with new energy, we finally made way to the Dutch pavilion, through the happy street all the way up to the golden crown: the VIP lounge! I was rather nervous when the show started, and that our group was unexpectedly chosen to be the first to pitch, didn’t help very much. But having my group members at my side did help a lot, so I could do my best to present the advantages of our integrated eco-park in front of the southern coast of Shanghai with the motivation of seven. Thank you guys!

While the other groups presented, I realised again, what a great job everybody did and that both posters and pitches were more than adequate to represent Dutch (and Chinese) water education. When you looked around, everybody said they enjoyed the program and learned from each other. It was an excited atmosphere in the room until the winners of the challenges were announced: To my big surprise, our group even made second place in the student challenge and won the public award! With beaming faces and big books in our hands, we shot some last pictures and started off to enjoy the hours we still had together. A là Chinese, we sat down in a 24-hours noodle-bar, toasted with warm soya-milk instead of beer or Champaign and shared noodle soup.  Although this was maybe not the most elegant way to celebrate, I feel that it was exactly the right thing to do at the right time, remembering my newly won friends as they are.

In German, we have a saying: “You always see each other twice in life.” So everything left for me to do, is to keep my eyes open till one day I will sit with them at one table again…

(by Werner Weeink, Twente University)

The 7^th of June was the most important for the wetskill.com project teams during the Holland Water Week at the World Expo in Shanghai. During the day we wandered about at the expo terrain and visited a number of pavilions. Despite the fact of creativity of some of the architects and the impressive expo terrain, we all were the most excited about the evening program in Happy Street’s –the Dutch pavilion- VIP room.

After a short introduction by Jeroen van der Sommen, director of the Netherlands Water Partnership, it was our time to present our solutions for complex water problems during a 2-minutes-pitch to an international public. Later on there was time for the public and the jury to judge the pitches and the posters, were the solutions were presented in more detail.

The “Live, Love, Levee” concept was the big and justified winner of the evening with a multifunctional levee as their solution to the problems related to flood protection and integrand developments in urban areas. Despite the fact that our solution –a multifunctional pipeline system for Jakarta to solve the sediment and water supply problem in this city- it was an amazing and impressive evening, even more supported by the fact the water professionals familiar with Jakarta’s problem voted unanimous for our solution. 

This evening was a nice ending of our collaboration with the Chinese students; during the project we were not improving our wet skills only, as important was the fact that we learned a lot from working in a project team with intercultural differences.

(By Emma Aalbers, Delft University of Technology)

The ‘official’ program of this Saturday started at 2 o’clock, consisting of a visit to the office of DHV Engineering and Consultancy Shanghai Co.,Ltd. and a typical Chinese evening. In the morning the pitch presentations, to be given at the World Expo on Monday, were finalized and rehearsed for the general repetition at Shanghai DHV in the afternoon. After an 80 Yuan taxi drive away from the city centre (as an indication of the distance) we arrived at the DHV office, the 25^th floor of a rather nice building in the Caohejing HI-TECH Park. Just like everywhere in the city, also here skyscrapers shaped the skyline.

After a welcome and coffee we performed a STAR analysis on the Dutch-Chinese communication and collaboration in the project in the last weeks, which was discussed afterwards. I think I summarize well as I say that the main problems were related to the communication in English and differences in approaching a problem. These problems were not insurmountable though. At least it has not hampered the groups to successfully find and present solutions to the cases, as would appear a few days later at the World Expo.

In a short presentation of Dick Kevelam, one of the (if I’m not mistaken) two Dutch employees at the Shanghai office, we were informed about the activities and developments of DHV in China and Shanghai more specifically. China has been and still is a fast developing market for all civil fields. Walking through Shanghai this is visible by all the building sites of another skyscraper you pass. The Shanghai office is mainly active the field of industrial buildings, ports and waterways and coastal development, an interesting company for some students. The possibilities of internships at one of the DHV offices throughout the world were discussed for both Chinese and Dutch students, just remember the name Dick Kevelam..

Then finally the floor was given to the ‘pitchers’. All groups in turn gave their short presentation, which was timed and provided with commends. The commends however were sparse: an indication of the quality?

Pitch group 1

Feierabend, time to leave the office. Sooner or later everybody arrived at the restaurant, where we had a delicious Chinese meal together and where the whistles were wetted for the continuation of the evening: Karaoke. I’m not sure why it’s so popular in China, or why it isn’t in Holland, after having experienced it here. The Karaoke box soon was filled with people, beer, more and less pure voices accompanying the empty orchestras (Karaoke is a portmanteau of the Japanese kara = empty and ōkesutora =orchestra, FYI) ranging from the Beatles, Lady Gaga to romantic Chinese songs, according to a more or less clear system.. What else to say than it was another interesting day..