Greetings from Amsterdam!
Hey, I’m Matthew Yim and I am a rising sophomore from Duncan College. I intend to major in mechanical engineering and am currently pursuing a minor in engineering design. I am originally from Seoul, South Korea but I have been in Texas for the last four years, because I went to a boarding school in Tyler, East Texas my whole high school. People often ask me how I ended up in a small city in East Texas after growing up in the bustling metropolis of Seoul. The answer is simple: I knew I wanted to attend college in the U.S., and this school turned out to be the right fit for me and my family at the time (in fact, my sister is now a senior there!). At that point I wanted to attend the best school in Texas and I found Rice! I felt as if Rice was the perfect fit school for me because of the tightly knit community and a strong engineering program. I love my school and this Rice community but if I never had to work or study again, I would probably want to become a professional poker player, I love playing poker.
I decided on doing this study abroad program because I always wanted to study abroad and this happened to be a great opportunity for me to visit two of Europes most iconic cities and meet new people as well as learn and experience their culture.
Outside of this course, I am most excited to explore this beautiful city and try new food and places to visit—places like the Albert Cuyp Market for street snacks, the Jordaan district for cozy cafés and boutiques, the Van Gogh Museum for art, and the canals at sunset for a peaceful stroll or boat ride. When I explore a new city, I definitely am more of an archeologist type where I am improvising places to go: I never have a specific destination to go but I go into different shops on the spot.
I sincerely enjoyed meeting the University of Amsterdam and they were very kind to me and shared their experiences. I was four Dutch students and one student from Portugal. One student in particular, Quinten, kindly told me about his experience on this matter of last mile delivery difficulties. I am looking forward to spending more time with them and getting to know them, not to mention the great challenge we will be tackling together.