We just left Amsterdam and I can’t believe how fast the past two weeks went by. I truly enjoyed my time visiting the Netherlands and exploring some of what it has to offer.
During my two weeks I was able to work with Chloe Diehl and 4 University of Amsterdam students on a project about E-waste in Amsterdam. It was really interesting learning more about this issue and seeing how different a day in an UvA student’s life is to one at Rice. While my team was fairly quiet at first, we were able to quickly delegate tasks and come together to have a successful final presentation. During the course’s challenges, the most difficult part was figuring out how to start and whether the UvA students would be able to finish their part on time. My teammates explained how busy they are out of class and even though our groupchat and workspace was pretty quiet at times, everyone was able to do their job in the end.
The three biggest takeaways I took away from this experience related to the design abilities are the importance of letting go of perfection, embracing iteration, and really understanding the problem before jumping to solutions. All three of these connect back to the mindset that designing something will never be perfect the first attempt, and that’s okay. One of the most valuable things I learned was how essential it is to navigate ambiguity. I had to get comfortable with not having the “right” answer and trust that clarity would come through trying, failing, and trying again. Unlike other classes where you’re often expected to find the answer quickly, here I learned that uncertainty isn’t something to avoid but where the best ideas start. Another core ability I developed was the practice of learning from others. Looking back, I wish I had spent more time understanding the environmental impacts of e-waste before conducting interviews. I also learned how powerful it is to experiment rapidly and stop judging my own ideas before they even have a chance. I used to get stuck waiting for the best idea to come, but this process showed me how much can be gained just by building something and learning from what doesn’t work. I’ve prototyped before in engineering design classes, but here it felt different. The focus wasn’t just on testing a solution, it was about learning through making. One of the most unique things I took away from this class was seeing what’s possible when a whole community rallies around a shared goal. The biking culture there didn’t just solve a transportation issue, it reshaped their entire way of living. It made me realize that good design isn’t just about solving problems; it’s about creating meaningful change.
The final project that I created with Matthew and Sasha left the three of us truly inspired. Our simple idea of street performers who asked for trash rather than money worked surprisingly well when we tested it in Centraal Station. I could see this same process be adapted by many cities in hopes of reducing their production of street waste and encouraging responsible disposal of trash.
I believe I really thrived when testing our solution with tourists who were exploring Amsterdam. While it felt awkward to start singing at the top of our lungs in the middle of a busy area, it became a rewarding experience that I’m still thinking about. While I wouldn’t consider myself a quiet person, I can’t say I usually enjoy speaking in public or to tons of people I had never met before. However, once I realized that embarrassment comes from that same inner judge, I was able to turn it off and enjoy shouting at people to throw their trash away.
The area I struggled the most in was during the UvA design sprint. I was very lucky to have been paired with another Rice student because she was much better at making small talk than I was and I think she was able to bring the group together and get the other students to speak up. Other than that I really enjoyed every part of the course.
My favorite part of Amsterdam was making it ours. Every time I found myself surrounded by the other 8 students while we were walking to dinner or randomly singing in Centraal, it felt like we had truly made ourselves at home. While I do not consider myself an Amsterdam expert, let alone local, I feel like I became very familiar with our home bases of Amstel and Waterlooplein and I will always be nostalgic to metro back there.
My advice to future iSEED students is to split a couple metro passes between the whole group and run behind as many people as possible while entering the stations, embodying your inner broke college kid. Other than that, let yourself wander, get lost, nap on a random park bench, and please don’t twist your ankle on the first day of class. 
