By Sustainability Research Fellow Katie Koenig
Kasteel Well is one of Emerson’s most popular study away programs, second only to the LA program. Most students go their sophomore year for a whirlwind semester of travel and academics in a 14th century castle. I’ve gotten the opportunity to be one such student this fall, and I’ll cover my experiences as I navigate travel and school in Europe. I’ll be including tips for more eco-friendly travel that, while small changes to your itinerary, have a larger impact when practiced consistently.
Orientation Weekend
I got to the Boston campus on September 12th, two days before our pre-travel meeting and group flight, excited to catch up with all of my college friends and more than a little worried about Amsterdam customs. I had a single duffle bag and my large zippered tote—repurposed from its original use as my yarn bag. On the 14th, after a few days of rest in a friend’s dorm after my long flight from California to Boston, I met up with almost all of the other castle-bound students in the Bordy. A few people had decided to book their own flights to Amsterdam and would meet us the following morning, but I took advantage of Emerson’s offer to plan that trip so I didn’t have to.
We had piles of bags lining the sides of the theater, most people with two or even three large suitcases to their name. One after another, we were introduced to a number of people we would be living with at the castle who explained travel logistics, which I can sum up to be: it would be a long overnight flight, then a long bus ride to the castle, and then a long orientation weekend.
I was very glad I only had two bags to my name, neither of them checked, although I knew I’d have to rotate my measly four pairs of bottoms and eight shirts constantly. The total month I’ve spent at the castle so far hasn’t made me regret that decision at all. I’m too busy for major projects, and although I will be buying more socks for all the walking and traveling I’m doing, a small notebook, a sturdy jacket, and a travel sewing kit are all I need aside from the basics.
The expectations we were given for this long weekend were pretty comprehensive, but I do have one additional warning for anyone planning for this program. From the moment our pre-travel meeting started to when we finally got to our dorms at the castle, we spent almost seventeen hours traveling.
If at all possible, sleep on the plane.
Castle Advice
Here are a few words of warning from orientation, though. First, Europe not only has different sockets but also different voltages from the U.S. When packing or buying supplies—and I’ll get into Dutch Amazon later—get an adapter that also acts as a voltage converter, because they are two different things. Point 1.5 is to leave your hairdryer, if you use one, at home. You’ll blow out the sockets, and in a castle built from a foundation of wood, there’s a chance the fire alarm will go off and, unlike on our Boston campus, it won’t be just smoke.
That leads to the second point; most of the castle’s main support beams are made of wood, not to mention the furniture. If a fire starts, the entire castle is in danger of burning down. Don’t do anything stupid, and definitely keep open flames outside away from highly flammable wood.
Thirdly, the Netherlands and many nearby countries are bike-heavy cultures. With a pack of eighty-ish American students that need to be herded like feral cats out of the bike lanes, it can get dangerous. With all the affection of being one such feral cat, it’s hard to hear yelled instructions in a busy city or airport from the back of the pack, and harder to distinguish where exactly the bike lanes end and car lanes and sidewalks start. I admit to my flaws, and this is one of them.
In all seriousness, cars slow for bikes to avoid accidents. Pedestrians stop for bikes to avoid accidents. Bikes stop for no one.
Castle Resources
We also got a lot of information about specific apps and services we did and didn’t have access to. Some of them were useful, some less so, and most were less useful than resourcefulness and googling skills. The three most important services that you’ll have to figure out, at least for the first week, are, in order of importance: Dutch Amazon, 9292, and Thuisbezorgd.
Dutch Amazon is like normal Amazon except you won’t get Prime service if you have it in the States. Make sure you update your location for the Netherlands, otherwise you’ll never get any actually available products. I’d avoid ordering from it entirely for the sheer convenience of having everything you need from the first day and to avoid packaging and transportation waste. Emerson provides a comprehensive packing list for living at the castle, but the few things I had to purchase on short notice were a sleeping sack and a padlock for hostels, a voltage converter (my adapter turned out to be just that), and replacement headphone earpads that I’d put off getting for months. Some of these took weeks to arrive, and with the multitude of convenience stores nearby, it’s faster and less wasteful to purchase them at local all-in-one or dollar stores.
To get anywhere, 9292 is proposed as The App to use. It’s basically Google Maps if all it showed was public transportation. It maps out the route from point A to point B using only trains, buses, metros, and such. It has specific departures, locations, and a map showing the route. My only criticism is that it often doesn’t have warnings for short strikes, shutdowns, or construction. Keep an eye out for those things—although, after November, the main bus stops in Well will have finished construction, so it should be more reliable than it’s been for me. Also, watch out for incredibly short transfer times. This is true of Google Maps, too, but 9292 often assumes I can sprint across four lines of train tracks, up multiple flights of stairs, and get my ticket in under two minutes. Personal experience proves it’s physically impossible. Conveniently, 9292 allows you to purchase etickets in advance, and they’re valid for the line you booked them on for twenty four hours after purchase, so if you miss your bus, you can take the next one without getting a new ticket.
Lastly, Thuisbezorgd is more or less ‘the delivery app’ to castle students. It lists all the restaurants that deliver food to the castle in the boondocks of Well. It’s an amazing town to explore, with de Buun, the local bar, barely an eight minute walk from the castle, a doctor’s office next door, a restaurant that I barely know anything about beyond that it exists, unfortunately, and an amazing gelato place in the opposite direction, again a mere fifteen minutes and a gorgeous path along the river away from the castle. Sophie’s Kitchen, the student-run snack store, runs in the evenings Monday through Thursday which sells meals (with the only microwave on campus, so plan accordingly), and a food truck with more items than you’d think comes every Monday afternoon. Keep in mind the emissions of transporting delivery from at least half an hour away. Often, I’ve found that it’s easier to stock up on snacks and, if you miss out on a meal at the castle, to go to a local restaurant to eat rather than ordering delivery that often takes over an hour to arrive. The vending machines are kept well stocked and functional, and the Office of Student Affairs (OSA, who you’ll get to know very well) always has little candies in their office leading to the dining hall that you can grab as a treat.
Sign Off
Kasteel Well is a beautiful campus and has been an amazing experience so far, but there are so many moving parts to handle when coming here that it has been overwhelming at some points. Still, starting to explore even your first week gets you out and about and lets you buy what you need faster and more locally than delivery. Hopefully this is a good starter to give a sense for what you’ll need your first week at the castle, and shows that there are ways to consider eco-friendly options without swamping you with stress!