Delft '26 Day 1: Arrival

16 students stand on a bridge over a netherlands canal
The students of the 2026 Gonzaga in Delft trip pose at Oude Delft – the oldest canal and street in the city.
May 13, 2026
Dr. Rhonda Young

This story is one of a series written by students in the Gonzaga in Delft program, a course from the Civil Engineering department exploring sustainable practices of the Netherlands.

More than a dozen young adults stand outside a very old church with a tall steeple
Gonzaga civil engineering students at the "New Church" of Delft, which started construction in the 1390s and has looked like this since 1872.

The Gonzaga in Delft: Sustainable Cities course kicked off today for 16 of our 17 Gonzaga students and three faculty members here in Delft, Netherlands.

The purpose of the course is to study sustainable practices in the Netherlands and consider how these approaches might be transferred to the City of Spokane.

Students were fitted with their Dutch city bikes and learned how to park them in the massive underground bike garage, a facility that holds more than 5,000 bicycles!

We closed the day with a welcome dinner in the heart of Delft’s historic center.

More student experiences from Gonzaga in Delft
Delft Blog