Jam on Xplore

As an architecture student, being chosen as one of the delegates of the Young Minds on Xplore 3 has paved so much opportunity for me to discover and see for myself architecture in more developed countries.


The whole Belgium-Netherlands trip has helped me look beyond the aesthetic value and functionality of Architecture. It's not about how cool-looking or how unique the geometry of the structure is or how it utilizes its limited spaces well, but I realized that it is also a matter of how it affects everything around it, its niche in the society and its relationship with infrastructure, public and private spaces and people. Here I ask not how the architecture evokes my emotions, but I ask, what it does for the city.

That is when the concept of urban planning comes in. Urban planning is the process that is concerned with the control of the use of land and design in an urban environment. It includes the facilitation of traffic and transportation networks, construction, research and analysis of human geography, policy recommendation and management. It establishes sustainable cities that ushers economic growth and reduces ecological footprints of the city. It is important in mitigating urban poverty and social inequality.


According to some experts, the lack of urban planning in many developing countries such as the Philippines is pointed out as one of the major causes of poverty. When cities develop whimsically, there is increase of slums and congestion of cars on roads.

In the case of Cebu City, the making of a city blue print for the future years has not been known of. There is no proper spatial planning and zoning that residences and commercial buildings sprawl anywhere. Going to establishments like the school, the mall or the church is practically impossible by foot. There is no established city center  nor proper facilitation of public vehicles. To solve the problem of traffic, flyovers are built, but they actually exacerbate the problem.

In Kortrijk, Belgium, they have strict policies regarding the construction and modification of buildings and infrastructure. The roads are small but the traffic of cars is well planned. However, it is more practical to use bikes or to walk. They have wide sidewalks and good bicycle lanes. The railway station and the shopping center is at the heart of the city, so anyone around the city has access to it.

K in Kortrijk, a mall at the heart of the shopping center

In Haarlemermeyer, Netherlands, they have developed a plan good for 2040 already. Before constructing or widening roads, they have to study the impacts of it, not only in the present but also in the future. Instead of constructing flyovers for traffic jam problems, they study how to construct new roads instead. There are also good bicycle lanes and sidewalks, so walking and biking is very safe and conducive.

Rotterdam, one of the favorite places I've visited in Netherlands because of its architectural masterpieces is the epitome of a well-planned city. The city even houses the Netherlands Architecture Institute that features 'Making City' exhibition that shows how cities are build with innovative and constantly changing alliances involving designers, city planners, developers and residents. The rapid transit of Rotterdam makes every portion of the second biggest city of Netherlands accessible anywhere around the city.

Netherlands Architecture Institute

The Erasmus Bridge, an architectural masterpiece of Rotterdam

Biking is one of the major transportation in both Netherlands and Belgium. Here I am biking in Haarlem City, Netherlands.

What fascinates me most of all in both cities I've been immersed in is the discipline of the drivers and bicyclists. They look out for pedestrians' safety. In the Philippines, I have to play tango in order to get to the other side of the road. I get to the middle of the road and even if the driver sees me waving him to stop, he doesn't slow down.




Cebu has a very large economy. It is urbanizing rapidly. It may be about the utilization of space, energy or architecture that contributes to developing our city and it may be a very long way to go. But the process of developing Cebu does not lie only in the hands of the engineers, architects or urban planners or in the hands of the government officials. The citizens also play a vital role in transforming Cebu to a sustainable and liveable city.

On the 1st day of May, the 18th day of our European trip, our only activities for the day is the Biblical Garden tour and the film showing of a famous Dutch film All is Love. I think the schedule for that day isn't so hectic to give us time to settle our baggage since we're changing hosts and partners that day.

I bid farewell to J.Lo, though we will still be seeing each other. They announce the new pairing and I'm glad it's Janica.

We go back to Johannes de Doper (John The Baptist) Church, the church where we attend our first Dutch mass. The church is small but behind it is actually a large garden and a Catholic graveyard. In a separate building beside it is a bookstore.

Fr. Kees van Lent is our tour guide. He tells us about the symbols found on the church's facade.

On the door of the church are pictures about John the Baptist. One of which is the Baptism of Christ.

The prodigal son.

Lot's wife. She turns into a pillar of salt after defying God by looking back.

The Stations of the cross. The sculptures are a little improvised to the artist's lovely interpretation of the real essence behind each station.

After our Biblical tour, we have tea. After which we returned to Tabitha to watch 'Alles is Liefde' (All is Love), a famous Dutch film that tells a story of the winding and interrelated lives of eleven people during the Dutch festival Sinterklaas. It was a melancholic, funny and romantic story that brings you to a realization how love and family is important.

After watching the movie, we meet our new host families. I am hosted with Janica and Nienke and her mom welcome us warmly.

Queen's Day
I woke up early and before my roomie J.Lo. I prepare my orange clothes and orange make up.

We meet at the center of Hoofdorp. There aren't many people yet and we see that some of the people were not even wearing orange. With my orange hat, orange cardigan, shirt and skirt and my orange ribbon tied on my hair, I feel so overdressed.

A funny sexy dress I only wear for the photo

I am so relieve that my co-delegates are also wearing orange. We look like three pairs of twins. J.Lo and I with our matching skirts, Martin and Sean with their matching shirts and sunglasses and Dan and Jedde with matching leis.

The flea market where people sell the old stuff they don't need to people who need them.

I buy an old Polaroid camera. I can't find the film for it, though.

After roaming around Hoofdorp, I only buy the camera and shoes for my cousin at C&A. After lunch with rice which we shared with each other, we go to the station to ride a bus to Haarlem.

Jump shots while waiting for the bus

We are only given little time to spend around Haarlem and since it's crowded, Louise and Robin, our Dutch youth counterparts wrote their numbers on our wrists.

Luc wearing a silly pair of sunglasses.

We walk around Haarlem, but it's really difficult to go through the crowd. Everyone is in party mood and it reminds me of Sinulog, only everyone is wearing orange. Aside from stalls of second hand stuffs, there are beer stations everywhere and band/singers performing.

We drop by a Protestant church turned beer brewery for drinks. The Dutch laugh when we order milk. Haha.

Bottom's up! I'm not sure if Julla is a beer drinker or she just want to try how beer tastes like in Netherlands.

The large crowd of people gathers to PARTY!

I have not accomplished much of things in Haarlem because of the crowd. I didn't find any good buys. Danica, however, found a good buy. A second hand iPod nano for only 15 euros! It's not sold with the charger/usb and headset, but it's still a very good buy. And yep, it works!

Sean falls asleep on the bus going home.

After Queen's day, the Kols, my host family and the de Blocks gather at the Van Der Tol's residence for a barbecue party. We have grilled bacon, chicken, sausages and meat balls/bola-bola. (Urgh, writing about the food makes me hungry.) We set the dinner outside, but it turns out becoming very cold despite the sunniness in the morning.

Lekker! Lekker!

The wind blows and it's really chilly!

After dinner, the youngsters gather in the living room and we play the famous Pinoy Henyo of Eat Bulaga. The mechanics of the game is to guess the word that is written above you on your forehead by asking yes or no questions.

Sanne is not able to guess the word bacon, too. She knows that the word's a food and when she asks if it's yummy, we say yes. As a vegetarian, bacon is probably not on the list of yummy foods.

Dan's word is Char. He uses the Cebuano expression often, but he isn't able to get it.

We probably return home at 10pm. J.Lo and I still have to pack our things. The day after this Orange festival, we are changing hosts and also partners. Aside from missing the Kols, I will also miss my soul sister J.Lo, whom I've regarded as my own sister. I will miss our time together talking girl stuffs until 1 in the morning or until one of us dozes off.

We spend the 16th day of our trip sightseeing around Holland. We are divided into small groups. J.Lo and I ride in Ria de Block's car.

Our first stop is the castle.

Standing is about 1/4 of the original structure.

The view from the tallest tower of the castle.

We go driving around Holland. We pass by Haarlem and also a posh community in Holland where large single-detached houses are built. We stop by across a large steel factory. It smells weird and puffs of smoke come out from them and I pretend I'm in District 12's cold mine.

J.Lo and I are asleep in the car. Unfortunately also, my camera's battery is almost empty, so I don't have much pictures.

We share a meal with each other because some of us brought rice for lunch.

We stop by at a large field of tulips. I wish I could take some tulips back to the Philippines, but they don't allow that.

Soul sisters J.Lo and I

After our sight seeing, we hear mass in the school. It's a Protestant service. I'm Catholic and it's my first time attending a Protestant service. I'm fascinated at how they conduct their services with a lot of singing and clapping of the hands. They don't have priests to celebrate the ceremony but they have a speaker to discuss pressing issues related to the scripture.



After the service, we have Dutch night. We draw clogs, tulips or windmills on wooden boards and cut them with saw. It's much work. I'm not use to cutting wood with saw, however, our Dutch counterparts seem to be really skillful. Then we painted our work.

I love painting, but because I've been using watercolor as a medium lately, I forgot how it is to use acrylic or poster paint.

Our crafted and painted works. We pinoys are creative.

Jedde, Sean and Sir Tats showing their painted windmills.

For dinner, we have Dutch pancakes. They're usually think but thicker then creppe and you sprinkle powedered sugar or top it with syrup. After dinner, we have Dutch games.  I learn to play billiards. Others try on Dutch costumes for a photo.

Martin and Saira in Dutch costumes. Saira is holding her masterpiece.

Julla with other Dutch youth counterparts playing the 'Leaning tower of Piza'

Russel learning how to play billiards with Martin's assistance

Sjors and Jedde playing a typical Dutch card game.

After losing the billiard games, Arge, Martin and Sir Tats adorn my face with icing. In the photo, I smile beside the pretty Anita, who I once hosted back in 2011 when she came to the Philippines.

Family day with Host Family at Rotterdam.

I'm very glad and thankful that my host family heeds my request and brings us to Rotterdam, the second biggest city of Holland and perhaps, the most modern city. I think it is the seat of Architecture of Holland because of it's well planned city and road, its modern buildings and the famous Erasmusbrug, designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel.

The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) museum is also located in Rotterdam. I find out about this even before my trip to Netherlands while researching about Netherlands architecture.

The weather is not fine, but it stops raining when we arrive.  We park the car near the metro station and we ride a metro to NAI. The amazing thing about Rotterdam is that every part of the city is accessible because of its well-planned metro.

Rotterdam's Metro

The Kol sisters: Leoniek and Sanne. Pretty, aren't they?

A nice minimalistic house across NAI

Seeing NAI from afar fills me with joy and excitement. It's like the fulfillment of my trip. NAI is probably each architect's haven.

The NAI museum completes my trip in Holland as an Architecture student. The museum exhibits the importance of urban planning to cater to the needs of the citizens. Not only politicians, investors or city designers are involve in city planning, but also citizens play important role in changing the living environment.

Before starting our museum trip, we chill out for hot chocolate and tea at the NAI Cafe.

Making City Exhibit shows the spatial planning for Rotterdam.

Dutchville- Ideas for the city of the future.

The NAI library: If I probably live in Rotterdam, I'll come by here everyday.

Our trip to the Netherlands Architecture Institute has help J.Lo and I greatly on our project MegaCebu, since the main exhibit of the month is about city development and planning.

Leoniek and J.Lo discussing which route to take to the Erasmus bridge

We take a walk around the city and find the famous Erasmus bridge.

The Erasmus bridge is Rotterdam's trademark. It's a beautiful cable-stayed bridge about 89-meters long. We walked across it.

We visit Rotterdam's center. It's full of people. J.Lo and I shop for souvenirs. After having shopped, we walk to the famous cube houses. It is located on Overblaak street. It consists of 38 small cubes and two super cubes attached to each other. The cubes are occupied by residents, but it is also a famous tourist destination.

The Cube Houses is designed by Dutch Architect Piet Blom.

While I don't quite love it, I still think it's a great architecture for its unique shape and personality.