While studying abroad, there were a few travel days to get to our next major stop in the trip. However, my favorite travel day included a final destination to Delft, Netherlands with two amazing scheduled detours. Royal FloraHolland, the largest flower auction in the world, was the first detour, and it was a ten out of ten.
Before coming to The Netherlands, I was aware of the large floriculture industry, especially with tulips. Still, my visit to Royal FloraHolland’s headquarters in Aalsmeer, Netherlands changed my perspective on the size of the floriculture industry. The massive operation and efficiency of Royal FloraHolland with the collaboration of growers was impressive, and I could not capture one picture that truly encompasses all this organization does for the floriculture industry. I could have stayed on the tour of the facility all day fascinated by the organization’s work, but I had to move on to my study abroad group’s next stop, the Dümen Orange facility.
The visit to one of Dümen Orange’s facilities was my favorite part of the Flowers and Photography study abroad program. The staff at Dümen Orange were very welcoming and provided a great experience. We were given a short presentation on Dümen Orange’s role in breeding different varieties of flowers and a look into some of the organization’s social media marketing strategies. Next was the best part, our group was able to go inside one of their greenhouses. We all had to put coverings over our clothes and shoes before entering the greenhouse, but it was worth the wait. The greenhouse we were able to explore was filled with a wide variety of roses. The flowers were gorgeous. The vibrant colors and names for each type of rose were exciting, and the entire experience at Dümen Orange made me fall in love with floriculture even more.
