Meet the local ESRA Committee

A day in the life of Danielle McCool

Hi! Wanna come enjoy my day with me? 

The good news is that it’s May, which means that there’s a chance that we can start the day with coffee on the balcony. Lucky us, today’s good weather means we can enjoy the greenery in one of Utrecht’s many parks – this one happens to be outside my house in the northwest of the city. 

I’m a 22 minute ride away from the University of Utrecht (6.2km 🚴), and depending on the route I take, I might pass by any of these murals by Jan is de Man in my neighborhood.

At the end of my route is the latest addition, unveiled 15 May 2025 on the Sjoerd Groenman Gebouw that houses the Methodology and Statistics department. Utrecht has a ton of other fantastic street art as well, which you can check out at this walking route.

After a little work, I casually bring up to my colleague Bella Struminskaya that I finished my thesis last weekend. I am informed that that calls for a celebration, so we immediately go get coffee from Espressobar Gutenberg (just across the street in the library building.) “Proost!” (Cheers!)  

After work, I take the kids to one of their favorite places: the Spoorweg Museum. They like all the rides, like the Vuurproef (Fireproof), and Stalen Monsters (Steel Monsters), and I like the hands-on Techlab demonstrations.  

Afterwards, although we debated visiting the Universiteits Museum, the weather was too nice to stay indoors, so we just visited the attached historic garden (the Oude Hortus) instead. 

Time to go home! Most of the city has dedicated bike lanes, which makes biking around both safe and fast, even for kids. A bike will get you from the center to any place in the city within 15 minutes, including the sushi restaurant for a celebratory takeout dinner. 

After dinner, my husband and I go out for drinks along the Oudegracht. Utrecht is always beautiful, but to me, it’s at its most magical during summer evenings.