Day 3: May 10th

We started off today by going to SGL, which is the company that my group is focusing on.  SGL makes many different things out of carbon, specifically carbon fiber (for the automotive industry- carbon fiber is used to make lighter car bodies).  I am really glad that I ended up on the SGL team because I thought the process of making carbon fiber was fascinating, and the strength that is has is unbelievable.

During our tour, we got to see the pilot factory, where they test different ways of making carbon fiber.  After this tour, they took us to see the show room and some of the chemistry rooms where they test the fiber for different things, like strength, bendiness, and different elements.  This part was the hardest part for me to understand, because I didn't quite get all of the different chemical processes and words that our guide was using, but it was my favorite part of SGL because the chemist was very excited to explain everything to us.  He was clearly very passionate about his work, and it made me excited to listen to him explain his work.

I also got to get to know the rest of my team better.  I knew Katie from the start, and she's my roommate while I'm in Germany, but I hadn't really gotten to know our other American team members- Dan and Pat.  The three German members, Jan, Christoph and Ben, I also got to get to know better.  It was cool talking to them and seeing how their lives our different from ours, and how similar they are.

My Group

After the SGL tour, we went back to the hotel for a quick nap, and then went to the Town Hall for a refugee lecture.  The lecture was interesting, and she talked about different migrant groups in  Germany and how there are different ethnicities in Germany.  For example, many people living in Germany have ancestors from Turkey, yet consider themselves German because they were born in Germany.  However, other "ethnic Germans" refuse to acknowledge these people as German, and consider them Turks instead.

 From there we went on a tour of the Grand Hotel.  This hotel is very unique because they offer hostel rooms and house up to 65 refugees, as well as hotel guests and a few artists that live in the hotel for free.  They "pay" for their stay by creating murals on the walls and designing various hotel rooms.  I thought this was a really creative idea, and the designs were very unique, but the tour went on for way too long, especially since it had already been a long day to begin with.  I was very tired and couldn't focus on what the man was saying, especially since his English was not very strong.

Some of the art at the Grand Hotel

We ate  dinner as one group at a little Bavarian restaurant in town, and the food was amazing.  After dinner, a few people went out to the town plaza to hang out and write blogs.  We had a great time, and on the way home we accidentally missed our tram stop, and the next one was a mile and a half away.  We had to wait there for the next tram to come from the opposite direction, which took 15 minutes.  The whole ordeal was hilarious, especially since Dr. Feick had warned us about not missing our tram stop.  We eventually made it back to the hotel, and fell asleep almost immediately.