June 14, 2012

Today we are headed to Paris.  We met in the lobby at 9.15 AM and caught the subway to the central station in Munich.  We took a two hour train to Stuttgart, Germany and arrived at 12.30 ish.  We took a high speed train from Stuttgart to Paris.  The train topped out at 320 km/hour, which equates to about 200 mph I think… it was pretty fast.  It took four hours and we arrived in Paris at 4.45.  We came to our hotel which is in the Times Square of Paris, it is in the middle of everything.  The room we have is a little tight, it’s Brady, Sumner, and I in what is supposed to be a 1-2 person room.  Anyways, we went and got a kebab and we met as a group in the lobby at 6.30.  We took a train, the wrong one, to Notre Dame Cathedral.  It was amazing to see it.  We didn’t go in today but we will do that later on in the week.  Brady, Sumner, Joel, Jack, Cameron, Prof. Tatum, and I went to a part of the town that is supposed to have a good night life.  It was close to the gay part of town so we didn’t stay long.  We went to another side of town that Prof. Tatum knew of and went to a place called the Moose.  We ate here and got a few drinks.  It is a cool American/Canadian bar and I am sure we will be back here again before we leave.  We came back and called it a night, we were pretty tired from traveling all day.  I didn't have my camera with me tonight in Paris and we were in a train all day so I don't have any pictures for today.

T

June 13, 2012

Today we met in the hotel lobby at 7.15 AM and had a day similar to the one yesterday.  We took two trains again and about an hour later made it to a small town outside of Munich.  We met with a representative from Seele.  Seele is a company that manufactures glass.  Gartner manufactures window systems but they get their glass from a company similar to Seele.  Seele makes the glass from scratch; they glaze it, bend it, color it, etc. to get it how their very select clientele wants it.  We did a tour and watched a presentation similar to the one at Gartner.  Seele is a more modern type warehouse while Gartner was stuck in the Stone Age.  After the tour we came back to the hotel and we were done for the day.  We hung out for a while and Brady and I went and found a Subway… it was 10x better than any subway in the states.  I can’t even decide what made it so good, I’m assuming it’s because I haven’t had American food in about 6 weeks.  We came back and I worked on blogs and emailed a few people regarding my thesis research.  I packed up my bag and got ready to leave because we are heading to Paris at 9.15 AM tomorrow morning.  Check back tomorrow to see how bad this train ride is going to be.

T

June 12, 2012

Today we met in the hotel lobby at 6.15 and I barely made it.  Two trains and two and a half hours later we made it to Gundelfingen outside of Munich.  We came to Gundelfingen to meet with Peter Langenmayr from Gartner GmbH which is a manufacturer of curtain wall units.  Gartner manufacturers and installs their own product for specialty products for customers all over the world.  Side note: I may look into talking with them about a job overseas somewhere after graduation.  Anyways, we toured around the plant and watched a presentation that Peter prepared.  Gartner is huge worldwide and their profit is in the billions annually.  After the visit we took the trains back to Munich and went back to the hotel.  We got ready and Joel, Jack, Brady, Dave, and I went to the Haufbrau house… I told you I would get there eventually.  Unfortunately it was a disappointment.  The food was decent, not as good as I was expecting though.  I had a sausage goulash that was cold and just mediocre.  The best part was the beer, it was probably the best beer I have ever had… and they give it to you in a liter glass.  We only had one though because a beer was 8.50 euros.  After we ate we came back to the hotel and I hit up the sauna again, it’s very relaxing.  I called it a night because we have another early morning tomorrow. Check back to see what’s up.

T

June 11, 2012

Today was a really fun experience.  We met downstairs and hopped on a train to the central station and caught another train to Dachau, which is about thirty minutes out of Munich.  Dachau was a main concentration camp during the Nazi rule, I am sure everyone knew that though.  We toured the camp for a few hours and checked out all of the monuments, barracks, crematorium, graveyards, etc.  I have always wanted to go to a concentration camp just so I can know how it really is and what it must have been like.  There was an ominous sense about the place, to me that is, I’m sure everyone can understand the weird feeling one would get walking into a place where thousands of people were killed.  After visiting Dachau we came back to Munich.  We got to go on another bike tour today around Munich and it was great like all the others.  We got to see all of Munich and the weather was cool so it was comfortable.  Our tour guide’s name was Levi and he was a character.  Apparently he has lived everywhere from Australia, to Hawaii, to Seattle, and now Munich.  He also has had a variety of jobs from a gay bartender, jiu-jitsu trainer, bike tour guide, etc… I’m not sure what was true and what wasn’t.  After the tour we were done for the day.  We all went to a bar and had a few drinks with Levi… he is definitely a trip, I cannot even explain this guy to you.  Later we went to a place called the ‘Youth Hostel’; it is a part of Munich where all the tourists and young people hang out. It was a really fun time.  After this we called it a night and parted ways with Levi.  We have an early morning tomorrow.

T