May 10, 2016 Day 4:
Today started our company visits. We arrived at SGL Carbon company this morning, and I was surprised to see how small it looked. We went to the conference room where the head of the IT department did a wonderful presentation on what carbon products there are and how the company's business side works. It was very informative and he really knew what he was talking about.
We then went to the show room where they had some examples of what carbon fiber is used to make. There was a Porsche car door there wick weighed virtually nothing. Carbon fiber technology really interests me, as I can think about the uses in a technical way.
Next We went to see the warehouse where the strands of carbon fiber were made. The gentleman there passed around this white fiber that felt like hair, and he told us it would be carbon fiber at the end of the process. The man is an expert, so I listened to him. This part of the your was incredibly interesting, because they showed us how they put the fibers together and put them in an electro chemical bath to cause the formation of the final product. We got to see a singular send of Carbon fiber, which is smaller than a human hair. A couple of times, we thought we lost it, we ended the tour with a trip to different labs they do tests in. I have heard of some of the equipment before, due to my studies, but it was even better to see them in person.
We then made a trip back to the gold room in Rathaus to hear a woman lecture about the immigrating/refugee crisis in Germany. I did not find this as interesting, but she seemed very knowledgeable and I appreciate that. We then took a trip to the Grand Hotel. The outside didn't look so grand, so I was confused. Soon after, we learned that it was an old house used as a hotel, a refugee center, and a hostile. The top 2 floors were the hotel, where artists came to paint the walls and do other decor. Each room had a different story painted and I thought that was amazing. I especially liked the first room we were in which had a tree painted around the room with different characters. The second 2 floors were refugee floors. Then the bottom one was a hostile floor. The room we went to was decorated like trees, and it was beautiful. The basement had dining rooms and a kitchen. The man there told us that all the residents eat dinner together, and I thought that was a tender act.  All in all today was a very informative day.