BMW and Dachau

Yesterday we traveled to BMW in northern Munich for a tour of the museum and BMW World. The BMW establishment was located next to the Olympic Stadium, home of the summer Olympics just three decades ago. Along the tour, we experienced the long history of BMW, stemming from the first production models to future generations of Bavarian Motor Works vehicles.

Today we visited the very first concentration camp from World War II, located in Dachau. We experienced a thorough two-and-a-half-hour tour that explained the gruesome events that occurred on that very land. On the tour, we were led in the same gate as the prisoners and followed their initiation into the deadly regime. Over 42,000 prisoners perished before the U.S. troops liberated the establishment in 1945. It was not exactly our idea of a good time, but the experience left us with a much more profound understanding of how the prisoners were treated during World War II.

Tonight, we are on our way to Heidelberg for the last leg of our journey abroad.

The BMW World Building.

A full-scale clay model of a BMW.

One of the art cars at the BMW Museum.

The entry way in Dachau concentration camp. These are the same gates that the prisoners had entered just over 60 years ago.

A look down a hallway of prisoners' cells.

The ditch that is pictured shows how difficult it would have been for an inmate to escape. The canal is followed by a tall, electrically charged barbed wire fence which is also shown.

The most haunting site at Dachau was in the Crematorium.

First Night in Munich and Day One in Bavaria

We now know what Germany is all about. The scenery has changed very much since we left the more industrious western side of German, and have headed into Bavarian Germany. If you didn’t know already; Munich has a LOT to offer. Most of the group enjoyed getting out into the city to see it for ourselves. Just walking into the restaurants you can see how much different things are in southeast Germany. The majority of us enjoyed the local cuisine as we ordered the Bavarian feast which included things such as roast duck, fried pig’s knuckle, pork roast, dumplings, and beer gravy. We finished off the evening by taking a walk down by the most impressive building we have seen thus far: the Glockenspeil.

It is now Wednesday. We split up into smaller groups this morning and headed out on our chosen adventures. The majority took a train down near the Austrian border to see the AMAZING castles tucked nicely into the Bavarian Alps. Just remember: Pictures DO NOT do them justice.

Dr. Smith showing us where to see the castles.

Hohenschwangau Castle

A view of the southern Bavarian terrain from beside Neuweinstein Castle.

Neuweinstein Castle and the Alps.

Aachen University and End of the K-Show

Our K-Show experience is now over, but as a result of the two days spent there we were able to take with us exposure to several new advances in energy savings in the plastics industry, the growth in silicones, expansion of the medical plastics industry, and amazing automation. All of these relate to many of our senior projects.

Today was a very nice day in Germany. We woke up and packed our bags at our hostel in Aachen, and then proceeded to get on the bus to Aachen University. We spent a couple hours at the university as we toured their plastics engineering department and facilities. The fun fact of the day was that tuition there is only 700 euros per semester. We all decided that we just might move to Germany and finish our studies over here! After leaving the university we boarded a train to Munich where we will see classic Germany settled down near the Bavarian Alps.

Group photo in front of Aachen University.

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A view from one of the plastics labs at Aachen University.

Glockenspiel Tower in downtown Munich.