First Company Visit

Day 3: Tuesday 5/10/2016

Today we went to SGL: The Carbon Company, listened to a presentation on German immigration, and toured the Grand Hotel. Learning about all of the things SGL does with graphite and carbon fiber was very interesting. However, the most fascinating part was the presentation given to us about SGL’s business model. I could not believe how expensive it is to produce carbon fiber and it was interesting hearing about how they are shaping their business model to reduce costs and remain profitable. Also, hearing that the unemployment rate in Germany is 2-3% blew my mind. In addition, SGL gave us a lunch that was so good I wish I could eat like that every day. While, the German immigration talk was interesting, I was kind of disappointed. I thought it would be more on the current immigration topic and I was really excited to hear about how Germany is reacting to the current situation, but instead it was more on German immigration throughout history. Finally, I really did not like the tour of the Grand Hotel. While it was cool seeing all of the artists’ work, in my opinion it was wrong that we – all wearing at least $100 worth of clothes, were walking through looking at refugees and where they are living like they are animals at a zoo. Nonetheless, it was definitely an eye-opening and unique experience that I am glad I did. For dinner tonight we found a traditional Bavarian restaurant that was below ground level. It was probably the best food I have had so far. I love finding hidden gems and staying away from the very touristy and main stream restaurants. 

One of the rooms in the Grand Hotel