Classes & Wolfsburg

Well we actually had 3 whole days of class this week! We also had our first test, which is crazy to think about having a test after only 3 days of class before that. The teachers are very understanding though and the test went well! The days are just very long and the cafeteria (or mensa) is not all that great. The campus doesn't have a bookstore or anywhere to buy a t-shirt though. We were sad about this, but apparently there isn't much school spirit since they don't really have many sports. Their schools are more about actual academics haha. I don't think they even have a workout facility (unfortunately).
On Tuesday we took a day trip as part of the program to Wolfsburg to visit the Volkswagen Plant! It exceeded my expectations. We all thought we would be touring a car factory, but Volkswagen is much more than that. The day we visited they said they had 10,000 kindergarteners there. Thank goodness it's a huge place, so we didn't feel too outnumbered... There is a different building for each model. We got to see the 2 towers that store the cars before they are brought out for the new owners. They aren't generally there for more than 24 hours though. Watching the conveyor belts go up and down to get the cars was extremely cool to watch. This is where a scene from Mission Impossible 3 was filmed.
Also there is a museum of older cars and I wanted to take a picture of every single one! They had so many older cars including some from the beginning of Volkswagen, to the 1 millionth car made to what I think she said was a type of one of the first cars ever made.
At Volkswagen there are ground in between the buildings and the factory and this is where the kids were playing while we toured. I honestly felt like I was in a car version of Willy Wonka. Volkswagen definitely cares about imagination and fun. There was a bugatti made out of all silver and is 100% reflective so would be illegal to take on the road. (That's the reason I didn't buy it.) Also, it cost 1.6 million Euro.
We went into the Audi building on our tour and it was a very interactive building. There was a ball you carried around and light up differently depending on your location. You could put it up to one of the slots on the wall and it would start a video to tell you about either what you were near or about one of the cars. All in all, this building was very creatively made and I couldn't possibly explain how through text. I will just say visiting Volkswagen is a must if you are ever in Germany! Volkswagen is probably my favorite part of visiting Germany so far! I'm so glad we got to go.
Also exciting this week, I was forced to do laundry. We were told the hotel would have laundry services, but that is not true. So about 7 euro, 2 hours and some damp clothes later that is done, even though I may have to wash more things before the end of the trip. Their washers and dryers are different than ours, mostly because everything is in German and Celcius temperature and the dials are different. We made it out with no shrunken clothes though!
Tomorrow morning I will be leaving for Brussels, Belgium. I am so excited about this trip! I plan on eating a big waffle and buying some good white chocolate. I am hoping to see some beautiful horses and a pretty place. We would like to find a castle too! I am traveling with a good group of people this weekend, so it should be a lot of fun. I forgot to take my SD card to Amsterdam last weekend so I'm double checking to make sure I have it this weekend and my charger! So I will definitely have pictures sooner from this weekend.
Today marks the halfway point! It has really flown by and I know the rest will go by even faster. At first we were all really homesick and felt like we had been here forever! Now I still miss home and everyone a lot, but I cannot believe it's halfway so I'm nervous about time flying by also. I'm having a great time though, so that makes time go by faster too!
I will try to post a blog and pictures either Sunday night or Monday! Bis später!