Das Auto- A Day in Wolfsburg

Today was our first official day trip after arriving in Hildesheim and we spent it in the 'Autostadt' of Wolfsburg, visiting the largest car manufacturing plant in the world!

It was about a 1.5 hour train ride to reach Wolfsburg, where we were greeted immediately by the four towers of the VW plant, where over 3,800 cars are manufactured daily to be sold world-wide.

The plant and grounds encompass over 6.5 square kilometers and include the factory, an exploration lab with many interactive exhibits, and over 10 other buildings housing cars of various makes and models that VW owns (including Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti, and many others) which you can see and some of which you can sit in and explore.

After taking an initial look around and getting a bite to eat, we boarded a boat which took us over the water which surrounds and runs through the grounds to the factory itself. There we rode on a small bus which took us on a half-hour tour of the factory, where we saw specifically various versions of the VW Gulf being made. We witnessed the rubber linings being placed on the doors, the wedding of the cage and the electronic body, the windows and tires being installed, and the workers riding bikes to get from one place to another throughout the huge building. We learned about the history of the plant itself, which was built first in 1938 and whose original brick buildings are now actually protected as a World Heritage Site. Car production was halted during WW2, during which time the plant was used to make war machinery and trucks. Now the plant in Wolfsburg is the largest of the over 100 VW plants worldwide and employs over 70,000 people in the one factory.

We were unfortunately unable to take pictures inside of the factory, however here are pictures of some of the cars and exhibits we saw walking around the show buildings afterwards.

There was also luckily an outlet mall right across from the plant, at which those of us who had seen enough of cars (maybe for life...) went shopping after our official tour.

The bus ride back was also a new cultural experience, as most of us had to stand for the first leg of the journey due to being on a small train with lots of commuters. We also had an 18-minute delay, which led to an unexpected run across the station to catch our next train to Hildesheim. Herr Beste surprised us with some delicious Turkish donuts on the way home, however, which made the trip much more enjoyable. :)

The students otherwise enjoyed a first full day of school yesterday, during which they visited several different classes, including music, sport, biology, world geography, German and French. They each also did different activities with their host families, including bowling, visiting a nearby local castle, bike rides and, of course, soccer viewings!

Tomorrow is another school day and then tomorrow night will be one of the highlights of the trip- the Germany vs. USA soccer match! Each of us has an important decision to make... which set of colors will we be wearing?! Red, white and blue -- or schwarz, rot und gelb? Here's to a great match and another good day in Deutschland!