Our time in Uelzen

We went to Munster first. visit to tank museum. then lunch at the Munster Garrison, one of the largest in Germany. Met with Captain Nico Mueller. Lunch was: first course Marriage soup (think italian wedding soup); main course wild boar, potatoes, mushrooms, green beans wrapped in bacon; third course strawberries and cream.

We also had a shot of Heidegeist, which is a licorice schnapps that can only be found in this region and contains 54% alcohol. It was very good. I could feel it as it travelled down my throat and into my stomach. Germans say it is "good for the stomach". Then again they also say beer is not alcohol...From there we went to the Lily Marleen statue, based on a famous song.

Then onto Uelzen where we met up with our host family.

My host family is Rainer and Edith Wetzel. Rainer is an architect and Edith was a psychologist. Their home is an old barn that they converted into a house. Very beautiful.

After a brief visit with our host families, I went to Suderburg to the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences. In Germany there are two types of Universities: those that are research/theory based and those that are applied science. This university has 800 students on this campus and has 3 other campuses with a total student population of around 11,000. At Suderburg, their focus is on two main areas: civil engineering, which includes mostly soil and water engineering, and Economics/Social Work. We had a brief tour of the facility. Many of the machines were very old, including computers used with the machines. The university is run by the state and only receives new money from grants.

After the tour, the whole group got together at the college for dinner. They were having an alumni event with live music, barbecue, and of course, beer. I had the chance to talk with a professor from the university as well as a vice principal at a local gymnasium. He told me that students there in grades 5-6 receive 10 hours of science a week. The teacher can decide how to divide those hours between biology, chemistry, and physics. In grades 7-10, the students receive 2 hours a week of each of those courses. In grades 11-12/13, they can decide to take a full science course if they want, or all three. Many of the science classes do include labs at gymnasium, unlike the lower schools as described from the visit with AFP.

Things I learned today:

1. Germany and other countries in Europe are downsizing their own military and essentially outsourcing their tasks to countries with those specialties. For example, Germany might keep the tanks, but France might be responsible for the airborne division, etc. Essentially, a unified European army rather than individual armies for each country.

2. The Bachelor's program in Germany is all standardized and contains 7 terms (3.5 years) of 6 modules each, with the last term being a thesis/research project. Students can also complete an additional 3 terms (2 lecture, 1 thesis) for the Master's program. The modules include "soft skill," which are sort of like our gen eds. Theoretically, because the modules are all standardized, a student could complete some modules at one university and then transfer to another and simply continue their degree progression.

3. Wild boar tastes like pot roast.

4. Electrical lines are in ground in Germany, so you rarely see tall metal towers. When you do, they are to connect the electricity from the wind farms...and the Germans hate them!

5. After the nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan, Germany closed all their nuclear plants and plan to get rid of them all by 2025 or so. As a result, wind farms and solar cells are becoming more popular. Solar panels are also popular because it helps offset the price of electricity, which is high in Germany because it follows the price of diesel (imagine if your electric bill was based on the price of gas!). So, many Germans try to be as independent as possible when it comes to energy. This also might be why it seems Germans rarely use lights...that and the fact that all their buildings have many windows which let in natural light.

Day 5

Yesterday we started with a walking tour of our small village of Barum. My host family built many of the houses here in this town of about 500. We told him they should name the town after him! The roses and rhododendrons are in full bloom here and absolutely stunning. It was a little rainy, but not enough to need an umbrella.

Then we headed to a farm that also has a biogas plant. It was very interesting. They own or rent almost 740 acres of land and rotate crops on their fields. These crops include: grain (wheat, barley, a combo of rye/wheat), potatoes, sugar beets, rapeseed, onions and corn. They also have 600 pigs. Uelzen has one of the biggest sugar beet factories in all of Germany so the sugar beet crop is very important.

This farm was the first to use biogas in this region. They use a combination of pig manure, grass, sugar beets, and corn to make their fuel. What isn't used as fuel is then put back into the field as fertilizer, so the process is very efficient. The fuel feed is injected every hour and is heated in a large incubator (think short silo) to 42C. It is mixed together and as a result of the mixing and heat produces butane. The butane makes up about 51-55% of what is produced and the rest of the byproducts are mostly CO2 and other gases. Then it goes to the engines to produce power for the house and farm. What excess power is produced, they get paid to put it back to the town grid They receive a certain amount per kwh, but the rate is locked for 20 years from when you start your plant. So, it can be both good and bad, depending on the demand and pricing.

We then did some exploring around Uelzen, including a visit to the train station designed by architect Hundertwasser. He did not like squares or straight things, so everything from sidewalks to columns are curvy and bright colors. Very interesting! Then we headed to dinner at Zanzibar restaurant and it was SO GOOD! I had lamb, pork, and turkey. Following dinner, we had a nightwatchman tour, which was a tour through the town with information (and costumes) from medieval times. It was very interesting to learn about the town's history.

Things I learned today:

1. It takes at least 2 people to save a sheep! As we were on our walking tour of Barum, we saw a sheep caught in some fencing. Edith and Tim went over to help it. Edith had to hold it down and Tim helped untangle it. When it was finally free, it was so happy..it baaaaed all the way back to the rest of the sheep

2. Biogas is pretty cool, but it sure does smell. I don't think I could ever work on a farm.

3. When I get home, I am getting some lamb meat. It is so delicious.

4. I learned the most important word yesterday: stelleswasser It means still water, or tap water. Here, everything is mineral water (yuck).

Day 6

We started off the day with a big American breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, and probably the most delicious bacon I've ever tasted. Then, we headed to the canal locks where the ships come in. This lock is impressive. There is almost a 30 meter difference between one side of the lock and the other. So, there are 2 separate holding cells for water that fill the center once the ship is secured. The final 3rd is filled by the river, which flows downstream. This allows them to conserve as much water as possible so that they do not waste. The whole thing takes about 10 minutes and it is very impressive to watch.

After the locks, we went to an old outdoor barn museum which also had an antique tractor showcase on this particular day. The museum is called Museumsdorf Hosseringen. It is built to display what farmhouses and villages would have looked like in the Luneburger Heide area in the mid 1800s or so. It was very cool to look at, but we were all very cold and wet. It has been raining here for about 4 days straight now and very very cold (10-12C during the day). The farmers need the rain, but I wish it would rain at night instead!

 

Dinner was with the host family, and we had time to pack and prepare for presentations. All in all, a very relaxing Sunday. The next day, we completed our first real presentation and exchanged flags with the club. Then it was off to Salzwedel for our next leg of the journey!

 

More to come soon! Sara.