Friday, May 25, 2012

Day 6-Friday... German Milling School, Braunschweig, Germany

Today, after a very restful night in the Burg Warberg Castle, we headed into Braunschweig to attended class with some German milling students. The majority of the students we met with spoke a small amount of English, so after a tour around of the facilities, we sat down with the students and chatted. First, the students showed us some software they were using to simulate a working mill and how changing specific parameters would effect flour yield. It was very interesting to see. After we got all the technical stuff out of the way we focused on what college life is for them. The students at the German Milling School have worked as apprentices in mills for 3-4 years before coming to the milling school, so they have a very good understanding of the milling process. They also seemed to be just like the typical college student you'd find in the states. In fact, the student I was chatting with told us of a 'party' they had the previous night. His housemates had their flag stolen by another house down the street and had drink quite a bit of beer to get it back. Needless to say they were pretty successful! Very interesting!

And these pictures are just for Jonathan, the best boyfriend in the world!

German keyboard, with some extra letters
Another shot of the German keyboard










After our visit with the German Milling Students we headed over to IFF, which is an international research association for feed technology. Here we saw some state-of-the-art equipment in a very old mill. IFF had a variety of pellet mills, expanders and mixers. They also provided us a quick lunch of asparagus and meatball soup with bread. After the tour of the IFF facilities we headed over to another Open Air Museum. At this museum there was a display of miniature mills throughout the years, which was very neat to see. There were also a variety of life-size mills on display as well. 
Kyle making friends with the Museum group
After a walk through the museum and a stop for coffee and strusel, we headed back to the castle. Tonight we would be dining at the castle, but first Peter took us on a private tour of the castle. We started the tour in the main courtyard but soon made multiple twists and turns through servant hallways and the like. The castle has multiple banquet rooms and even their own bake quality lab!! The tour included a trip to the top of the tower to enjoy a drink with the castle 'ghost' (or bitters, as we learned). The view from the tower was amazing! Peter also presented each of the students with 100 euro cash scholarship! All the students were shocked and so thankful! We then ventured back to the main courtyard for a grill-out! Again, the food was amazing and included sausages, potatoes, salad and fresh bread. And of course all the beer and wine we could drink! As dinner concluded, the faculty presented Peter with some K-State gear and we headed to the back side of the castle to watch the sun go down. The party didn't stop then... Peter left us in the capable hands of his wait staff, which did a very good job of ensuring our glasses were never empty! They did an amazing job taking care of us and even brought us a couple of bowls full of ice, after they over heard P. Kitty complaining of never having ice. It was great! Peter was entertaining another group as well, but stopped to check back in on us throughout the rest of the evening and into the early morning hours. He also introduced us to an amazing new snack... Peanut butter flips! These things are amazing! They are basically cheetos but with a peanut butter flavor. They taste similar to Peanut Butter Captain Crunch but not as sweet and then go amazingly well with beer. As the cool night air settled in, we moved into a private room to continue the party! After we were finally able to call it a night, we all headed off to bed, except Kyle, who managed to somehow lock himself outside the castle so he ended up watching the sun come up and catching a few Zzzz's out on the patio before an employee found him and let him back in. What an adventure it was to stay at Burg Warberg!! I definitely can't wait to go back!!
The Castle tower, from the courtyard

Castle courtyard

Looking down on the courtyard

View from the tower, notice the nuclear power plant in the background

Kyle and Britni waiting for dinner to start

Peter with his new KSU gear

ICE!!!

Dusk at the castle

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