Xerium, Graz and The Alps

Hey Everyone!

Today we toured Xerium in Semmering, Austria.  They produce paper machine clothing, press felts and roll covers.  We got to see their many textile machines and got a full presentation on the things they are doing / how they create these rolls.  I was surprised to find out that they have 450 patents and are a supplying the felts to the two new Tissue Machines going in at St. Croix Tissue in Baileyville.

Yesterday in Graz, Austria we got to experience the culture of the city in semi-full swing.  Since there was a national holiday, the city was a lot quieter than normal and proved difficult in finding places to eat.  Luckily the Chinese restaurant was open and the buffet wasn't half bad.  We had traditional Austrian cuisine and beer at a local restaurant for dinner, getting meals like the Wiener Schnitzel.

The best part of the trip, in my opinion, has been the traveling.  The Alps in Eastern Austria are steep,  heavily wooded mountains that rise and fall in all directions.  There are tunnels that go straight through the mountains because it would be nearly impossible to go over them.  Also speaking German, or attempting to, has been a neat experience too.  Most people speak fluent english but its fun to try and say simple things like Danke (thank you) or Auf Wietesen (Goodbye), and trying to pronounce what you're ordering for food.

The past three days have felt like a week and a half.  This trip has already been more than I could've asked for and I'm very excited for whats in store for the rest of it.

- Cory Schweitzer

Video From Today

Aaron Ortiz has been able to capture some of today's events on a Go-Pro!  Here is some of the footage!

One trip to Turkey later...

Greetings readership!

We TREE-trippers landed in Munich at approximately 10PM local time. By the time we got to the hotel, many of us had been traveling for 30 hours or more, including a quick stop in Istanbul.

Agenda for tonight:
- Sample some famed German beers
- Try to get some much needed rest before we head to Austria in the morning

Tomorrow marks the start of our tours. In the morning we'll be taking a bus to Graz, Austria where we'll be touring an Andritz manufacturing facility.  Afterward we'll visit the University of Graz and visit students and professors in their pulp and paper program.  We're all very excited just to be here, and even more excited to start our tours.  We'll be traveling through the Alps tomorrow, which promises to be quite a sight.

Here are some images from our trek across the Atlantic:

Stay tuned readers! More tales, photos, and videos to follow.

Steve

We have arrived!

Guten Tag!

After an 8 hour flight, a 3 hour layover in Turkey, and finally a 2.5 hour flight, we have arrived in Munich! We just got to our hotel and we are exhausted, as demonstrated by Rachel below (on our shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel). It's been a long day, and I hope we can get use to the time change. It's already 1:00am here in Germany (7:00 Maine time) and I'm not that tired. We have to be up and ready though by 7:00am tomorrow to go on a 5 hour bus ride for our first tour in Graz though! I'm really excited to see what Andritz has to offer. Afterwards we are going to be visiting the University of Graz to meet up with some students there. I'm really excited, and will keep you guys updated!

Thanks for all of your support-
Katrina

Today was a very long day!  It started on Tuesday carpooling from Orono to Portland where we took a bus to Boston for our flights.  We got to go outside in Turkey for a few minutes so that was exciting, too. We just arrived at our hotel and I'm anxious to get some rest and tour Andritz tomorrow.

A Minute with Matt

Hello!

Currently on a bus from Portland to Boston and watching Night at the Museum 2 on the bus tv, a terrible movie but nothing else to do on the bus. Hopefully nothing was forgotten back home because there is no going back for it now. I am looking forward to the trip and everything has gone smoothly so far. Only about 20 more hours until we arrive in Germany, I will keep fellow bloggers updated along the way.

this is Matt Haws over and out

'Twas the night before departure....

As we are scheduled to fly out of Logan Airport in Boston tomorrow evening, I thought it would be a good idea to start packing.  I'm sure that most of our trip attendees have realized the same thing.  We are scheduled to fly out of Logan at 11:00PM and arrive in Munich at 9:00PM tomorrow evening with a layover in Istanbul, Turkey.  We'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Below you can see the route that we will be taking while we are in Germany and Austria.  We will begin by travelling into Austria and then back to Germany after this weekend.  We have been fortunate enough to have incredible support from all of our host companies and our itinerary will certainly provide our group with a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Check out our blog over the next couple weeks to stay up to date with our travel, read about what we've been doing, and view some pictures!  If you guys have any questions for us please shoot us an email and we will respond to them on the blog!  Thanks to everyone who has made this possible!!!