Author: Hamilton Mutschler

This afternoon we took a tour through the Mercedes-Benz assembly plant here in Bremen, Germany. This plant produces the mainly the C-Class and E-Class vehicles along with an assortment of other models.

The size of this site was humongous. They employ 12,500 people and produce 420,000 vehicles annually. Seeing the large scale manufacturing process was amazing.

The most impressive for me though was the production of the car frames. The whole process is 95 percent automated which is quite the feat of engineering. In previous internships, I’ve worked at small-scale manufacturing companies, but those processes were now where near 95 percent automated. Being able to program these massive lines and hundreds of robots takes the expertise and funding that only a huge corporation can provide. It was amazing to see something like that in person.

Today was the beginning of the second half of our trip throughout Europe, so I thought it’d be a good time to reflect on some of the faith and cultural differences that I’ve experienced so far.

Christianity is probably the most important influence on the history of Europe and as we’ve been touring through these massive cathedrals, that has been very clear to see. But the thing that has surprised me the most is that the majority of these beautiful churches are no longer used as they were originally intended. Some of the ones we visited still hold regular services, but most of them are just tourist destinations. I had never realized until this trip that Europe has become far less religious than the United States.

I have been surprised by some of Europe’s cultural norms as well. Even something as normal as just walking down the street is a different experience here. In the US, if I make awkward eye contact with someone while walking in a popular area, I would normally just give a quick smile or nod and continue walking. But here in Europe I don’t think I’ve received either a smile or a nod in return when this has happened, I just get a strange look and then they pick up the pace in the opposite direction. Europeans just tend to keep to themselves, which was kind of weird to get used to at first.

Another difference I’ve noticed is that Europeans eat dinner far later than I’m used to in the US. When we have free time to get dinner on our own, we will show up to the restaurant around 5:30-6 o’clock and the entire place will be empty. Then once we’ve eaten and paid the bill (on one check because usually they won’t let you do separate checks), the locals will start to show up and fill the restaurant.

These are just a few differences I’ve seen so far, but it’s been an awesome experience. It’s easy for me to get comfortable where I live and forget that there are different places and different people out there in the world. This trip has done a great job of immersing me in new cultures so far and I’m looking forward to the second half of it.

Hamilton Mutschler

Today we started off our Sunday by visiting the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Reims in Reims France. In English, that would translate to Our Lady of Reims Cathedral. This beautiful Catholic cathedral was built during 1211-1345 in the same French Gothic architectural style as the famous Notre-Dame de Paris. At that time, it was built to replace the previous Catholic church that had been destroyed in a fire. But during WWII, parts of the cathedral were hit in the bombing and had to be restored.

We arrived about 45 minutes early so we had more than enough of time to walk around the cathedral, take pictures, and observe the amazing architectural work. Then at 11:00, we attended a Catholic mass there delivered in French. This was particularly interesting for me because I’ve never attended a Catholic mass before. Overall, the structure of the mass itself was a little different from the CRC church services that I have become accustomed to. The mass was very much directed by the priest and there wasn’t much time for personal reflection and prayer.

I went into the service not expecting to understand a word of the sermon or the hymns, but then in the second hymn the congregation chanted: “Gloria, gloria, gloria! In excelsis deo! Gloria gloria gloria! Alleluia! Alleluia!” It was very nice to hear these familiar praises and to praise the Lord in the same way across different cultures and religious denominations.

Even though our time in Reims was short, I’m glad we made the stop to worship here in this historic cathedral.

Hamilton Mutschler