Today marked the first day we set foot on the campus of the University of Augsburg. Immediately we got down to business (no pun intended…just kidding) and met the rest of the German business students in the lecture hall of the business school. We worked together with three of the German students to make our company introduction PowerPoint presentations. Collaborating with German students on a project for the first time was a great experience, and I’m really glad I changed my computer language to German several months before going abroad because using the computers in the university’s computer lab was a breeze for me. As for the actual presentation, I think I did a rather solid job.

After we finished giving our presentations, we enjoyed free lunch (the German students have to pay 3 or 4 Euros) at Mensa, the university cafeteria. The two-floor dining hall was quite large and had several tables–despite the fact that it was crowded, I think it is much easier to find seats here than at Market Central during peak hours. Most importantly, the taste, presentation, and sheer variety of food were far, far, far better than Market Central–there’s absolutely no comparison whatsoever. The main reason for this is because you would normally have to pay each time you get a meal at Mensa, and if the food was not good enough, nobody would pay for it. Makes sense. I devoured their Wiener schnitzel in record time–never in my life would I have expected such perfectly cooked schnitzel to be served in a university dining hall. I sat with a group of German students and learned more about what they are doing at the university. I’m actually rather surprised at how much I can understand when they speak German, especially considering the fact that I haven’t taken any German classes or actively immersed myself in the German language for a whole year. In fact, just walking around the university campus was such an awesome experience for me–I listen to the conversations German students have with each other, and I understood much more than I initially expected I would. Some of the most common words and phrases I heard were “Yeah” and “No idea”. So, I believe that German students are very relatable. My German education has definitely paid off, and for that, I’m very grateful. I’ve really come a long way–both literally and figuratively.

After indulging in our high-quality lunch, we took a very short, abbreviated tour of the campus, and then we broke up into three groups to take part in a scavenger hunt throughout the city of Augsburg. We revisited many of the areas we saw on the tour yesterday and got a closer look at the details of the buildings, monuments, and history of the city. We even climbed over 250 stone steps to the observation deck at the top of Perlachturm, the bell tower next to the town hall. The beautiful panoramic view of the entire city was well worth the intensive leg workout.

At the end of our scavenger hunt, we took a relaxing break at the Riegele Wirtshaus. Our group dinner at a pizzeria called Dragone followed the break. I drank a refreshing Spezi, which is a German soft drink similar to Coca-Cola products. And yes, I would say the pizza was rather authentic–plus, the waiter spoke both German and Italian fluently (but not English, which of course was no major problem for me).

And thus concludes day two of our program. I need to get up bright and early tomorrow morning to leave the hotel at 7:30 a.m. Therefore, I should probably hit the hay as early as humanly possible.