Before going to Germany there were three things I really wanted to see: nice cars, old buildings, and historic castles.  Today, I could cross two of those off my list.

I started the day just as I did the previous day, with a sausage and cheese sandwich.  After this, we boarded a bus and rode to our first company visit.  At this company, Faurecia, they first gave two presentations to us, teaching us what the company does and how they do it.  Faurecia builds various car parts for different manufacturers, and after the presentations, we got to see the development and testing of these products.  My favorite part was the company’s acoustics testing.  For this, they surround the car with microphones to test the sound of the car while using the parts that they have built.

After our visit concluded, we went back to Augsburg for lunch.  A few of us went to a restaurant called Aposto for pizza, pasta, and the non-carbonated water that we missed so much.  We then met our tour guide for the day.  She took us to more churches than I have ever been to in my life, and the whole time, she did a great job staying focused on teaching us about Martin Luther.  At one point, it sounded like a cannon fired right next to us, and (although we still don’t know what the noise was) she continued to teach without pausing.  I was truly impressed by her dedication.

To finish the day, a large group of us went to an authentic German restaurant for dinner.  Forget my sausage sandwiches in the morning, this meal may end up being the most German thing I ever eat.  It consisted of pork that they described as “off the knuckle” and, of course, a pretzel and spezi.  The pork was served with potatoes and a fried egg in one giant mess of goodness.  Looking back, I’m glad I chose to take the risk of trying something that  seemed completely different than anything I had ever had, and I hope to continue to try new things over the rest of our time in Germany.