We started our day today with a traditional Bavarian breakfast- pretzels and weisswurst. The place was very authentic; I really felt I was getting the full Bavarian experience just sitting inside. One of the biggest cultural differences I’ve noticed since being here is the normality of drinking alcohol all the time. It’s been almost two weeks and I’m still surprised to see people drinking beer with breakfast. Eating the weisswurst (or maybe watching others eat the weisswurst) was one of the best parts of the experience. All of the sausages were linked together in a pot full of broth, so watching people try to cut them apart without splashing themselves was quite entertaining.

After breakfast we took a bus to Oberammergau. This bus ride was amusing because so many of us fell asleep. At one point I looked around and there were about 4 people out of roughly 30 that were awake. Oberammergau was a lovely little town with lots of souvenir shops and cafes. Of course, we stopped for ice cream and I had yet another delicious cone. Ice cream in the states is definitely different than the ice cream and gelato I’ve eaten here, but at the end of the day I love them all equally. One of the most memorable parts of our trip thus far was the undoubtedly the gondola ride up into the Alps. The view the entire way up was amazing, but when we reached the top I was speechless. It was pretty cloudy so we couldn’t see all there was to see but I was still in awe. The gondola ride back down was even better than the ride up. The group of us sang “Sweet Caroline” at the top of our lungs, really embracing our Pitt pride.

Tonight we ate our final meal as a group. We enjoyed a nice dinner with the German students where we reminisced on the past two weeks and the memories we made. I learned some new German words that my friends told me are the hardest ones to pronounce, so that was pretty amusing! At the end of the night we gave the German students in our group a small gift to remember us by. Our friend Ben loved his gift so much that he put the shirt on right there and wore it with such pride. That moment made this whole experience all the more meaningful. It’s so great to have been able to meet these students and leave impressions like this one.