It’s Breakfast, It’s Sausage, Its Germany. Dr. Feick told us yesterday we will be having breakfast at a famous sausage shop. “It’s the typical Bavarian breakfast, if you are not sure whether you will like it or not, you can come down and have the hotel breakfast before going.” For me, today turned out to be the only day I woke up late and I totally missed the hotel breakfast. So, I had a hungry stomach the whole bus ride to Baindlkirch, where the breakfast place is.
The first thing I saw walking into the “restaurant” were tables of people, mostly elders, eating sausages and holding a mug filled with beer in their hands. Of course, when we looked at Dr. Feick he gave us a look of “No alcohol allowed”. We sat down, most of us anxious since we don’t know what we are expecting, some of us still sleepy, putting heads down on the table. A couple minutes later, a lady brought us a metal bowl filled with white sausages. Then she pointed at the mustard sauce on the table, signaling that we should dip the sausage in the homemade mustard. Dr. Feick demonstrated how we cut the skin of the sausage off then eat them. It was fine to me, but some people struggled to get the skin off. My first taste was more than amazing. I fell in love with the homemade mustard even though I’m not a big mustard guy at all. The sausage had an interesting taste, I can’t really describe it but I liked it.
Our next stop is Oberammergau, a town right below the Alps. According to Dr. Feick, we are supposed to take a tram up the mountain and see the mountain range and the view of the town. But by the time we arrived it was very foggy, so he thought it would be better for us to walk around town first and see if the peak is less foggy by the time we are done. Take a guess, we were walking with Steve and what did we have? Yup, Ice cream. In addition to that, I got hot chocolate. It was something else, really warms up your stomach and have a very chocolaty taste. There was no milk in the hot chocolate, but somehow it tasted a little milky. We didn’t do much other than walking into souvenir stores. I found a couple more good gifts for my family, I wonder if I can fit them all in my luggage.
About an hour later we arrived at the tram to go up the hill. It was much taller than I expected, at least a couple hundred km, if not a thousand. The whole process of getting everyone up took around 20 minutes. The view? It might be hard to see in the picture because it was still a little foggy. However, sometimes the fog opens up a gap and we could see the mountain range and the town that lies below us. I could only imagine how great the view will be if it was sunny. This is definitely a place I want to come back and check out again if I have the opportunity in the future.
A two-hour bus ride and a couple hours of resting in the hotel brought us to the farewell dinner later that night. Everyone came! The German students that worked with us, the four German graduates that will study abroad at Pitt next semester, and the supervisors. It was a feast. We all sat with our own group and talked nonstop, even while we were eating. Unfortunately, Jani couldn’t make it. But he added me on Snapchat, so we can keep in contact. We also gave them the presents we bought, it was truly a great time. Even after dinner and a photo with everyone, many of us still stayed for another half an hour talk. Two weeks might be a short period of time, but it is enough for you to make friends, for you to get to know someone, for you to feel sad to say goodbye. Not only Felix, Marius, and Jani, all the German students were super cool. Even Sonja and Simon, the two Augsburg Supervisors of the trip, were super chill. They accompanied us the whole time wherever we went.
Today’s dinner added a little bitterness to this trip. I’m glad I met and became friends with the German students, perhaps not the project, nor the three credits, but the experience with the German students and the friendship is what I got out most during my two weeks in Germany.