Today, I really thought I would be tired and would take the day to readjust, but I didn’t need to.

We got off the plane in the morning (it was 3:00AM in Pittsburgh), and my day was off in running after maybe getting one hour of sleep.

After we checked into the hotel, Dr. Feick gave us a small tour of the city of Augsburg. Everything is walkable, and the public transit here is fantastic. Before we arrived, we learned about how Germans tend to be more systematic and detail oriented, and their public transit system is a perfect representation. On the tour, we saw the Augsburg town hall, the city center, the bell tower, and St. Anna Church. In World War II, the town hall was bombed, so the hall has been rebuilt. The hall was originally built by famous Augsburg architect Elias Hull. The top floor of the hall is a beautiful room where governmental debates, meetings and events are still held today. We were able to take a quick tour of the room and take some pictures.

After our town tour, we walked to the Fuggerei houses, which were social houses built in 1523 by famous Augsburg philanthropist Jakob Fugger. The social houses were built for the people of the working class, but not the poorest classes. Prostitutes were the lowest on the totem pole during the time of their construction, but these houses were built specifically for the “deserved poor” who deserved a chance to restart themselves and bring them back to their feet. Jakob Fugger had very specific requirements for the tenants of the houses. Most importantly, tenants had to practice Catholicism and pray three times a day. There are 52 small, apartment sized complexes which are in a gated community. The houses are still used today for the same purpose, and are the oldest social houses in the world.

We were able to tour a model of one of the apartments, which were more spacious than I imagined. First generation tenants were extremely cost-efficient and saved their money as much as possible. Heat was a valuable resource, so door frames were built lower so heat would not escape each room. The living room was a popular family hang out place, so they built a few mechanisms that would keep the living room very warm. There was a small window connecting the kitchen and the living room to transfer food, plates, trash, and other things without opening the main door. The rooms were smaller in size so our body heat could quickly warm the room. There is also a door lever in the room as well so that the front door could be opened without going into the hallway.

Our tour guide was extremely intelligent and allowed me to understand the reasoning and importance behind the houses from a European perspective. He gave a fantastic tour and I was really impressed. I felt like he was telling a story, and not just lecturing us with boring information.

We concluded our evening with a welcome dinner with the German students from the University of Augsburg. Nick and I sat with Mattias and Maxi and learned some cool facts about German student life. They were very nice and spoke English fluently. We learned some interesting facts and shared some of our daily life with them too.

Some interesting German Facts:

• College is 300 euros a year MAX (A lot of the time, it is free)
• One student is studying in Indiana’s business school next fall on a full scholarship
• One student went to California for a semester and loved it
• Three things they don’t like about America:
  • Guns
  • Trump
  • Health care

We shared some things that they don’t have here, such as:

• Security guards in schools
• Tailgates and American football games
• No advertisements on sports jerseys (accept a small one on NBA jerseys)
• Pittsburgh is no longer an industrial town

Overall, I enjoyed day one and really am loving Augsburg. It really gives me a cool perspective and I cannot wait to work with the University of Augsburg for the next two weeks!