After a long trek of flights and one sleepless night, we arrived at the Munich airport. We boarded a Mercedes Benz bus and headed to Augsburg. Along the way, some people analyzed the cars going by and were amazed at how many Mercedes and BMW cars there were on the road. I was just amazed that each car was so clean and shiny; it seemed like Germany took pride in their vehicles. Looking out to the side, Germany was full of large grasslands and pretty views.

Finally, we arrived to Augsburg and unpacked our luggage. We ventured out for lunch to a bakery down the road. It was a little intimidating since we struggled to get past the language barrier and order, but it all worked out in the end. I got a pretzel sandwich with ham and was happily surprised at the quality. After lunch, we went back to the hotel and hung out for a bit until orientation.

At orientation, we were given some useful tools such as a pocket guide. After the orientation, we began the tour of Augsburg led by Dr. Feick. Initially it began to snow on us but it cleared up and the sun came out. Dr. Feick talked about the history of Augsburg and many interesting facts about the city, such as the pine-cone being a symbol of the city. The town itself was beautiful with cobblestone walkways between small connected buildings on both sides. There is also a tram that runs through the town and makes for easy transportation. I found it to feel really close-knit and welcoming.

One of my favorite things that we saw was the Fuggerei. The Fuggerei is the oldest social housing complex in the world that still houses people. The rent price is only 88 euro cents for an entire year. That’s insanely cheap to live here! It was originally founded by Jakob Fugger who was very rich and helped build up much of Germany, especially Augsburg.

The last thing that we did today was get dinner with the University of Augsburg students. I was surprised at how well they spoke and understood English. They tried to teach me some German but they admitted that it was a difficult language to learn. Maybe in the next two weeks I can put in the effort to learn some simple sentences.

Overall, while I need to catch up on some sleep, I really enjoyed my first day here and am very excited for the upcoming two weeks!