(5/7-5/8) Hello from Augsburg! Welcome back to my blog for Plus3 Germany! I am thrilled to say that we have completed our journey from Pittsburgh to Germany and our first day in Augsburg. What a 30-ish hours that whole journey was! We first flew from Pittsburgh to Charlotte and then caught our connecting flight to Munich. However, about an hour or two into the flight, the plane’s radar system malfunctioned and we had to detour to JFK International for a couple of hours to switch planes. Luckily, the detour didn’t deter us for too long and I actually got some sleep during our second attempt of travelling to Munich. Just before noon in German time the next day, we finally touched ground.

I expected the airport to be bustling with people leaving, arriving, or rushing to catch a connecting flight, for it is known as a busy airport. Maybe because it was a Sunday morning or because the specific section of the airport that we were in was just for customs (probably the latter), but it did not appear all that busy. I’m happy this was the case; I think that if it was too busy, I would have been overwhelmed with sensory overload. With this being my first trip beyond US borders, I was able to ease into the different world by practicing basic German phrases at customs and witnessing the extremely beautiful German countryside on our bus ride to Augsburg.

Before this trip, anyone I know that had been to Bavaria said that it looks like it is straight out of a storybook or fairytale. While driving through Augsburg for the first time, their statements could not have been truer. Everything, from the architecture and layout of the city to the manmade canals running alongside the streets, was just magnificent. I’ve only been here for about 10 hours and I already adore this town.

After meeting the instructor from the University of Augsburg, the group took a tour of the Fuggerei, which is the world’s oldest public housing complex still in use. It was awesome setting foot in a building that has been standing since the 1500s and learning which Augsburg citizens qualified for the housing and how they lived. We then ate dinner at a restaurant called Zeughaus and met the Augsburg students for the first time. I must admit that I was extremely nervous walking up to the table to greet them. While those nerves would have held me back in the past, I pushed them aside and said hello with confidence. After exchanging names, the first thing one of the students asked me was if I spoke German. While I wish I could, I anxiously said no. It didn’t even matter because they were all magnificent with their English-speaking skills. With the language barrier not being too much of an issue, we were able to discuss how life differs between our two countries in topics such as education, food, and even politics. I rightfully expected there to be multiple differences, but I wasn’t sure how the German students would react to some of them. To my delight, we had open conversations about all of these factors and were able to learn so much from each other. While I’m sure that it was a nerve-racking night for all of us, the German students were very kind and welcoming and helped mitigate the culture shock.

After this first day, while I am still adjusting, I am incredibly excited to get to know the students better and explore all that Germany and this experience has to offer.