We finally arrived in Munich around 7 am after a flight from Charlotte at 9am and an overnight flight to Munich. The first thing that I noticed after touching down in the foreign country was truly the taxis. In America, taxis are normally bright yellow and not from a high end car company. In Germany however, most of the taxis are a light tan color and are from the brand Mercedes. I also came to learn that the police cars are normally BMWs which varies from the US’s normal Ford Explorers.
After talking to Professor Feick, we came to learn that higher end cars tend to cost less in Germany as the car tends to come with less “upgrades”. This allows for more people and public help (taxis, cops, ambulances, etc.) to be able to afford these cars, which is why we see them about.
Another difference between Germany and the US that I noticed while on the little over an hour bus ride into Augsburg was the greenery. I expected to drive right into a city with tall buildings surrounding me and traffic, anything anyone would expect in a city just not as crazy as New York City. However, I was pleasantly surprised when there was nothing but tree and fields to surround me on the drive. Flying in I was able to see fields upon fields of yellow plants, which I later found out are the plants used in grapeseed oil. When driving I was finally able to see these up close along with little villages that sat amongst these fields. Each house looked about the same which is not what happens in the US. Each house had a cream colored outside with a red tile roof. Many houses also included solar panels and many bare land had solar panel fields, which one can not find in the US. Another interesting part of Germany is the Autobahn which is comparable to an US highway, but in Germany there are sections of the Autobahn that have no speed limit.
Once we put our bags away and finally made our way through Augsburg more differences came to mind. First, water is not free nor is it common to get. You will have to pay for water if you order it at a restaurant and unlike being still water, the common type to get is sparkling. There were also street cars and buses which could take you all around the city. Their streets were also not paved streets but stone which many people either walked or biked on instead of driving. Augsburg also has a lot of history which we got to start touring today such as the Fuggeri, the town hall, and the city itself.
I look forward to exploring more tomorrow!
