The extremely long day began at 9:00 am Pittsburgh time, when we hopped on the bus to the Pittsburgh airport. We had a quick flight to Charlotte, followed by a three-hour layover before our flight to Munich. The flight to Munich was about eight hours, so I tried to get some sleep on the plane. We arrived at the Munich airport at 7:00 am Munich time, which is 1:00am Pittsburgh time. Despite us all being sleep deprived, we had a long day ahead of us.
One of the first things that struck my eye was the bright yellow fields we could see from the airplane. On the bus to Augsburg, we got a closer look at the beautiful fields.
As we got closer to Augsburg, another difference I noticed was that there was a lot more greenery in the city than what I was used to in Pittsburgh. The grass, trees, and vines were not as meticulously kept as in the US, but it gave a cool feeling to the city. There was also much more open space in the main parts of the city, and far less traffic. This could be because of it being a Sunday, but I also think it has a lot to do with the public transportation system. The street cars run throughout the entire city, as well as regular busses.
We went on a walking tour of the city around 10am and got a snack for lunch on the way. We walked through the main parts of the city and got to see a ton of unique buildings and plazas. After waiting for a concert to finish, we were able to go inside the Rathaus, or city hall. The majority of the decoration on the ceiling was coated with gold, which along with artwork created a beautiful effect.
After viewing the Rathaus, we were finally able to check in to our rooms after what felt like forever since leaving Pittsburgh. The rooms were a little bit smaller than we expected, but we made it work. After a little bit of time to ourselves, we went back out into the city to tour the Fuggerei, which is an affordable housing project that was created over 500 years ago by a man named Jakob Fugger. Today, the project houses people who are in bad financial situations for 88 Euro Cents a year. We got to see inside an example apartment as well as learn about the history of the project and the Fugger family. Towards the end of the tour, we were shown a bomb shelter that was used during World War II.
By the end of this tour, I was extremely hungry again, and looking forward to our dinner with the students from Augsburg. We met them at a restaurant and split up into tables. It was great to get to learn a little bit about them and ask tons of questions. After talking with them for almost two hours, we began to realize that we are pretty dumb compared to them. They all spoke at least three languages and had perfect English, so I was scared to try speaking German to them. I ordered a pork schnitzel, which was an amazing way to kick off the German food for the trip.
After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel and I finished unpacking all of my stuff, and am now working on my blog post. We plan on exploring around our hotel tonight, but I don’t think that will last too long because we are all exhausted.
Overall, the travel and first day in Augsburg was a success, and I can’t wait to experience the rest of the trip!
Tschuss!