Today was a satisfying but also a sad day. After a long trip of continuous company visits (Hoerbiger, Grob, Forvia, Audi) and long nights of working on our company analysis projects, we finally presented our research to the group. We are now officially done with our program’s academic work and as celebration we had a fancy dinner altogether one last time.
Since presentations started at 2pm, we were able to sleep in and get as much sleep as we needed. For the first time this trip, I was able to get 8 hours of sleep. I was so well rested that I was more than ready for presentation day. For breakfast, Eduardo and I got the leftovers of the hotel breakfast since we woke up so late. All that was left was a little bit of bacon, hard-boiled eggs, and some pieces of bread.
After breakfast, our project group decided to meet early and practice our presentation. The American students in my group and I took the bus from the hotel to the University of Augsburg, meeting the German students at one of the university’s libraries. Our meeting was a success as we found out we had to cut out some information in order to not go over the time limit stated on the syllabus.
After our pre-presentation meeting, we got lunch at the university’s dining hall. Since it was vegan day, I got apple strudel with vanilla sauce and vegan chicken. The chicken was alright but the apple strudel was really good. After lunch, it was go time. From the dining hall, we headed to the business building, where our presentations were being presented.
From random selection, our group (Hoerbiger) presented first. I was glad and in relief we were able to present first and get it out of the way. Overall, I was very satisfied with our presentation. We were right on time and everyone contributed nicely. I am very happy with the final result and very thankful for the German students for all the hard work they put in the presentation as well. After going first, we were able to relax and listen to all the other presentations for the rest of the afternoon. In the end, it was nice seeing how much everyone learned this past week, as we all did very well with our presentations.
Once presentations were done, we left the university and had time to ourselves Augsburg before dinner. A couple of the guys and I got snacks at the grocery store for tonight, and then I started packing my suitcase. I started getting a little sad as this will be the last couple of hours I will ever spend with this group.
When it was dinner time, we headed to the restaurant. We ate at the Ratskeller, which is located on the side of the Rathaus, or the town hall of Augsburg. We were first given flatbread pizzas as appetizers, which were really good. For dinner, I had to order Schnitzel with french fries one last time, with a passion fruit-flavored sparkling drink. The whole meal was delicious and was a great way to end the program.
Tonight, we are all celebrating together and tomorrow is our free day. Some are headed to Munich while the majority of us, I included, are headed to Salzburg, Austria! Austria is so close that we are going by train. I can’t believe I will be able to visit another country before we have to head home Friday morning. Overall, this has been an amazing trip.
Nicholas Monetti