Our very long travel started on May 3rd in Nordenberg Hall, in Oakland. After playing some games and talking for a while we attempted to get some sleep (I ended up not sleeping at all, it was SO cold!), before we boarded our bus to head to the airport on Saturday morning. We made it through TSA and took our short flight from PIT to Chicago. When we landed, we spent our 6-hour layover trying the famous deep-dish pizza for the very first time. Unfortunately, airport food isn’t always the best, but I was starving so I rated the pizza a 7/10. We spent some more time exploring the O’Hare airport before my sleepless, 9-hour flight (possibly the longest flight of my life). After a very very long travel day, and no sleep, we finally arrived in Munich, Germany.
The first thing we did was get some food and hop on the bus. We learned a little bit about the rapeseed fields (the yellow fields in the picture below) and started our journey to our hotel where we met up with some of our lovely hosts, Elisabeth and Nico. They gave us the run-down of some of the basics during our trip, and then we were off.
We spent some time exploring the city (picture 2 below), before we started our tour at the Fuggerei House (picture 1 below). We learned some historical facts about some of the churches, and about some local spots, and we were able to look at the buildings and see which ones still stand from before the bombing versus after the bombing. We eventually made our way over to the Fuggerei house for the tour. Our tour guide taught us about its history, and how the house works today. We learned about why the houses are designed the way they are (based off of the number of people who live there, and the house design takes into the account of the cold winters, etc.), who the Fuggerei family is, and who stays at the social houses (fun fact: Mozart and the plumber got to stay there for free in exchange for working for the house)!! The Fuggerei house was such a cool thing to experience, especially since it is still in use today. I thought the process behind the pricing and the idea of the houses was such a cool thing to learn about. Besides a little bit of rain, it was a gorgeous day for exploring, which we definitely tried to take advantage of.
We finished our day having a group dinner with some of the Augsburg students. We learned about the different food options, tried some new foods, and learned more about Germany. We were able to talk about the differences between German and American culture and learn about the different stereotypes that go along with each. After some much some much needed food, we walked around a bit more and decided to get some gelato. In my professional opinion, gelato is superior to ice cream, and there are so many flavors. We have made a new goal to try every single flavor before we go (update: we may get sick, but we are determined). After this I was exhausted, and have gone almost 48 hours without sleep, so we decided to wrap up the night and head home. Overall, it was a very fun, but exhausting day and I can’t wait to see what’s next!!