Our day started off pretty early in the morning. After breakfast we started the hour bus ride to Hoerbiger. We got to learn about their production of Piezo valves and the vast uses for them. These valves are more efficient and precise and can be used in anything from knitting machines to safely helping ventilate premature babies in the medical field. After a quick introduction we got to tour the production systems and learn more about their testing and uses.

I wasn’t able to take photos of the actual production, but I thought the shoe covers we had to wear were fun and made us look a little bit like big foot.

We then went up to the automobile portion of the factory. We had a quick introduction and took a tour of production of some of the parts of the car. It takes a lot more than I had originally thought to produce a single piece. The rings we looked at are used to help transition the car during gear changes. A piece this small, has many complex steps behind it which we were able to explore. The best way I can describe the factory is that is organized chaos. There is so much happening at once, but everything has a place and very specific order. After the tour we had a quick lunch before we listened to two academic lectures. We learned more about the company as a whole, the plan for the future, and the direction the company is going. The automobile world goes much more in depth than I ever could have anticipated. This type of company mainly employees engineers, but as a marketing major I think it would be cool to work with individual departments to promote the Piezo valves, and find further uses for them. After this we boarded the bus and started our journey to the Swiss Alps.

Although it was cold, foggy and a little bit rainy, it was absolutely stunning. I would have loved to see the mountains on a clear day, but the fog added a mysterious element, that made the mountains just as breathtaking. Although I think the Alps would have been breathtaking in any conditions.

We took a ski lift to the top of the mountains, and unfortunately it was too foggy to get a good view, but this is a picture I took from Oberammergau, a town near the mountains. After we many pictures, we made our way over to this adorable town. Our first stop was a small Christmas ornament shop where everything was hand carved or made. My family has a German tradition called the Christmas Pickle, which we may have adapted a little bit. But I found a real German Christmas Ornament to complete the pickle tradition. After this we walked around a little bit and made our way back to Augsburg for the end of our day. It was a super packed day, but overall exciting, informative and extremely interesting!!