The first thing I noticed about Germany was how clean and quiet it was. Coming off the plane, I was unsure if the atmosphere was due to getting off an eight-hour flight at 7:30 in the morning or if it was like that everywhere. Spending time in the city today showed me that it is the way of life here. Not to throw shade on Pitt’s campus, but walking through the streets of South Oakland can be pretty gross sometimes. I feel like there is always trash lying around, and it just feels kind of dirty overall. Walking through the city of Augsburg, I never got that feeling. It seems to me that Germany wants to hold itself to a higher and cleaner standard than the US. I am really interested to see why this is the case. Is it due to laws and regulations or something different?
After going through customs and getting on the bus, I was finally able to relax and really take in my surroundings. I stayed up for most of the hour bus ride to the hotel. The views were so gorgeous. It was interesting to see how much farm land there was here. I feel that is really what connects the city together. Back home in Michigan, farm land is very common, but in a different way. More often than not, there are just a couple of farms integrated into the town rather than the farms connecting one city to the next. Not to mention how beautiful they look.
Walking through Augsburg, it was interesting how much of the city still carries the Fugger name. The most striking reminder is the Fuggerei, a walled settlement built in 1521 that still functions as social housing today, the oldest of its kind in the world. Beyond the Fuggerei, the Fugger family’s former palace and their burial chapel in St. Anna’s Church made it clear how important they were to Augsburg as a whole. Walking the main shopping street, though, that medieval financial power feels more like a museum exhibit than a living reality. The grand old merchant buildings have mostly turned into modern storefronts and chain shops, and without knowing the history, you might walk right past them.
