Today we went and met with the German students at the University. I had expected the University to be integrated into the city, similar to how Pitt is. We didn’t really get to walk around and see what was outside of central campus. Some of the German students mentioned that you could see the professional soccer arena where FC Augsburg plays from campus, which I really hope I get to see later. The classroom where we had the lecture and the guest speaker was quite nice. However, it did seem like more of a conference room rather than a classroom. I feel like at Pitt, I am used to seeing 100-300-person lecture halls or 50-person classrooms.
Today was also the first day we were able to meet all of the German students and get to know the students in our company groups better. All of the students were extremely welcoming and open to talking with us. I was nervous about meeting the entire group of German students today because yesterday at dinner, I felt I didn’t get a chance to meet everyone because we were all so spread out through the restaurant. I have a good feeling our company group will be easy to work with and will end up being successful regarding the presentation.
We had the guest speaker from Audi, Patrick Will, come in and give a great presentation. He talked a lot about different problems that affect the European automotive market. With the main player being China and their electric vehicle advancements. He also talked about how heavily they were integrating AI into their business strategy, which I thought was really interesting.
After talking with the guest speaker, the master students took us to the Mensa. It was pretty intimidating. It reminded me a lot of the Eatery at Pitt, chaotic. I ended up getting some pasta with a salad for lunch, which was pretty good. The master students then took us on a scavenger hunt throughout the city of Augsburg. The hunt was longer than I had expected it to be. It had also started pouring about halfway through. My group finished first, and we won an Augsburg University graduation bear, which made the entire event worth it.
My favorite kind of food is Italian food, so I was ecstatic to hear we were going to an Italian restaurant for dinner. I thought it was quite interesting to learn that Italian cuisine is heavily integrated throughout Germany. At the restaurant, I was torn between two of my favorite meals: pizza or pasta. I ultimately ended up going with a Hawaiian pizza. I love Hawaiian pizza, but I wish I had gone with my second option, carbonara. My pizza was still delicious, but some other people at my table had gotten pasta, and it looked better.
