Today, we started the morning at Aumovio, an automotive supplier that makes the components most drivers never think about including brake systems, sensors, crash detection software, and the hardware embedded throughout modern vehicles. I’ll be honest, the lecture was dense and hard to follow at times, but the core idea stuck. Cars today are less machines and more computers on wheels. The same way my iPhone needs software updates, so does a vehicle’s braking system or its automatic collision response. I had never really thought about that before. We interact with technology constantly without understanding the layers underneath it. 

What surprised me most was the factory floor itself. It was almost entirely automated with robots and 3D printers running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with very few workers in sight. Robots are cheaper and less complicated than people. The space itself was packed wall to wall with machinery and had this industrial, claustrophobic intensity to it. It was my least favorite company visit of the trip so far because the environment felt more like a chemical facility than a workplace. 

The afternoon in Regensburg was a completely different energy, and it became my favorite city we’ve visited so far. The old and the new coexist here in a way that feels natural rather than forced. Modern shops and restaurants line the same streets as medieval towers and Roman-era walls. We toured a medieval building in the heart of the city that had both a grand ballroom and a dungeon with a torture chamber. This was a jarring combination, but a real reminder that history isn’t always comfortable. St. Peter’s Cathedral closed out my day in Regensburg, and it was stunning. I stood there for a while just taking it in. 

For lunch, I had a traditional Regensburg bratwurst sandwich from a vendor near the old stone bridge. It was simple and completely different from any bratwurst I’ve had at home, in the best way. And yes, I also got raspberry gelato.  

Regensburg made me think about what it means to build something that lasts. In the morning I’d seen a factory optimized for the present. In the afternoon I walked through streets that have been in use for two thousand years. Both felt distinctly German, just in very different ways.