After seeing my friends abroad this past semester I knew that something was missing from my college experience. While a semester couldn’t fit with my schedule and I could not do Plus3 my freshman year, I am very grateful that Plus3 Germany was available and fit for my schedule. There is something that I believe makes this specific location very special and that is the ability to collaborate with the University of Augsburg students and the rich history that Germany holds. One thing I will never forget is the farewell dinner from the program. By this point the Pitt and Augsburg students had gotten to know each other well and the happiness I felt in that moment was unforgettable. We reminisced about the friendships we had made and about our experiences living in different countries. I knew these friendships were real as shown in the amount of time the Augsburg students spent with us outside of program hours. After the farewell dinner, many of them came with us to get gelato and in prior days some came to dinner with us and always put in the effort to hangout with us on site/ cultural visits. The lesson I bring home is that the world is very different from the small bubble I live in and I need to continue learning more about it.
German history is also very prominent aspect of the experience and the site and culture experiences helped me learn more than I ever thought was possible. In my prior blog posts I talk about Dachau and how that has impacted how I view WWII. I found myself struggling to verbalize my feelings to my parents when telling them about that part of the trip. It carries so much of history with it that I now understand a lot more. Seeing Nuremberg and Regensburg taught me about the impact of World War II on German civilians and the strong history both these cities have. Our site visits taught me about the history of the automobile industry and German economy, showing factories and complex processes that most don’t understand. This experience has totally shifted the way I think of business, I thought about business as pretty tight. You either did finance, marketing, or one of the other majors and those were what made up business. But, I learned that business is so much more than what’s categorized by our majors. Businesses need strategies, operational/ factory management, research and development, and so much more to keep them afloat, I’m glad I got to see that firsthand. There was a lot packed into two weeks, but I would not trade this experience for anything. Thank you Dr. Feick and Phil for creating the most amazing trip! I’ll never forget Plus3 Germany 2026.
