Until now, Germany had mostly existed to me through brands, history books, and videos online. As I was checking in to the airport on my phone, getting ready for the bus ride over, all of it felt more and more real. On the bus ride to the airport all I could think about was the Audi and BMW factories, asking myself, “what would they look like?”, “will I see my dream car drive right off the production line?”, etc… We finally got to the airport and I ended up having to weigh my bag. As if the situation was not already embarrassing enough, the person handling it was yelling it to his co-workers so that practically everyone within a 100 foot radius could hear I had to pay $200 extra for my massive bag all because it was all my parents had for me. After my very loud and obnoxious run in with the person helping me with my bag every other part about the airport was fine. 

We waited for a few hours talking amongst ourselves at the boarding gate until we finally boarded our first flight from PIT to EWK. After we got to Newark we got to our next gate to go to Germany and got food. We ended up talking to some other travelers, some of which were actually from Pittsburgh before boarding. I was doing work for my new job most of the time. I would be starting when I got back home to make sure I was remembering everything so I could start right back on. We then board and get on the plane. After liftoff I was passing the time by doing more work, learning from the modules they gave me and also texting my mentor. Still even though my mind was focused on finally getting into sales after wanting to since I started studying at Pitt, my mind could not shake the excitement about seeing some of my dream cars being made in real time. 

All I could think about was how I was actually going to be seeing my dream cars I would see in movies and online. But as excited as I was about the cars themselves, I started realizing this trip was going to be about much more than that. Behind every BMW, Audi, or Mercedes is an entire system of engineering, manufacturing, culture, and people that made those brands what they are today. Somewhere between the airport and the flight to Germany, my excitement shifted from simply wanting to see these companies to wanting to understand how and why they operate at such a high level.