Today is presentation day, we started the morning off by doing extra preparation and adding final touches to the presentation. Once we arrived to the University of Augsburg campus, we went to a study room to practice our presentation as a group. After practicing, everyone dispersed to get food and wait until presentations started. While most people went to the canteen, I took this break as a great opportunity to sit in the grass and enjoy the warm weather. As this is our last full day in Augsburg and our last time on this campus, I reflected on the memories we have made on this program. I took a moment to enjoy the silence and solitude as a I really stopped to be present and soak up my surroundings. I took note of the ants crawling on me and my belongings, the distant chatter of those walking by, and the calm scenery in front of me. I received looks and questions of concern, but I truly feel most at peace when I’m outside and quite literally touching grass. Presentations can be anxiety-inducing for me, so I like to go into presentations feeling grounded and calm. Once I was done touching grass, I met back up with my group and presentations started. Luckily we were able to go first as the presentation order was reversed from last time. I started off the presentation with a general introduction before going into the company overview. I was relived to be the first person to present for the entire day because I was able to relax afterwards instead of spending too much time overthinking and comparing myself to others. I’m satisfied with the performance of my group, we worked efficiently and cohesively, and in the end we did not exceed the 25 minute time limit. I enjoyed hearing other’s presentations, especially BMW as they are a direct competitor to Audi. It was interesting to directly compare the overall company structure and models between the luxury brands.
After presentations, we headed went to a German restaurant for our farewell dinner. I was happy to be sitting across from all the German students who will join us at Pitt this fall semester. It was also a full circle moment as many other University of Augsburg students attended the dinner, so this was an opportunity for me to talk both familiar and unfamiliar people in the same space. For dinner I had schnitzel with fries and cranberry sauce. At this point, I’ve had schnitzel a few times and this was less crispy, but the cranberry sauce added a new flavor combination that I enjoyed. Dinner was pretty uneventful besides a server accidentally spilling beer on me. As a server, I’ve spilt several drinks on people in the past, so I know how awful it feels! In the end it worked out nicely for me because I was given towels to dry myself off and I received a free hot chocolate!
After dinner a bunch of us got gelato at Tutti Frutti and stood outside talking for a while until it was time to say our final goodbyes to most of the German students. I will always cherish the new people I had the pleasure of meeting during this program. I’ve had such interesting conversations learning about the way of life here and other countries in comparison to the States. I appreciate the German students who have embraced our group and shown us so much kindness from the get go. It was daunting at times navigating a new country with a language barrier, but these connections made us feel welcomed and less alone!