After touching down in Munich and clearing customs, the first thing that struck me about Germany was how calm everything felt. Having spent last spring studying abroad in London and traveling through eleven different countries across Europe, I thought I had a pretty good feel for what arriving somewhere new looks like. But Germany was different. Even stepping off the plane, there was a quietness to everything. The airport, the roads, the people. That I genuinely did not expect. London is electric and chaotic in the best way possible. Germany felt more composed, almost deliberate.
The bus ride from Munich to Augsburg only reinforced that feeling. Wide open fields, small tidy towns, and a landscape that felt untouched compared to the dense urban sprawl I had grown used to in London. My family is originally from just outside Munich, so there was also something quietly personal about watching the Bavarian countryside roll by for the first time. It is one thing to know where your family is from. It is another thing entirely to actually see it out of a bus window.
When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by Elizabeth, the professor coordinating the German side of the program, who handed out welcome bags and sandwiches with butter pretzels from a local bakery. It was a small gesture, but a genuinely warm one after such a long travel day.
Later, we took a guided city tour through Augsburg, where we learned about the Fugger banking dynasty and how this city was once one of the most powerful financial centers in all of Europe. As a Finance and Accounting major, I probably should have been fully locked in. Honestly though, I was running on fumes. I spent most of that portion of the tour fighting to keep my eyes open and trying very hard not to look like the guy falling asleep standing up. The history is genuinely fascinating. A private banking family that financed kings and popes is exactly the kind of thing I would be fascinated by on a full night of sleep, but day one jet lag had other plans for me.
The clear highlight of the day, however, was the welcome dinner where we met the German students for the first time. After a day of traveling and absorbing a new place, sitting down with people my age from a completely different background was exactly the reset I needed. The conversations came easily, and it was interesting right away to compare notes on university life, career paths, and how differently students here think about things like work-life balance and professional ambition. Having done this before in London, I know how much these kinds of cross-cultural relationships end up meaning by the end of a program. I left dinner genuinely excited to get to know everyone better over the next two weeks.