After the most steps I have probably taken in a single day in my life, Friday was exactly what I needed. I slept in, took my time getting ready, and felt like an actual human being again for the first time since arriving in Germany. After the relentless pace of the week, having a morning with nothing scheduled was genuinely restorative.

The main event of the day was heading over to the University of Augsburg in the afternoon to hear from a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek who specializes in the automotive industry. I was curious going in, given that we had spent the week hearing directly from the companies themselves, and I was interested to get an outside perspective. The session was fairly brief, though, and while there were some interesting points about the pressures facing German automakers and the growing threat from Chinese EV manufacturers, it did not end up being the deep dive I was hoping for. Useful context, but not the highlight of the day by any means. In all honesty, it felt like something of a repetition of what I had been hearing from class and all the company tours.

My roommate and I also stopped by the FC Augsburg stadium on the way to class, which was cool. We ran out of time, though, so we had to turn back before getting super close or anything.

After wrapping up at the university, I headed back to the hotel and did something I had been meaning to do all week: I called my family and friends back home and actually caught them up properly. Not just a quick text saying everything is great, but a real conversation. Telling them about the BMW factory, the Neuschwanstein view, the German students, and everything in between made me realize how much had already happened in just one week. Saying it all out loud made it feel even more real.

The rest of the evening was low-key. I got to bed early and actually slept. Sometimes the most memorable part of a packed trip is the day you finally let yourself slow down.