It’s finally here, the main deliverable of this entire trip. It was kind of rough sleeping last night, not because I didn’t have faith in my group, but always have really bad nerves right before a big presentation. Especially because I have never given a 25-minute presentation before. My group had breakfast early in the…
Category: Plus3 2022
May 18th- Presentation time
Today was the day. After all the company visits, today was the day we would all present about each one. My group was assigned BMW, which I was very happy with at the time because it was the only one I knew. However, after all the company visits I would’ve been happy being assigned any…
May 17th- Hey Siri, play “Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran.
Next destination on the agenda? Neuschwanstein. The days are counting down as today is virtually the last day on the schedule besides the final presentations. I am so not ready for this trip to be over. We hopped on our last bus ride to Neuschwanstein and after some driving through the countryside we made it…
Tag 12: From one country to the next!
For our final day in Germany, and our first completely free day, the group made a decision to stick together, and we took a train to Salzburg, Austria. Arriving at the train station, a couple of us were especially worried about our train being late, and to no surprise, our train was delayed a whole…
Over Too Soon
Bright and early, here we go! We left the hotel around 5:30 am after a light breakfast. By that point in the morning, I had already fought with my luggage and I was ready to send my checked bag on its way. Luckily, it was under 50 pounds and they accepted it. At this point,…
German and Austrian Trains are Not Our Friend
On our last full day in Germany, we left Germany. Before leaving for Germany there was speculation about what we would do on our free day. Every major city that was not Munich was 4 hours away by train. After 4 hours there and back, our day would’ve been shot. All the group knew was…
Good Country, Better Company
Today was the big day-Presentation day. Each group had its own schedule but we all had to be at the University ready to present at 1 pm. My group met at 10 that morning to start rehearsing. In earlier working sessions, we rehearsed, but this is the first time we would practice with a…
Castles and Donut Balls
With our second week in Germany in full swing, we packed in as many cultural visits as possible. This meant seeing the most beautiful castles around, on this particular Tuesday we visit Neuschwanstein. We were briefed on the history of the castle including the original owner, King Ludwig the second, also known as mad King…
I’m Officially Afraid of Stairs, not Heights
As we continue into our second and final week in Germany, we went to Ulm. Ulm is home to the tallest church tower in the world. We had a small city tour and a tour of the church. It was a Protestant church that started as a church in the 14th century. Work continued to…
Visit to Dachau
Today we visited the Dachau Concentration camp visit and worked on our group project. Dachau was a very impactful experience. I’ve always taken interest in World War 2 and the Holocaust. For me, this is the most recent history where something this awful happened on such a massive scale. Even more powerful, is that there…
Working for My Breakfast, German Style
Thursday we started our morning with a traditional Bavarian breakfast: sausage and pretzels. And for many locals, that included a beer. About an hour away from our hotel and into the countryside, we pulled up to a large barn like structure with picnic tables outside and people eating. I must say when we got off…
Why are we stopping in midair? – Day 3
Phoebe Katz – May 10 This morning we woke up early for our first company visit of the trip. There were some baby croissants at breakfast, which I very much enjoyed. Our company visit was at Hoerbiger. First stop was their valve and actuator production facility, where we got to see how their office space…
Go to Germany, Make Your Family Jealous
Today we visited Webasto followed by the BMW World and museum. The day was crazy packed full of stuff but I had so much fun. We started our day at Webasto and heard a presentation about car chargers and moving towards emobility. A lot of this trip has focused on emobility. In the US, we…
Why is the plane landing? – Day 1
Phoebe Katz, May 7-8 I woke up in Nordenberg and then headed to the Pittsburgh airport. I ate half a bagel, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel that I purchased the previous day from Bagel Emporium in New York. We all checked our bags (mine was 35 lbs, which leaves plenty of weight for…
On Top of the World
On our third day in Germany, we did a company tour and visited the Alps. First, we went to Hoerbiger which mainly made compression valves and rotaries. We toured their small office space and then their massive manufacturing plant. They provide a variety of products so it is hard to categorize them for creating one…
University of Augsburg Transfer Student?
Today was our first full day in Augsburg. For me, this is the first step toward letting our bodies fully adjust and eat three full meals at expected times. We started with breakfast at the hotel which we will do every morning. I was surprised to see a different variety of carbs that did not…
..And 27 Hours Later, We Arrived at the McDonald’s
Where to start. Luckily, our first flight was not until a little after noon so we left Pitt around 9 am. I was a little worried about overpacking and being over the 50 pound weight limit on my checked bag. We were instructed to pack for all season as it could be 70 and sunny…
Back in Pennsylvania, thinking of Augsburg
I can’t believe it’s already been almost two weeks since I left Germany. I have been catching up on sleep and starting my summer internship with PennDOT back home. Returning to the suburbs of Pennsylvania feels very weird after traveling so far across the ocean to Germany and Austria. As I reflect on this trip,…
The Final Days (May 18th / May 19th)
Wednesday, May 18th was the day that each group would present their final projects. The morning before we presented, my group met up with another group in order to practice and get feedback. Everyone was nervous and on edge that morning. When it was time for everyone to finally present, we were assigned a random…
Churches and Castles (May 16th / May 17th)
On the morning of Monday, May 16th, we hopped on a bus and made our way to the city of Ulm. A city that is much less touristy than Munich, and a little more touristy than Augsburg. The main purpose of our visit was to climb all the way up the Ulm Minster, the tallest…